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Remember that Orson Welles himself didn t always look like Orson Welles. He was a master of makeup and disguise, and even when appearing in the first person, liked to use a little putty to build up a nose he considered a tad too snubbed. The impersonation of Welles by Christian McKay in Me and Orson Welles is the centerpiece of the film, and from it, all else flows. We can almost accept that this is the Great Man.
Twenty-four years after his death at 70, Welles is more than ever a Great Man. There is something about his manner, his voice and the way he carries himself that evokes greatness, even if it is only his own conviction of it. He is widely thought of as having made one masterpiece, Citizen Kane (1941) and several other considerable films, but flaming out into uncompleted projects and failed promise. Yet today even such a film as The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), with its ending destroyed by the studio, often makes lists of the greatest of all time.