Citizen Kane

1)     In class we discussed Herman J. Mankiewicz and Orson Welles production of Citizen Kane. Orson Welles directed and starred in Citizen Kane as a young man, a middle aged man, as well as an old man also. Citizen Kane was first relased in 1941 and failed. It failed so badly that it almost didn’t get released. However, in 1998, the American Film Institute named Citizen Kane the best American Film of all time. In addition, Citizen Kane received nine Oscar nominations and four Academy Award nominations, including best writing in his original screenplay which he won.  However, Orson Welles was most well known for Mercury Theater radio dramas and “War of the Worlds”, which took place in Grovers Mills, New Jersey. He was only 24 years old when he made Citizen Kane and it was his very first movie. Welles had complete artistic control over the movie including editing approval. The structure and editing of the movie was also parallel to the story. Unfortunately, Orson Welles never got a chance to make another picture with as much control as he had in Citizen Kane.

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2)  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/kane2/   

This article talks about the battle between William Randolph Hearst, the Lord and ruler of San Simeon, and Orson Welles. A leading columnist named Hedda Hopper hated Citizen Kane after viewing it at a preview screening because she believed that it was a brutal portrait of Hearst. After he heard about the film, he successfully shut down the movie in efforts to try and protect his reputation. It was shut down for nearly a quarter-century before it was “revived”.

3)     Hearst was a 76 year old newspaper magnate and he was also the son of a very wealthy mine owner which pretty much made him “spoiled”. The fight between Hearst and Welles was largely due to a battle over the honor of Marion Davies, William Hearst’s companion. Hearst did not like the way that Welles treated her in the production of the movie. Overall, Welles underestimated Hearst’s ability to counterattack him. However, Hearst definitely prevailed. A lot of major theater chains refused to play Citizen Kane and as a result Welles only won one of his nine Academy Award nominations.

4)     I think that Citizen Kane was a very effective movie. It did a very good job of depicting Kane’s life, however the way he depicted him was very extreme. In addition, a lot of the flashbacks that occur in the movie happen more than once. Also I think it was very unfortunate that Thompson and the other reporters don’t solve the mystery at the end of the movie. However, I don’t think the film would be as effective if people didn’t know the backround story behind it or what the movie is really about.