Favorite Welles' films? - Lay it down, yo!

[Gordon]

Ambersons
Kane
Chimes
TOSOTW

[NoFake]

It's hard for me to get into this one, because I keep wishing, mostly in vain, to be able to see the films the way he WANTED them to be. I never was a particular partisan of "The Stranger," for example, until I read Clifford Heylin's painful, meticulous exegesis of its evisceration at the behest of Sam Spiegel, and the hands of Ernest Nims.

[Kevin Loy]

EDIT: I've decided to revise my list from 2005. I haven't seen The Stranger or MacBeth yet, but I have seen "The Immortal Story", and my list has changed a bit since then.

1) Chimes At Midnight (I still consider this to be Welles' greatest moment)
2) The Trial
3) Citizen Kane
4) The Magnificent Ambersons (flaws and all)
5) F For Fake (It did take me quite a while to warm up to this film, and while I do find the "Picasso" segment to be superfluous, the rest of the film is quite unique in his output...and it gives a fascinating glimpse into what I imagine to have been Welles' personality)
6) Othello (I must admit that, while I don't think that Shakespeare's work is as infallible as Welles thought, his Shakespeare films tend to underscore the things that I do like about Shakespeare...so I must admit that I am rather eager to see the restored MacBeth, which is by far my favorite of Shakespeare's plays...but anyway)
7) Mr. Arkadin (Strangely, I think that the tightness of the Public Domain version works far better than the fuller versions that Criterion released.)
Touch Of Evil (with Chuck Heston before he found it necessary to gnash his teeth every time he delivered a line of dialogue, though Welles and Tamiroff steal every scene they're in)
9) The Lady From Shanghai (I must admit that I'm not much on Welles' Irish accent in this one, but Everett Sloane and Rita Hayworth are absolutely incredible, and Glenn Anders isn't far behind)
10) The Immortal Story (It looks really nice, and the staging is impeccable [check out the scene in the dinner hall]...but the film lacks any real substance. Especially when considering that this followed Chimes at Midnight and preceded F For Fake [his most personal film], the overall weakness of the film becomes even more magnified)

(I should add an honorable mention for It's All True, but I can't stand that damn soundtrack that they pasted onto it.)

[colwood]

Christopher, I like many others here believe that Welles made many other films that were equal or superior to Kane. However, for my money, Kane (along with the Trial) was simply his best film not only in terms of his performance, but also his filmmaking. I've enjoyed Chimes as much as the next Welles fanl. And while Falstaff may very well be the role Welles was born to play, I've never viewed it as great as Kane or the Trial.

[Christopher]

Colwood, I'm really glad you think THE TRIAL is a great film because I feel it is not as appreciated as it should be, especially by American audiences.

[catbuglah]

:blues: :blues: :blues:
The Trial and film noir

[Sir Bygber Brown]

1. The Trial
2. Touch of Evil
3. Citizen Kane
4. Mr Arkadin (this movie is on my wavelength. I love its roughness, its scattered plot, its incomprehensible dialogue...!)
5. The Stranger (its funny, I probably watch this one most often - i've grown to enjoy it, probably because it means the least to me. Its a complex thing)
6. Falstaff
7. F for Fake
8. Lady from Shanghai (i'm growing to enjoy this one too)
9. Othello (admire this, but never really connected to it)
10. Macbeth (is there anything i've forgotten?)

[The Night Man]

Since the question concerns our "favorite" Welles films, my list is ranked in terms of which I most enjoy watching. My list of "greatest" or "most accomplished", on the other hand, would be different.

1. Lady from Shanghai
2. Touch of Evil
3. Chimes at Midnight
4. Magnificent Ambersons
5. Citizen Kane
6. Mr. Arkadin
7. F for Fake
8. The Trial
9. The Stranger
10. Othello
11. Macbeth

[Swithun]

As a Welles virgin I can only have a top two but the Trial is on its way at Christmas.

1. Kane
2. The Stranger

[catbuglah]

FYI - Here's a compilation of everyone's selections :

Kane 121
Chimes 108
Ambersons 104
Trial 90
TOE 80
LFS 64
Othello 56
F for Fake 52
Arkadin 36
Macbeth 28
Stranger 28
Immortal Story 10

[Pathétique]

1. Kane
2. Touch of Evil
3. The Trial
4. Lady from Shanghai
5. Ambersons
6. Othello
7. F for Fake
8. The Stranger
9. The Immortal Story
10. Mr. Arkadin (the only one I didn't really like)

Haven't seen Chimes or Macbeth but really want to.

[Joshua]

1. Touch of Evil
2. Citizen Kane
3. Othello
4. Chimes at Midnight
5. The Magnificent Ambersons
6. Lady from Shanghai
7. The Trial
8. Fountain of Youth
9. F for Fake
10. Mr. Arkadin (Criterion Comprehensive version)
------------------------------------------
11. The Stranger
12. Macbeth
13. The Immortal Story

[tonyw]

The Magnificent Ambersons
Chimes at Midnight.
F for Fake
Othello (non-Beatrice version!)
Macbeth,
Touch of Evil.
Mr. Arkadin
The Trial.
Citizen Kane.
Lady from Shanghai

Liable to variation at any time since they are all good for different reasons.

[ToddBaesen]

Ten masterworks...

1. Falstaff
2. Touch of Evil
3. The Magnificent Ambersons
4. Citizen Kane
5. The Trial
6. The Lady From Shanghai
7. Othello
8. The Other Side of the Wind
9. It's All True
10. F For Fake

[Jeff Wilson]

Favorite, as opposed to "best":

1) Chimes at Midnight
2) Lady From Shanghai
3) Magnificent Ambersons
4) Citizen Kane
5) Othello
6) Mr. Arkadin
7) F for Fake
8 ) Macbeth
9) Fountain of Youth
10) The Stranger