What fascinates me about Welles is his devotion to his art. The tacky commercials you mention were seen by him as tools to help him make his films. His later more introspective work For Fake can be seen as a mediation on his creative process and its value.
I think he just plain liked being on TV. I've never enjoyed it myself, but others I admire, like Gore Vidal, never met a TV camera they didn't try to seduce.
F for Fake shows what clever organization can make of borrowed film footage. And shows that Orson could record a voiceover for almost anything and make it fascinating.
I had a friend who said, imagine creating a masterpiece like Citizen Kane at a young age and spending the rest of your life trying to equal or better it .
I took my friend's musing to heart and have refrained from creating any masterpieces of any kind.
What fascinates me about Welles is his devotion to his art. The tacky commercials you mention were seen by him as tools to help him make his films. His later more introspective work For Fake can be seen as a mediation on his creative process and its value.
I think he just plain liked being on TV. I've never enjoyed it myself, but others I admire, like Gore Vidal, never met a TV camera they didn't try to seduce.
F for Fake shows what clever organization can make of borrowed film footage. And shows that Orson could record a voiceover for almost anything and make it fascinating.
I had a friend who said, imagine creating a masterpiece like Citizen Kane at a young age and spending the rest of your life trying to equal or better it .
I took my friend's musing to heart and have refrained from creating any masterpieces of any kind.
A wise course.