Rating: 
Summary: Insightful Biography of a giant
Review: David Thomson's biography of Orson Wells is neither particularly scholarly nor exhaustive. Several longer biographies have been written that go into far greater detail. Why do I recommend this one? Thomson book is excellent for the effort he makes to reconstruct this strange and tragic man. Moreover, his beautiful prose brings to life much of the sad poetry of this artist who was lost to us, mostly because of his self destruction.Many may argue about the conclusions and theories Thomson lays out. I urge you to read the book and judge for yourself.
Rating:
Summary: left with a muddled feeling
Review: I enjoyed Thompson's book very much. Not only does he give us the insight on the genius of Orson Welles, but he also gives us a very compelling look at Orson Welles the man. After I was done with this book I was left with a very muddled feeling: I didn't know whether to hate Orson Welles or to admire him.
Rating: 
Summary: Tries to be avant garde, ends up just pretentious
Review: I was so looking forward to reading this book, but it turned out to be not at all what I expected. Perhaps I'm too used to a more conventional style of biography, but I found "Rosebud" hard to get through. As fascinating a person as Orson Welles was, parts of this book were still slow going. The author constantly interrupts the narrative with "dialogues" between himself and...himself? The publisher? An imaginary reader? It's hard to say, and seems to be used mostly to insert his own presence into the biography, and to do an end run around any potential libel.
Other unnecessary bits include a whole chapter of this dialogue between the author and his imaginary friend as they watch the first few minutes of "Citizen Kane," and another entire chapter about how the author became a fan of Welles. This is supposed to be a biography of Orson Welles, not a book about how David Thomson feels about Orson Welles, and how Thomson has taught "Citizen Kane" in his class for years, blah blah blah. Every time Welles' own story gets interesting, Thomson pops up to remind you he's there. Ideally, a reader shouldn't be bombarded with the presence of the author in a biography. There is some interesting information, but the book as a whole is not put together very well.
Rating: 
Summary: the worst of the Welles bios
Review: If there is a word for David Thomson's writing that word might be: twee. Another word: self-infatuated. How about: pompous. Having been overpraised in the past he now sees himself as a fellow artist and equal of a legend like Welles. An intellectual Rupert Pupkin, Thomson doesn't much bother with original research or new interviews so much as mincing daydreaming about how he and Welles are such spiritual kin. Ah, the labors of shared genius! These sections are kind of funny in a way but not for long. The vanity of this approach is breathtaking.Stick with Simon Callow's exhaustive 1st volume bio, or the very good one by Brady, or Barbara Leaming's somewhat hagiographic but highly entertaining bio (the best for capturing Welles'charisma and his own take on his life) or even the rather plodding but informative Bogdanovich interview book.
Rating: 
Summary: Leave Orson alone!
Review: In his introduction to the Biographical Dictionary of Cinema, the (Cliche!) greatest book ever written on the cinema (because it values humanism and impressionism over sterile science and yet still produces comparable insights. Compare his entry on Sirk and all those deadly 70s Screen articles on the melodrama), David Thomson hoped that readers would wrestle with the book, and make their own impressions sharper. This is certainly the case with his (cliche!) astonishing, yet maddening Orson Welles biography, Rosebud. The book is astonishing in its insight, human sympathy, narration; in it's commingling of hoary legend and hard-won facts to create a vivid, yet satisfyingly elusive portrait of America's greatest (along with Hawks!) filmmaker. THe device of the dialogue with the imaginary publisher is wonderfully unstuffy, and helps qualify some of the sternness in the 'main' sections. It's formal mirroring of and continual alluding to Citizen Kane cements the power of his biographical interpretation of that masterpiece. Having read the book, it is evident why Kane is the greatest, why it's such a rich and everlasting work. His analysis of the opening scenes are the best ever written, and almost make you long for a complete study. Most astonishing however, no less so for being predictable, is the Thomson style, the complete opposite of the Welles' aesthetic, graceful, playful, Nabakovian, allusive, yet similarly moving and melancholic. What irritates about the book is the tendency to moralise and judge Welles, as if we were all perfect. It's one thing to criticise the work (and although some of his verdicts seem capricious, it's refreshing to see Macbeth, THe Trial adn F For Fake get their due), the repeated harping on Welles' failure as a human being grate (although I may be too adoring of the monster for my own good). This callousness softens towards the end, and when THomson confesses that his own personality is too close to Welles, and that he has been a shaping influence on his life, all becomes clear and (a la Thomson!) forgiveable.
