奥逊·威尔斯同样也是好演员，某种程度包装了其传奇性；他电影的阉割如今俨然超越电影本身，源源不断带给推崇者无限的意淫；他的地位得益于20世纪电影艺术的革命革新，这种作用随着时间推移变成定见而越来越难挑战……

在起点上 他就站在电影史的顶峰 但当他准备飞翔 却被束缚了翅膀 他挣扎着扼住命运的咽喉 他是电影史上最大的天才 因而也是最大的悲剧 “从那之后 他再也没有和罗伯特·怀斯说过话”

Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles looks at the remarkable genius of Orson Welles on the eve of his centenary - the enigma of his career as a Hollywood star, a Hollywood director (for some a Hollywood failure), and a crucially important independent filmmaker. Orson Welles's life was magical: a musical prodigy at age 10, a director of Shakespeare at 14, a painter at 16, a star of stage and radio at 20, romances with some of the most beautiful women in the world, including Rita Hayworth. His work was similarly extraordinary, most notably Citizen Kane, (considered by many to be the most important movie ever made), created by Welles when he was only 25. In the years following Citizen Kane, Welles's career continued to change as he made film after film (some never finished, many dismissed) and acted in other projects often to earn money in order to keep making his own films. Magician features scenes from almost every existing Welles film, from Hearts of Age, (which he made in a day when he was only 18 years old) to rarely-seen clips from his final unfinished works like The Other Side of the Dream, The Deep, and Don Quixote, as well as his television and commercial work.