Orson Welles, 1941
[23 votes]
“I
don’t care that it just lost the top spot in the Sight & Sound ‘Greatest Films of All Time’ poll for the first time in 50 years to Vertigo-
Citizen Kane will always be the king
of classic cinema. Forget decades of pseudo cinephiles complaining that it’s
overrated; Orson Welles’ magnum opus, largely seen as a towering ‘takedown
piece’ on newspaper
magnate William Randolph Hearst, is still an exciting and incredibly vivid
experience as its 70th anniversary Blu-Ray release last year strongly attests.
Its story may not be as deep as cinematographer
Greg Toland’s deep focus, but the passion involved with inventing a new
cinematic language involving quick-cut editing, a
delirious use of dissolves, and, in the words of Roger Ebert on his original
DVD commentary, ‘a higher percentage of special effects than one of the Star Wars
movies,’ has never failed to mesmerize me.
“All
the bells and whistles aside, Welles makes great use of his Mercury Theatre players
throughout the film, particularly Joseph Cotten and Everett Sloane, who both may
have more memorable quotes than Kane. But whether or not you buy into the
auteur theory, or believe Pauline Kael’s arguments that co-writer Herman
J. Mankiewicz was the real brains behind the project, it’s undeniably Welles’
show. The grand quadruple-threat,
who was only 24 at the time, kills as the power-mad multi-millionaire publisher
in a performance that’s at first amusing in its sheer youthful confidence, then
devastatingly touching in the character’s old-age decline into lavish
loneliness.
“Even if Citizen Kane never again
tops Sight & Sound’s poll, its 50
year run as the greatest film ever will be impossible to beat. From grainy VHS
copies, to sharp DVD and even sharper Blu-Ray special editions, (with some
big-screen revival showings along the way), Kane
has never stopped getting to me. I know, no matter what tops whatever ‘best
movie ever’ poll, that it never will.” - Daniel Cook
Johnson
“First,
I have a confession to make: I didn’t
vote for Citizen Kane.
“That’s
not to say I don’t think Kane is one
of the greats, because it clearly is.
It’s just that, when the time came to choose the twenty films, I decided
that if I was limited by how many I could pick then I should pick twenty movies
that, as a friend of mine put it, I’d ‘go to the mat for.’ In short, movies that aren’t just great to
everyone but also special to me. So
goodbye Kane, hello A Hard Day’s Night! and Blow Out, two movies to which I feel
personally connected in a way I never quite have with Kane.
“But
perhaps that’s inevitable, considering what a colossus Welles’ first
masterpiece has become, looming mightily over film history… that is, until its
unceremonious dethroning by Vertigo
in the Sight and Sound poll this
year. Nonetheless, for any movie lover
who came of age in the last five decades, Kane
was inescapable, a movie that could never simply be great, but rather one to
which discussions eventually turned to whether it was indeed the undisputed
cinematic heavyweight champ.
“Frankly,
that’s quite a burden for one movie to bear, and it’s a testament to how damn
good Citizen Kane really is that it
managed to withstand that level of scrutiny for fifty years (good luck, Vertigo!). And now that it’s been freed from that level
of responsibility, it’s time for people to take another look at the movie on
its own terms, not those that have been imposed upon it by critics, scholars,
and lovers of cinema for the last fifty years.
“Much
like the English teacher who wishes he could experience Romeo and Juliet for the first time the way his students do, I’m
envious of all the cinephilic young turks who will be enjoying their first Kane experience now that it doesn’t rule
the roost anymore. Rather than having
its legendary status drummed into them from the start, they’re more likely to
come to it the way they might come to any classic work- in a film studies
class, a retrospective, or simply through word of mouth. In this way, they’re more likely to enjoy it
after their own fashion without having to take sides, as if participating in
the “is Kane #1?” debate were akin to
pitting Team Jacob against Team Edward.
“The
way I see it, Kane has the potential
to become the fun uncle of American cinema.
After all, it’s been around so long that it knows all the old stories
and where the bodies are buried, and every time you see it, it’s got a new joke
or magic trick for you. It’s not top dog
anymore, but it’s fun and approachable and nice enough to remember your
girlfriend’s name even if you haven’t seen it in a year or two. In other words, it’s about time for Citizen Kane to be cool again.
“Because,
really, it is cool, especially if you
can learn to come to it with fresh eyes.
Decades of cinematic influence may have robbed the celebrated flashback
structure of its novelty, and Kane’s
deep focus photography isn’t so jaw-dropping to an audience that takes digital
touch-ups for granted (although honestly, isn’t the fact that it looks so damn good
on Blu-Ray all the more impressive considering Welles didn’t tweak the visuals
with HD in mind?). But what’s unmistakable
is the verve with which Welles infused the film, from the opening logo to the
end titles. A consummate showman from
the beginning, Welles came to Hollywood with a bag full of radio and theater
tricks (plus a few he learned from watching movies), and the vision- and sound
judgment- to include as many of them as the story could handle but no
more. Seeing the movie today, it’s amazing
to see how dense the movie is- with narrative, with characters, with technique
and style- but it never collapses under its own weight. Lumbering white elephant art this isn’t.
“It’s
tempting to read Kane as a movie that
anticipates Welles’ career slide, as Kane’s brash youth gave way to troubles
later in life (was Don Quixote
Welles’ Susan Alexander?). But in light
of the films that followed, I prefer to see Kane
as a cautionary tale from the youthful Welles to his elder counterpart. As Charles Foster Kane falls from grace and
entombs himself in Xanadu, one can almost hear Welles telling himself, ‘don’t
let this be you. Learn your lessons the
first time, and then move on. Keep
searching. Keep experimenting. Don’t pit yourself against the world- be a
part of it. Enjoy life, if not too
wisely then too well. And if you fail,
go down in flames so you can light up the sky.
Be the guy who can look his 25-year-old self square in the eye without a
modicum of regret.’
“Citizen Kane is still the same
movie it’s always been, even if the audience has changed. And just because it doesn’t need your love
doesn’t mean it doesn’t deserve it.” ~ Paul
Clark
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