Rating:
Summary: Tremendous account of the boy wonder and what happenned.
Review: Simply the definitive account of the greatest american talent in cinemas history. From the glory of Kane to the despair of daytime commercials, Thomson treats the subject with equal measures of admiration, pity and despair. A great story well told. As Kane said "if I hadnt been rich, I COULD HAVE BEEN A TRULY GREAT MAN "
Rating:
Summary: Lyrical and Gigantic
Review: That sums up both Orson and this book. A very balanced view on Orson's rise and fall. You can tell Thomson has a special affinity for his subject. I enjoyed this book thoroughly, although not quite as much as the Simon Callow masterpiece which seemed to be overshadowed by this later, shorter, more comprehensive (i.e., bookstore friendly?) entry to the cannon of Wellesiana
Rating:
Summary: Ludicrous in Every Way
Review: This book, due to its more recent publication, seems to have taken the top spot among Welles bios, and that's too bad. David Thomson has written in "Rosebud" a book that is very poorly researched (if at all), and full of errors and missteps in both facts and judgments. Thomson demonstrates a general lack of understanding of Welles' career in even the vaguest sense. This makes most of his judgments about Welles and his work suspect, to say the least. Thomson disdains most of Welles' unfinished work, considering it unworthy of any study, despite the further insights to be gained from looking at this material; for Thomson, if it didn't get released, it doesn't count, and further, automatically counts against Welles as evidence of his negligence and weaknesses. For the later years, Thomson would rather get into speculation about Welles' mindset and personal life, without having much of a factual basis for doing so. Too much work to track down the unfinished footage, was it? Skip this garbage and re-watch one of Welles' films, you'll get more out it and save a chunk of your life from this nonsense.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent job on a very difficult subject.
Review: This is that rarest of birds, a celebrity biography that's actually a good book. Thomson is an insightful, elegant writer and a solid film (and film industry) critic, and his skills are fully at work here, as he resists both of the the strong responses that Welles usually elicits: hero worship, and the urge to debunk. Obviously long fascinated by Welles, Thomson manages to be as objective as possible (though I think he errs on the side of generosity with regard to some of Welles's post-Kane films). Thomson even manages to say something original and interesting about Citizen Kane, which alone would make the book worth a read. The real trouble with a biography of Welles is how to deal with the last two thirds of the life of someone who reached his peak at 26. That's a lot of anticlimax to deal with. Peter Guralnik faced a similar problem in his massive, two-volume Elvis Presley biography---how to write meaningfully and accurately about post-Army Elvis without boring people to death. Thomson deals rather more successfully with post-Kane Welles, mainly because he doesn't go into as much detail. Admittedly the later parts of the book become a bit of a blur; but throughout the book one gets the strong sense that Thomson has a firm grasp (as much as anyone can) of the enigmatic Welles---has his number, so to speak. Yet he is neither cruel nor fawning. This is THE Welles bio to read.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent job on a very difficult subject.
Review: This is that rarest of birds, a celebrity biography that's actually a good book. Thomson is an insightful, elegant writer and a solid film (and film industry) critic, and his skills are fully at work here, as he resists both of the the strong responses that Welles usually elicits: hero worship, and the urge to debunk. Obviously long fascinated by Welles, Thomson manages to be as objective as possible (though I think he errs on the side of generosity with regard to some of Welles's post-Kane films). Thomson even manages to say something original and interesting about Citizen Kane, which alone would make the book worth a read. The real trouble with a biography of Welles is how to deal with the last two thirds of the life of someone who reached his peak at 26. That's a lot of anticlimax to deal with. Peter Guralnik faced a similar problem in his massive, two-volume Elvis Presley biography---how to write meaningfully and accurately about post-Army Elvis without boring people to death. Thomson deals rather more successfully with post-Kane Welles, mainly because he doesn't go into as much detail. Admittedly the later parts of the book become a bit of a blur; but throughout the book one gets the strong sense that Thomson has a firm grasp (as much as anyone can) of the enigmatic Welles---has his number, so to speak. Yet he is neither cruel nor fawning. This is THE Welles bio to read.
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