Director: Orson Welles
Original Release: May 1, 1941
My Overall Rating: 4 stars out of 5
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| via Wikipedia |
Charles Foster Kane builds a newspaper empire, ultimately becoming one of the richest and most influential men in the world. Then his life falls apart. Truthfully, any plot synopsis falls short of conveying the sheer immensity of Citizen Kane. Is it the greatest film ever made? That's certainly a worthy debate though it comes as close to critical consensus as any. I've only given it a 4, not because I deny its brilliance but because there are other movies I enjoy a lot more.
Kane was Welles's first film after he'd taken the theatre world by storm. He was given as close to total creative control as a major studio has ever given a first-time director, before or since. He made the most of the opportunity. He was only 25 years old.
I'd love to take a class on Kane. It doesn't take long to recognize its uniqueness. Other films simply don't look like this. Cinematographer Gregg Toland literally invented camera shots, even carving new lenses. It would be fun to go through shot by shot with someone who has studied it lovingly for years. Kane is the Hamlet of film in that once you start looking for homages, you see them everywhere. All the huge wooden crates in the mansion at the end of the movie... can't help thinking of the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Amazingly, Kane flopped in its original release. The story hit too close to home for William Randolph Hearst, one of several real-life inspirations for the protagonist. Hearst forbade his newspapers from advertising or even mentioning the movie. The impact on ticket sales was no joke. Even so, quite a lot of critics fell in love with it and the movie was re-released in 1956 with much greater success. It probably didn't hurt that Hearst had passed away in 1951.
I thought the movie was wonderful. But it also came out at a terrible time, just half a year before we entered WW2, at a time everyone knew we'd be entering the war. That, I think, may have also played a role in the movie's poor beginning. It also hurt another of my favorite movies of the time, "Sullivan's Travels."
ReplyDeleteCitizen Kane is a great movie, but I don't know if it's the best ever made. It's difficult to choose. Hearst certainly damaged its potential for profitability, but it's also a very dark movie. If movie goers wanted to see something that would cheer them up, then they didn't want Citizen Kane.
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Janie
There’s always a case that no film has ever told as bold a story, of a man who could’ve been called scoundrel, and yet at the end you have sympathy for him. For the sheer force of Welles for the one and only time allowed to do exactly what he wanted, it remains astonishing. Also not my pick for best film ever made, but any serious appreciation of the medium can’t overlook it.
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