Citizen Kane Movie Review

Citizen Kane Movie Review – In the end, it shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise. When Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo dethroned Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane (1941) as the greatest film of all time by Sight & Sound magazine’s international critics in 2012, it felt like the culmination of a decades-long process that had seen Hitchcock’s first decadent masterpiece. Gradually climbing the ranks until it overtakes the film that sat at the top of the list since 1962. But even more emblematic of Vertigo’s rise is Kane’s Fall (… to the second degree), which seems to represent more than one film obliterating another with a few votes. In the year In 2012, with more works from all over the world more easily accessible than ever before, cinephiles seem to be questioning the value of the canon in the first place more loudly than ever.

For decades, these all-time top ten lists have been dominated by the usual suspects: rotating, eclectic consensus classics (made mostly by American and European men) rarely allowed in new entries. And of course Vertigo wasn’t a shocking rehash of original flavor or a surprising shot at inclusion—it was a widely loved, endlessly rewritten, beautifully problematic classic from a director more conservative in his worldview. Wales more financially successful than ever). Even so, Hitchcock’s most complex and personal film, Finding Kane, finally seemed like anything was possible. Once blinded by his newness and creativity, Citizen Kane has come to represent the unchanging nature of the canon to some.

Citizen Kane Movie Review

That historical irony is fitting for a film that thrives on contradictions from the start. Indeed, that’s what mattered most for a long time—and still does. Upon arriving in Hollywood, Welles famously called the studio “the biggest electric train that any boy ever owned” and continued to use it as one. So Kane is an explosion of form, combining effects and techniques and stylistics from decades of filmmaking (and coming with plenty of its own), all in a distaste for audiences for a story with no uplifting message. or a clear moral vision. Hollywood’s golden age was at once a period of great success and discipline – even as an auteur took full advantage of the resources available to him, he thumbed his nose at the studio system.

The Ace Black Movie Blog: Movie Review: Citizen Kane (1941)

The contradictions did not end there. Kane was most American stories: a boy who comes from nothing and becomes a great businessman. But the tragedy of the story is old, dark: the hero is broken and dies alone, unsaved, as if a predatory rich man cursed him and makes a lavish spree of all his possessions. It was the work of a left that still seemed to understand the lure of money and power.

All this made Kane a suitable object for the post-war generation: some in Europe and earlier war-torn corners of the planet saw the film for the first time. Others, in America, were regularly performing in theater revivals and on television – enjoying the economic and cultural prosperity that came with them. Structured as an enigma, it was conceptually modern—participating in and even acknowledging the art of filmmaking—but from a postmodern perspective, its deeper meaning (one could argue for days, weeks, months) seemed hidden beneath a self-conscious work. The prison style. As you asked, the solution was either a deeply symbolic or a deeply unsatisfying psychological puzzle.

Citizen Kane was the best film of the second half of the twentieth century. But the mystery and magnificence never disappeared. It remains surprisingly relevant to this day. And it’s still one of the most stunningly beautiful films ever made by anyone, anywhere.

Unlike many masterpieces—say, Vertigo—Citizen Kane didn’t go through an initial period of hate. True, it was a financial disappointment, but it also had to do with the fact that the industry, based on Kane’s life, felt heat from the powerful press baron William Randolph Hearst. But Citizen Kane was a cause long before Hearst caught wind of it during previews. It was one even before the cameras started rolling. Before he became an actor and film director, Orson Welles was a type of theater and radio fixture – a brilliant, charismatic and impossibly young man who quickly became a bit ubiquitous. By the time he reached Hollywood, “Little Orson Annie” was already the subject of parodies.

What Went Wrong With… Citizen Kane (1941)?

He was a determined political artist, not to mention a divisive one, aligning himself closely with Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal during the Depression years. In the years before Kane, Welles gained notoriety for daring and politically confrontational stage productions that often angered conservatives: Macbeth, set in Haiti, with an all-black cast; a modern dress version of Julius Caesar set in a fascist dystopia; and the pro-union musical The Cradle Will Rock, which was shut down by the government four days before its opening day. When Kane finished, Welles was also directing a stage adaptation of Richard Wright’s Native Son, written by Wright himself.

Wells resented Citizen Kane’s more overt political sensibilities. For example, one draft of the script had Charles Foster Kane’s son grow up to be a member of an American fascist organization. The finished film’s political valence is subtle, hidden between the lines in its visual form, its competing viewpoints on a seemingly centerless man, and its evocation of horror-film tropes to illustrate his rising fortunes. power, and isolation. Perhaps the most relevant precursor was the work that brought Wells from New York to Hollywood in the first place: his 1938 CBS radio broadcast adaptation of H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds, which played as a newsreel. Press releases and many listeners convinced the Martians that they had indeed invaded the United States. The War of the Worlds may not have had a political character on the surface, but it knew the political times it was in: a listener used to news reports interrupting radio programs, using the public to channel its breath. About some new crisis or catastrophe, usually in Europe.

Even today, much of the acclaim for Citizen Kane comes from the fact that Wells was so young when he made it. He was twenty-four when, in 1939, he signed one of the most dramatic contracts in Hollywood history, giving RKO Pictures the ultimate measure of control, hiring him to write, direct, produce, and star in two projects, including the last. cut down. This was unprecedented, and Wells knew it. Everyone knew. And then, at the age of twenty-five, to be able to direct and star in such a great, life-spanning film—to make Citizen Kane, which was ultimately recognized as the greatest film of all time—what kind of magic was that?

But Wales’ youth and inexperience may be the secret to the picture’s success. He knew the spotlight was on him, and he had to deliver an impressive piece of art to justify it. After all, he knew that he knew nothing. (By some accounts, Welles was so green that the principles of screen direction had to be explained to him early in production. To listen to his cinematographer Greg Toland as he experimented with new ideas. In 1941, Toland described his working relationship with Welles and the visual ideas that became so prominent in the film. He wrote a piece for a popular photography magazine detailing the long preparation that went into it.

Citizen Kane (1941) • Visual Parables

Although it was Welles’ first foray into films, he came to the job with a rare perspective and understanding of camera aim and direction. It was his idea that filming technique should never be shown to the audience. He wanted to get away from the established Hollywood conventions, most of which are accepted by the audience because they are used frequently. And this recurring convention is dictated by time pressure and a reluctance to deviate from the accepted. For example, depth of field is almost always a sacrifice in Hollywood productions. The normal human eye sees everything in front of it (at a reasonable distance) clearly and well. In real life there is no special or single center of visual acuity. But Hollywood cameras focus on the center of interest and allow other parts of the scene to “pop out” in those regions before and beyond the point of focus. Getting the attention of the approximate human eye was one of our fundamental goals in Citizens.