Best Remembered For: Citizen Kane (1941) Should Be Remembered For: The Trial (1962) There's no question that Citizen Kane was influential on the cinema that came after it. But the general idea that Welles' career starts and ends with his first picture is absolutely false; Kane is justifiably a classic, but as Welles' other films are slowly reappraised and re-evaluated, a rich body of work spanning decades becomes ever more apparent. With restored prints and 'director's cuts' closer to Welles' original vision increasingly available, The Magnificent Ambersons, Touch of Evil, Chimes at Midnight and F For Fake have all revealed themselves as classics in their own right. But perhaps no Welles film is as accomplished as The Trial, the director's cool, sci-fi tinged adaptation of the Franz Kafka novel. An urban horror about a man tried for a crime without being told what he's accused of, The Trial is a waking dream, or more closely a nightmare, and it not only looks and feels like no other film made by Welles, but it's unique in cinema on the whole. The black and white cinematography is monochromatic perfection, and Anthony Perkins is superbly dry as doomed protagonist Josef K, but The Trial's dense, almost impenetrable intelligence and wilful weirdness is what makes the film so powerful. And if you want further proof of the film's unparalleled greatness within the Orson Welles catalogue, just look to the man himself - even Welles considered The Trial "the best film I ever made." Like this article? Let us know in the comments section below.
Lover of film, writer of words, pretentious beyond belief. Thinks Scorsese and Kubrick are the kings of cinema, but PT Anderson and David Fincher are the dashing young princes. Follow Brogan on twitter if you can take shameless self-promotion: @BroganMorris1
