Post by klep on Jan 7, 2019 8:07:12 GMT -6
MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 1/7: Citizen Kane
DEBUT WEEK!
Orson Welles' prodigious talents had already made him famous by the time he got to Hollywood. He and his Mercury Theatre had already put on a number of productions on Broadway as well as on the radio - most notably his famed radio production of The War of the Worlds. He didn't need or want Hollywood, but Hollywood wanted him. After rebuffing offers from various studios, RKO pictures finally made Welles an offer he couldn't refuse - full control, including final cut. And so it was that Welles finally abandoned Broadway and found the most frustrating love of his life.
He didn't arrive by himself, however. Citizen Kane is populated almost entirely by first time screen actors, and all the primary roles are members of the Mercury Theatre. And every one of them turns in a great performance - even Agnes Moorehead gives us brilliance in her very brief role as Kane's mother. One of Welles' great strengths as a director was the rapport he developed with his cast. His respect and love for his actors helped them to collaborate on delivering exactly what Welles wanted. And Welles himself at the center is truly formidable. He plays Kane at several stages of life, and each one is recognizably a progression from the last both mentally and physically. Despite only being 25, Welles was equally as adept as the aged Kane at film's end as he is the brash young Kane who takes over the Inquirer.
Legendary cinematographer Gregg Toland signed on to work with Welles because he knew Welles was ambitious in his art, but primarily because Welles had no idea what he was doing - which is to say, he didn't know what couldn't be done. For several days at the start of production Welles went around directing the setup of the lights himself, unaware that was generally considered the cinematographer's job. When he found out Welles was mortified, but Toland insisted he was there to learn from Welles and not vice versa. As a result, Citizen Kane is full of techniques and shots that no one had ever seen before. Most notable is the film's extensive use of deep focus, keeping everything on the screen sharp and clear to the eye. Extraordinarily difficult to achieve at the time, Welles insisted on it anyway - he felt it more realistic. Even something as simple as showing the ceilings of rooms was an innovation (they were typically never there, as that was where lighting and microphones would be), but Welles felt their absence would have been a lie.
The story of Citizen Kane is as unique and creative as the efforts that went into capturing it. Interrogating the life of a newspaper magnate, the film jumps in and out and around and back through the life of Charles Foster Kane (Welles). It's framed by a journalist trying to uncover the meaning of Kane's final word - "Rosebud" - and as he talks to witnesses we see some of the same events from different perspectives. Not the exact same scenes, necessarily, but different aspects of those parts of Kane's life depending on who was there.
Through it all, a picture emerges of Kane as an intensely charismatic individual, but also a distressingly isolated one. Kane goes through life collecting all the external signifiers of success - an entourage of luggage, artwork, and other curios seems to travel in his wake. He builds a paper into a national network of papers. He marries the President's niece. He stages a formidable campaign for Governor of New York. He builds the largest private retreat in the nation, the extravagant Xanadu and constantly hosts visitors for extravagant parties.
But despite all the adulation seemingly paid to him, none of it ever seems to be enough. Kane goes through life trying to make people love him, but the longer they stay in his life the more they see that their love isn't returned in equal measure. It eventually becomes clear to them that no matter how much fun being in Kane's light can be, he will never truly be there for them. All of his largesse is just part of a scheme - conscious or not - to bind people closer to him. He is interested in love, but only on his own terms. No surprise that such a man dies bitter and alone, wishing for a past he can never reclaim.
Charles Foster Kane was a fictionalized amalgam of a couple of individuals, but unfortunately the most vengeful of these was William Randolph Hearst. Hearst saw Welles' film as a gross insult to himself and to Marion Davies (though Dorothy Comingore's Susan Alexander Kane was based on someone else entirely), and as a result had the film blacklisted. It was well-reviewed (and would receive 9 Oscar nominations) and played well in the few places where it was shown, but no theater chains would screen it and no Hearst paper would mention it. Its many innovations would become commonplace in other films, but Kane itself largely vanished from view until RKO sold its library in the 1950s.
By then the damage had been done. Welles' reputation in Hollywood would never really recover from the damage Hearst did to it; while making Kane caused him to fall in love with the movies, he would forever struggle to get his ideas put on screen. These days we recognize the brilliance of Citizen Kane and of Welles himself like we should have done all along. It's hard to say what we lost - the recent release of The Other Side of the Wind only hints at where he might have gone artistically had he been given the chance - but at least we'll always have Citizen Kane. That one brief moment where a generational talent was given free reign, and gave us one of the greatest works of art in history.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 1/14: All About Eve
Our next Movie of the Week is Joseph Mankiewicz' Best Picture-winning All About Eve. Join us next week for our discussion of this film, available for rent on Amazon Video (though not free for Prime members).
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 1/2: Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse
After dropping the second part of this edition last Wednesday, the podcast has gone on break for a couple weeks. We'll have a thread this Wednesday for discussion of the latest iteration of Spider-Man.
