The War of the Worlds wunderkind had made a splash in theatre and on the radio, so in 1940 RKO Pictures offered him what many film historians consider to be the best deal ever for a first-time director. He was to be allowed to direct two films with guaranteed ‘final cut’, the assurance that the studio would not interfere with his vision as long as he stayed on budget. For his first film, he chose to adapt Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. Welles would play the narrator, Marlow – but the audience would never see him, except for a couple moments in shadow and in mirrors. Instead the film would use a ‘subjective camera’, in which the viewer saw things from the point-of-view of Marlow himself. But the project proved too costly and Welles decided to make Citizen Kane instead – not a bad fallback. (Rex)