Orson Welles: Volume 1: The Road to Xanadu
by Simon Callow

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Book Reviews of Orson Welles: Volume 1: The Road to Xanadu

Book Review: Definitive. Simply Definitive.
Summary: 5 Stars

All Welles early achievements are told here with perspectives and facts gleaned from many sources, using first hand interview accounts, and physical evidence of his works - reviews, playbills for instance, and when I say no stone is left unturned, you'd better believe it.

There are two ways to view this book. The first is to read it and marvel at how glowingly Welles comes off by Callows account. The other is to view it cynically - Welles achieves all this, and then what happens? - both would be accurate conclusions, and it remains to see how Callow fares with part 2 of this biography. Don't get me wrong here, Callow offers no bias either way, and perhaps it's a result of Welles prodigal nature, but I can't help but feel the level of detail in the work adds up to a feeling of, not hatred, more of a "pride before a fall" scenario.

I have to make a slight criticism of the piece, and that is that it can become quite a heavy read. Don't take me too seriously, because it is very much worth the reading time, but Callow spends an enormous amount of time describing the minutest details in Welles life - something that can and invariably will put off the less convicted reader (who should read David Thompson's "Rosebud" instead).

That taken on board, however, you will not read a more exhaustive, serious, and well-researched account of Welles early life anywhere. Period. Callows Herculean work here is truly definitive, and in biography that is a mark of supreme distinction indeed.

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