John Huston documentaries." Huston did an uncredited rewrite of Anthony Veiller's screenplay for "The Stranger" (1946), a film he was to have directed. When Huston became unavailable Orson Welles was offered the opportunity to direct. He had been cast in the role of a high-ranking Nazi fugitive who manages to settle in New England under an assumed name. His next picture, which he wrote, directed, and briefly appeared in as an American, asked to "help out a fellow American, down on his luck", was "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" (1948). It would become one of the films which established his reputation
John Huston himself for a while, and not a very good one." George Stevens, Jr. notes that while many directors rely on post-production editing to shape their final work, Huston instead created his films while they were being shot: "I don't even know the editor of my films most of the time," Huston said. Actor Michael Caine also observed the same technique: "Most directors don't know what they want so they shoot everything they can think of — they use the camera like a machine gun. John uses it like a sniper." Film writer Peter Flint also agrees and points out other