Movie: "Citizen Kane" (1941)

[Bob Pr.]

"Citizen Kane" (1941) 119 min. PG Genres: drama, mystery. Stars: Orson Welles,
Joseph Cotten, Agnes Moorehead, Dorothy Comingore Plot: "Following the death
of a publishing tycoon, news reporters scramble to discover the meaning of his final
utterance"-- from IMDb. 9 Oscar nominations, 1 win (Best screenplay). Often rated
the best ever American film.
IMDb: 8.6 stars; 38th of the top 250 films ever Citizen Kane (1941) - IMDb
Rotten Tomatoes: 100% of critics vote it "ripe" Citizen Kane - Rotten Tomatoes
A Roger Ebert "Great Movie": "It is one of the miracles of cinema that in 1941 a
first-time director; a cynical, hard-drinking writer; an innovative cinematographer,
and a group of New York stage and radio actors were given the keys to a studio
and total control, and made a masterpiece. ``Citizen Kane'' is more than a great
movie; it is a gathering of all the lessons of the emerging era of sound, just as
``Birth of a Nation'' assembled everything learned at the summit of the silent era,
and ``2001'' pointed the way beyond narrative. These peaks stand above all the
others." Citizen Kane :: rogerebert.com :: Great Movies

If you see this movie without any advance knowledge, it's a good story with good
acting. But the more I've learned about its background and history, the more
fascinating it's become.

Orson Welles (OW) was only 25, famous for his radio acting group, but with no
previous movie experience when given carte blanche to make a film completely on
his own with all editing at his discretion. OW and the writer Herb Mankiewicz (HM)
discussed using several notable contemporary characters (e.g., Howard Hughs) as
take-offs for the main character before deciding on the newspaper tycoon William
Randolph Hearst, possibly because HM had been friends with Hearst & his mistress,
movie star Marion Davies, until HM's continued drunkeness at their parties led to his
exclusion (which ticked him off).

The character of 'Charles Foster Kane' (CFK) is an amalgam of fantasy plus some
features of Hearst as well as others, (including OW's huge ego, OW's temper, OW's being
orphaned and brought up by a non-relative). CFK's promotion of his 2nd wife "Susan
Alexander" as an opera star was based very closely on the otherwise unrelated
actions of a (real life) contemporary tycoon, Harold McCormick, with his 2nd wife.

When Hearst learned of CFK's resemblance to him, he ordered his publishing empire
(nationwide 28 city newspapers + many radio stations) to make NO mention, carry NO
advertising AT ALL of this film. That quashed its reception in the USA in any but a few
large metro areas (with competing newspapers). After 1955, when RKO sold its film
library to TV, "CK" began being widely seen and appreciated in the USA. French "New
Wave" film directors were also extolling "CK's" innovative greatness.

"CK" made a number of breakthroughs. Previously:
-- film narratives had unfolded sequentially and from only one point of view. In "CK",
CFK dies at the beginning and the rest of the film is a series of flashbacks with a reporter
seeking out details of CFK's life and with several characters giving contrasting views;
-- cinematographers had filmed scenes in residences horizontally, as an audience
views a theater set; CK's cinematographer excavated holes in the floor to make some
dramatic shots from that level;
-- in repeated scenes of CFK dining with his 1st wife, their dining table was incrementally
lengthened to subtly portray the growing distance between them;
-- plus many, many other innovations.

"CK", probably due to Hearst's very restrictive measures against the film, did not make
money for RKO. Since its resurgence, many experts have called it the greatest ever
movie/American film.

I saw it several months ago in a KU alum faculty film series and, just again, in our
Cathedral monthly film series. While it was enjoyable the first time, it was more so
the second time because I knew more.

For those interested in these areas, I highly commend the Wikipedia article on
"Citizen Kane" (as well as the one on "Orson Welles"). Wiki's article on "CK" (IMO)
seems fairly balanced (while some other books/articles on "CK" are not).

My vote: 9 of 10 stars.

[Paddysmom]

The dining table isn't the only prop that they slowly expanded to make a statement... later on the massive stone fireplace absolutely DWARFS her as she sits sadly in front of it... a very disturbing scene, that one.

[dweck]

Gregg Toland's 'deep focus' cinematography was stunning then and is stunning now. Camera angles, yes (one of the first H'wood films to show rooms with complete ceilings in them, using very low POVs). But also the ability to frame a shot where the action is quite distant from the camera but everything's in focus.