Go watch The Third Man which is basically 30 minutes worth of plot jam-crammed into an hour and a half, or better yet, Touch of Evil [possibly the worst major film ever made] and get back to me on what a "great storyteller" Orson Welles was.
I have no idea what politics has to do with Welles’ esteem. He was never really respected or supported by the Hollywood mainstream. He had trouble getting financing for his films all of his life. Studio heads regarded him as a bad investment.
Also, Welles didn’t write or direct ‘The Third Man’. ‘Touch of Evil’ is a masterpiece which looks ahead to David Lynch (another guy you probably think is a ‘bore’). Welles never directed a bad feature film. ‘The Magnificent Ambersons’ is awesome even in its butchered form. His three Shakespeare films are the ideal (and preferable to anything Olivier or Branagh ever did). ‘The Trial’ is as good as any Kafka put on screen and ‘F For Fake’ is a marvel of making something out of nothing.