Orson Welles Trailers
Charmed Lives: A Family Romance TrailerWar of the Worlds TrailerThe Making Of Trailer
George Orson Welles, best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio. Noted for his innovative dramatic productions as well as his distinctive voice and personality, Welles is widely acknowledged as one of the most accomplished dramatic artists of the twentieth century, especially for his significant and influential early work—despite his notoriously contentious relationship with Hollywood. His distinctive directorial style featured layered, nonlinear narrative forms, innovative uses of lighting such as chiaroscuro, unique camera angles, sound techniques borrowed from radio, deep focus shots, and long takes. Welles's long career in film is noted for his struggle for artistic control in the face of pressure from studios. Many of his films were heavily edited and others left unreleased. He has been praised as a major creative force and as "the ultimate auteur."
After directing a number of high-profile theatrical productions in his early twenties, including an innovative adaptation of Macbeth and The Cradle Will Rock, Welles found national and international fame as the director and narrator of a 1938 radio adaptation of H. G. Wells's novel The War of the Worlds performed for the radio drama anthology series Mercury Theatre on the Air. It was reported to have caused widespread panic when listeners thought that an invasion by extraterrestrial beings was occurring. Although these reports of panic were mostly false and overstated, they rocketed Welles to instant notoriety.
Citizen Kane (1941), his first film with RKO, in which he starred in the role of Charles Foster Kane, is often considered the greatest film ever made. Several of his other films, including The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), The Lady from Shanghai (1947), Touch of Evil (1958), Chimes at Midnight (1965), and F for Fake (1974), are also widely considered to be masterpieces.
In 2002, he was voted the greatest film director of all time in two separate British Film Institute polls among directors and critics, and a wide survey of critical consensus, best-of lists, and historical retrospectives calls him the most acclaimed director of all time. Andrew Sarris in his influential book of film criticism The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929–1968 included him in the "pantheon" of the 14 greatest film directors who had worked in the United States. Well known for his baritone voice, Welles was also an extremely well regarded actor and was voted number 16 in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars list of the greatest American film actors of all time. He was also a celebrated Shakespearean stage actor and an accomplished magician, starring in troop variety shows in the war years.
Most Popular Orson Welles Trailers
Total trailers found: 328
08 July 1997
Hailed by some as a cinematic genius, a feminist voice and a true maverick of American cinema, dismissed by others as a voyeuristic fraud and the "world's worst director," Henry Jaglom obsessively confuses and abuses the line between life and art.
31 October 1970
The world is divided into factions, on opposite sides of issues; each side is, of course, right. And so the gap between the people grows, until someone challenges the absolutist view of what's "right.
17 April 1941
Newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane is taken from his mother as a boy and made the ward of a rich industrialist.
08 August 1986
The Autobots must stop a colossal planet-consuming robot who goes after the Autobot Matrix of Leadership.
18 April 1967
Sir James Bond is called back out of retirement to stop SMERSH. In order to trick SMERSH, James thinks up the ultimate plan - that every agent will be named 'James Bond'.
22 June 1979
The Muppets gather to watch their newly-finished big-budget rich-and-famous feature film: a talent agent persuades Kermit the Frog to leave the swamp to pursue a career in Hollywood.
05 February 1990
A two-and-a-half hour documentary retrospective on the career of Orson Welles.
31 August 1949
In postwar Vienna, Austria, Holly Martins, a writer of pulp Westerns, arrives penniless as a guest of his childhood chum Harry Lime, only to learn he has died.
24 December 1943
After a bleak childhood, Jane Eyre goes out into the world to become a governess. As she lives happily in her new position at Thornfield Hall, she meets the dark, cold, and abrupt master of the house, Edward Rochester.
01 January 1965
A King's Story is a 1965 British documentary film directed by Harry Booth about the life of King Edward VIII, from his birth until abdication in 1936.
24 June 1970
A WWII military pilot makes a valiant effort to be certified insane in order to be excused from flying missions.
02 March 2023
As Orson Welles, I might say: Art is the grand illusion, a mirror reflecting the complexities of the human soul.
31 January 1982
Broadcast live via satellite around the world on January 31, 1982, this special produced by the US International Communication Agency protesting the then recent imposition of martial law in Poland.
24 January 1985
Welles had a lifelong interest in magic, having been taught his first magic tricks by Harry Houdini in the 1920s, when Welles was still a boy.
05 December 1981
João Gilberto receives Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil and Maria Bethânia during the recording of his album Brasil.
17 October 2021
The story of famous actor and director Orson Welles is told through his two visits to the Republic of Ireland; first in his youth as a promising young actor and finally in later years as a washed up icon of the silver screen.
01 January 1999
A mockumentary look at the myths and realities surrounding aliens and UFOs. A hybrid of genres on the UFO subject.
30 March 1958
A border-town bombing draws Mexican investigator Miguel Vargas into a corruption-ridden police investigation led by crooked captain Hank Quinlan, setting off a deadly struggle over power, justice, and truth.
01 December 1967
Crime film directed by a 24-year-old Gary Graver.
25 November 1983
This is Gordon's re-edit of his 1972 horror film Necromancy starring Orson Welles and Pamela Franklin.
09 April 2023
A strobing deconstruction of Orson Welles' Chimes at Midnight.
18 May 2024
Featuring unprecedented access to Jim Henson's personal archives, filmmaker Ron Howard brings us a fascinating and insightful look at a complex man whose boundless imagination inspired the world.