DEBUT WEEK!
Orson Welles' prodigious talents had already made him famous by the time he got to Hollywood. He and his Mercury Theatre had already put on a number of productions on Broadway as well as on the radio - most notably his famed radio production of The War of the Worlds. He didn't need or want Hollywood, but Hollywood wanted him. After rebuffing offers from various studios, RKO pictures finally made Welles an offer he couldn't refuse - full control, including final cut. And so it was that Welles finally abandoned Broadway and found the most frustrating love of his life.
He didn't arrive by himself, however. Citizen Kane is populated almost entirely by first time screen actors, and all the primary roles are members of the Mercury Theatre. And every one of them turns in a great performance - even Agnes Moorehead gives us brilliance in her very brief role as Kane's mother. One of Welles' great strengths as a director was the rapport he developed with his cast. His respect and love for his actors helped them to collaborate on delivering exactly what Welles wanted. And Welles himself at the center is truly formidable. He plays Kane at several stages of life, and each one is recognizably a progression from the last both mentally and physically. Despite only being 25, Welles was equally as adept as the aged Kane at film's end as he is the brash young Kane who takes over the Inquirer.
Legendary cinematographer Gregg Toland signed on to work with Welles because he knew Welles was ambitious in his art, but primarily because Welles had no idea what he was doing - which is to say, he didn't know what couldn't be done. For several days at the start of production Welles went around directing the setup of the lights himself, unaware that was generally considered the cinematographer's job. When he found out Welles was mortified, but Toland insisted he was there to learn from Welles and not vice versa. As a result, Citizen Kane is full of techniques and shots that no one had ever seen before. Most notable is the film's extensive use of deep focus, keeping everything on the screen sharp and clear to the eye. Extraordinarily difficult to achieve at the time, Welles insisted on it anyway - he felt it more realistic. Even something as simple as showing the ceilings of rooms was an innovation (they were typically never there, as that was where lighting and microphones would be), but Welles felt their absence would have been a lie.
The story of Citizen Kane is as unique and creative as the efforts that went into capturing it. Interrogating the life of a newspaper magnate, the film jumps in and out and around and back through the life of Charles Foster Kane (Welles). It's framed by a journalist trying to uncover the meaning of Kane's final word - "Rosebud" - and as he talks to witnesses we see some of the same events from different perspectives. Not the exact same scenes, necessarily, but different aspects of those parts of Kane's life depending on who was there.
Through it all, a picture emerges of Kane as an intensely charismatic individual, but also a distressingly isolated one. Kane goes through life collecting all the external signifiers of success - an entourage of luggage, artwork, and other curios seems to travel in his wake. He builds a paper into a national network of papers. He marries the President's niece. He stages a formidable campaign for Governor of New York. He builds the largest private retreat in the nation, the extravagant Xanadu and constantly hosts visitors for extravagant parties.
But despite all the adulation seemingly paid to him, none of it ever seems to be enough. Kane goes through life trying to make people love him, but the longer they stay in his life the more they see that their love isn't returned in equal measure. It eventually becomes clear to them that no matter how much fun being in Kane's light can be, he will never truly be there for them. All of his largesse is just part of a scheme - conscious or not - to bind people closer to him. He is interested in love, but only on his own terms. No surprise that such a man dies bitter and alone, wishing for a past he can never reclaim.
Charles Foster Kane was a fictionalized amalgam of a couple of individuals, but unfortunately the most vengeful of these was William Randolph Hearst. Hearst saw Welles' film as a gross insult to himself and to Marion Davies (though Dorothy Comingore's Susan Alexander Kane was based on someone else entirely), and as a result had the film blacklisted. It was well-reviewed (and would receive 9 Oscar nominations) and played well in the few places where it was shown, but no theater chains would screen it and no Hearst paper would mention it. Its many innovations would become commonplace in other films, but Kane itself largely vanished from view until RKO sold its library in the 1950s.
By then the damage had been done. Welles' reputation in Hollywood would never really recover from the damage Hearst did to it; while making Kane caused him to fall in love with the movies, he would forever struggle to get his ideas put on screen. These days we recognize the brilliance of Citizen Kane and of Welles himself like we should have done all along. It's hard to say what we lost - the recent release of The Other Side of the Wind only hints at where he might have gone artistically had he been given the chance - but at least we'll always have Citizen Kane. That one brief moment where a generational talent was given free reign, and gave us one of the greatest works of art in history.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 1/14: All About Eve
Our next Movie of the Week is Joseph Mankiewicz' Best Picture-winning All About Eve. Join us next week for our discussion of this film, available for rent on Amazon Video (though not free for Prime members).
NEXT PICTURE SHOW PODCAST for 1/2: Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse
After dropping the second part of this edition last Wednesday, the podcast has gone on break for a couple weeks. We'll have a thread this Wednesday for discussion of the latest iteration of Spider-Man.