The Audacity of Orson Welles

Orson Welles was recognized as something of a genius at a young age, early on for his work in theater and not much later for his film work. He was a triple threat: writer, director and actor. His first movie, Citizen Kane is universally regarded as the greatest film ever made. He often ran afoul of studio authority and as a result worked as a director only sporadically in later years, but he never lost his sense of artistic adventure. Here's the opening shot from his latter day classic Touch of Evil. Note that the scene lasts for well over three minutes without a cut, while the camera tracks an array of characters and relays an immense amount of information about the border town that is the film's setting. It also packs a wallop in terms of suspense, setting the stage for the grimy mystery about to unfold. If this opening tickles your fancy, it's definitely worth looking for the whole movie, in which director Welles also gives a very memorable portrayal of a corpulent, corrupt cop.