11 June 1958
Einar, brutal son of the viking Ragnar and future heir to his throne, tangles with clever slave Eric, for the hand of a beautiful English maiden.
25 August 1962
Arrested for an unnamed crime, Josef K. is trapped in a surreal bureaucratic maze where justice is unknowable and guilt is assumed.
28 February 1983
On April 24th, 1982, when Orson Welles was invited to Paris to receive the Légion d'honneur from François Mitterand, a lively filmed interview took place inside the French Cinémathèque.
13 December 1966
A depiction of the conflict between King Henry VIII of England and his Lord Chancellor, Sir Thomas More, who refuses to swear the Oath of Supremacy declaring Henry Supreme Head of the Church in England.
21 January 1986
For the first time in their careers, all the Muppets (except the ones that couldn't make it, like the Doozers, Gorgs and most of the Fraggles) have gathered together in one place to celebrate their thirtieth anniversary and honor the one who brought them together: Kermit the Frog (and by doing so, Jim Henson).
28 September 1966
Covering only the first 22 chapters of the Book of Genesis, vignettes include: Adam and Eve frolicking in the Garden of Eden until their indulgence in the forbidden fruit sees them driven out; Cain murdering his brother Abel; Noah building an ark to preserve the animals of the world from the coming flood; and Abraham making a covenant with God.
17 January 1982
Hollywood celebrities assist magicians in a program of magic and illusion.
08 September 1968
"Around the World with Mike Todd" serves as a summarization of the Todd's career, and his role in producing 'Around the World in 80 Days'.
26 October 1966
Near the end of World War II, General Dietrich von Choltitz receives orders to burn down Paris if it becomes clear the Allies are going to invade, or if he's unable to maintain control of the city.
01 January 1997
"Portraits and excerpts from Brazilian films from all times. Actors, directors and images that affirm cinema.
26 October 1970
After defeating France and imprisoning Napoleon on Elba, ending two decades of war, Europe is shocked to find Napoleon has escaped and has caused the French Army to defect from the King back to him.
27 June 1956
In 1841, young Ishmael signs up for service aboard the Pequod, a whaler sailing out of New Bedford. The ship is under the command of Captain Ahab, a strict disciplinarian who exhorts his men to find Moby Dick, the great white whale.
29 September 1964
A biography of Winston Churchill, shown through re-creations and actual film footage and told by Orson Welles.
11 October 1961
Who is Jesus, and why does he impact all he meets? He is respected and reviled, emulated and accused, beloved, betrayed, and finally crucified.
29 October 1982
A baby sitter is stuck watching over a young brat on Halloween night who keeps playing vicious pranks on her.
18 May 1982
Profile of Orson Welles, looking at his life and career in theatre, radio and particularly film.
28 November 1951
Manipulated by his jealous ensign Iago, the Moorish general Othello is driven to believe that his new wife Desdemona is unfaithful, setting in motion a chain of deception, jealousy, and violence that leads to tragedy.
17 June 1988
Wealthy slacker Mark, his new girlfriend Sarah, and their friends, are invited to a special showing at a mysterious wax museum which displays eighteen of the most evil men of all time.
05 May 2010
In 2001 Jack Cardiff (1914-2009) became the first director of photography in the history of the Academy Awards to win an Honorary Oscar.
24 December 1947
A romantic drifter gets caught between a corrupt tycoon and his voluptuous wife.
02 November 2018
At a media-swamped party to celebrate his seventieth birthday and screen his avant-garde film-in-progress, a legendary but jaded Hollywood director is faced both with voracious fans and unsettling questions about what became of his lead actor.
20 April 1999
Blake Pellarin is on the campaign trail to become president of the United States. While making a stop in St.
08 September 2022
Never-before-heard personal recordings and archival footage tell the story of Louis Armstrong's life from his perspective.
17 May 1958
Accused barn burner and conman Ben Quick arrives in a small Mississippi town and quickly ingratiates himself with its richest family, the Varners.
01 October 1972
Young Jim Hawkins finds himself serving with pirate captain Long John Silver in search of a buccaneer's treasure, in this short adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale.
19 February 1980
Life and times of Nikola Tesla, famous scientist whose inventions were stolen, but whose greatest contribution to mankind remain a mystery to this day.
22 December 1976
A luxury liner carries Jewish refugees from Hitler's Germany in a desperate fight for survival.
12 June 1981
An uproarious version of history that proves nothing is sacred – not even the Roman Empire, the French Revolution and the Spanish Inquisition.
12 December 2014
The extraordinary life of Orson Welles (1915-85), an enigma of Hollywood, an irreducible independent creator: a musical prodigy, an excellent painter, a master of theater and radio, a modern Shakespeare, a magician who was always searching for a new trick to surprise his audience, a romantic and legendary figure who lived only for cinema.
24 September 1974
Ten people are invited to a hotel in the Iranian desert, only to find that an unseen person is killing them one by one.
04 February 2012
A film where anything can happen - the hero and the heroine changes their faces, age, look, names, and so on.
10 July 1942
The spoiled young heir to the decaying Amberson fortune comes between his widowed mother and the man she has always loved.
22 September 1952
When a wealthy business man is found dead reporter Philip Trent is sent to investigate. Against the police conclusions, he suspects the assumed suicide is really a murder, and becomes highly interested in the young widow and the dead man's private secretary.
01 November 2025
A small disillusioned creature searches for meaning in an increasingly weird world.
01 October 1948
Macbeth, the Thane of Glamis, receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland.
