It makes it feel more like a tribute, but it does at least elevate work normally passed over in favour of Citizen Kane and his battles with Hollywood.

His personal life is mostly side-lined, as is any detailed exploration of character and motivations. Although he’s rarely off the screen, the star of the show is his creative output, rather than Welles himself. Years are grouped into a number of sections, each tending to focus on one or two landmark events intercut with talking heads, countless footage of Welles himself, and related stills and subsidiary material. Told in what amounts to little more than a flashy video diary, the film works chronologically through his career from childhood to the grave. Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles acts as a rebuttal to this caricature, and while overly simplistic, proves undeniably fascinating. The traditional reading of his career trajectory sees an early and almost unimaginable high, followed by a near half century downward spiral. We’re supposed to look at him with a mixture of pity and despair, a man brought down by his truculent refusal to play inside the system. It’s strange because it doesn’t fit the narrative of a man cast so often as the tragic, unappreciated genius of cinema. A portly and aged Welles returns to America where he’s paraded around commemorative luncheons and award ceremonies, where all the Hollywood luminaries eager to get a taste.

The weirdest section of Chuck Workman’s new documentary on Orson Welles comes near the end.

The verve urban hymns zip