Welles’ second film. This is definitely part of a duo with Citizen Kane in regards to the tone and style of the piece. The angles are highly unusual and the camera is very close up to the subject at times yielding more abstract and heightened and surreal imagery.
This film however definitely feels warmer and more inviting than Citizen Kane. The story is also a lot more approachable from a character point of view as citizen kane is all about a character slowly being revealed to us, (or not), over the course of a film. This movie rather is about concrete relationships and how they develop over the course of the story. You can see some over the top shots and performance beats. The camera moves in and out at times of heightened drama in order to emphasize the moment which is fine.
Overall this movie is so-so. It's more human than Citizen Kane but the story is weaker in a way and a little underwhelming in terms of the payoff. The performances are great as always it's just the writing and the story don't have as much flash or substance to make it a great film.