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IMDbPro

Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles

  • 2014
  • PG-13
  • 1h 31m
IMDb RATING
6.9/10
939
YOUR RATING
Orson Welles in Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles (2014)
Trailer for Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles
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DocumentaryBiography

A look at the life and work of the great theatre, radio and film artist.A look at the life and work of the great theatre, radio and film artist.A look at the life and work of the great theatre, radio and film artist.

  • Director
    • Chuck Workman
  • Stars
    • Orson Welles
    • Simon Callow
    • Christopher Welles
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    6.9/10
    939
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Chuck Workman
    • Stars
      • Orson Welles
      • Simon Callow
      • Christopher Welles
    • 16User reviews
    • 34Critic reviews
    • 67Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 2 nominations

    Videos2

    Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles
    Trailer 2:05
    Watch Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles
    Official Trailer
    Trailer 2:04
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    Photos

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    Top cast

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    Orson Welles
    Orson Welles
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    Simon Callow
    Simon Callow
    • Self
    Christopher Welles
    • Self
    • (as Christopher Welles Feder)
    Joanne Hill Styles
    • Self
    Norman Lloyd
    Norman Lloyd
    • Self
    Micheál MacLiammóir
    Micheál MacLiammóir
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    Ruth Ford
    Ruth Ford
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    Julie Taymor
    Julie Taymor
    • Self
    Paolo Cherchi Usai
    • Self
    Norman Corwin
    Norman Corwin
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    Peter Bogdanovich
    Peter Bogdanovich
    • Self
    James Naremore
    • Self
    William Alland
    William Alland
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    Reggie Armour
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    Steven Spielberg
    Steven Spielberg
    • Self
    William Randolph Hearst
    William Randolph Hearst
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    John Houseman
    John Houseman
    • Self
    • (archive footage)
    William Friedkin
    William Friedkin
    • Self
    • Director
      • Chuck Workman
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

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    Did you know

    Edit
    • Goofs
      When the paternity of Welles's alleged son is mentioned, one of the photographs which is shown and purported to be of Welles is actually a photograph of Vincent D'Onofrio, who played Welles in Ed Wood (1994).
    • Connections
      Features The Hearts of Age (1934)

    User reviews16

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    Inept documentary about a towering personality
    MAGICIAN is a dud - a less than mediocre run-through of the life and career of the legendary entertainment figure Orson Welles. I caught a theatrical screening Saturday that proved to be a complete waste of time.

    Contrast this loser with the 2007 documentary SPINE TINGLER!, which informatively and entertainingly profiled schlockmeister William Castle. Unlike Welles, Castle is a mere footnote in film history, but the portrait of him was lively, to the point, and even created an emotional connection (bordering on pathos) when looking at his declining years and premature death - the elements sorely lacking in MAGICIAN.

    Director Chuck Workman is famous and lauded in some circles (not mine) for his career in compilations (more accurately excerpts) -often responsible for the abbreviated Academy Awards show's highlight reels of great moments in film. I find him to be a master of trivializing, taking works of art ranging from a classic Bugs Bunny cartoon to any number of great feature films and extracting a cute or memorable moment from each, then juxtaposing them together for generally idiotic effect (e.g., a montage of famous screen kisses). I'm old-fashioned: I like to sit through an entire cartoon or movie, even endlessly long ones like BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ, THE DECALOGUE or SHOAH. My dreaded "high-brow" satire would be a Saturday Night Live tribute to Jacques Rivette by Workman (or perhaps Tom Schiller, pick your poison) consisting of fleeting clips from his brilliant but notoriously long feature films.

    And so it is not surprising to me that Workman trivializes Orson Welles' life and career. Most of MAGICIAN consists of old interviews with Welles or other deceased witnesses, ranging from Sydney Pollack to John Houseman. Ken Burns has made a career treating subjects for whom living witnesses are few or nil but through eloquent narration and sometimes readings by talented actors has brought them to life. Where Workman does have a live testimonial the results are - you guessed it- trivial: Welles biographer Simon Callow is a terrific actor and erstwhile director himself, but his comments are unenlightening; Welles' longtime companion Oja Kodar (who I saw give a highly educational talk on Welles decades ago when she presented excerpts of his unfinished films including THE DEEP and THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND) is totally wasted in an interview that makes her out to be a flake; Welles experts Peter Bogdanovich and Joe McBride plus recently deceased Paul Mazursky briefly have minimal information to contribute; and Francis Coppola's longtime editor Walter Murch is strictly footnote material discussing the "improvements" (this seems to be a cottage industry) in Welles' TOUCH OF EVIL that have been made by re-editing the Universal re-edited picture. Perhaps meant to insult on purpose, Workman even works in comments by Wolfgang Puck (!) concerning Welles' famous appetite. Thanks a lot, Chuck.

    To further trivialize matters, Workman insists on including numerous film homages to Welles, such as clips from DAY FOR NIGHT, ED WOOD and the TV movie about KANE starring Liev Schreiber. There is more junk like this than attention to Welles' voluminous screen acting career which gets short shrift other than references to how "in demand" he was. The controversy regarding Welles vs. Herman Mankiewicz in apportioning authorship to CITIZEN KANE (screenwriting-wise) is obfuscated rather than clarified by this worthless documentary.

    For someone who knows little to nothing about Orson Welles the film hits the familiar clichés -his boy wonder achievements dating back to childhood and growing up in Woodstock; mercurial milestones in theater and radio, triumph and fall in Hollywood and latter years as true independent filmmaker. For me it amounted to a mass of generally misleading information (frequent claims that FALSTAFF not KANE is his true masterpiece) and significant omissions (his Kodar period sloughed off and his long collaboration with the late talented pornographer Gary Graver (more famous as Welles' cameraman) ignored.

    No need to worry - I suspect another filmmaker, perhaps even Burns or his brother Ric, will conjure up a suitable treatment of the renaissance man Welles. In the meantime MAGICIAN instantly belongs on the scrap heap of bad movies which, to paraphrase Theodore Sturgeon in his famous quote about science fiction, make up 90% of film history ("but then 90% of everything is crud").
    helpful•9
    21
    • lor_
    • Nov 24, 2014

    Details

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    • Release date
      • July 3, 2015 (Ireland)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Official site
      • Cohen Media Group (United States)
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Mago: La impresionante vida y obra de Orson Welles
    • Production companies
      • Cohen Welles Project
      • Calliope Films
      • Wheelhouse Creative
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Budget
      • $813,505 (estimated)
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $16,400
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $7,130
      • Dec 14, 2014
    • Gross worldwide
      • $16,400
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • Runtime
      1 hour 31 minutes
    • Color
      • Color

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