Citizen Kane (1941)

Directed by Orson Welles. Starring Orson Welles, Dorothy Comingore, Joseph Cotten, Everett Sloane, William Alland, Ruth Warrick, George Coulouris, Paul Stewart, Erskine Sanford, Agnes Moorehead, Harry Shannon, Philip Van Zandt.

The landmark film in the history of cinema may or may not be the greatest motion picture ever produced, but it’s hard to argue against it being the single most influential. Innovative narrative structure, Gregg Toland’s groundbreaking photographic techniques, layered mixing of overlapping sound effects and music and dialogue on the soundtrack, seamless special effects that fill the film yet often go unnoticed, and Robert Wise and Mark Robson’s breathless yet graceful editing are all staggering accomplishments…and that’s before getting to the routine breeds of acclaim for this absorbing story of the rise and fall of William Randolph Hearst-esque media baron, Charles Foster Kane (e.g., magnificent lead performance, versatile supporting cast, smart dialogue, and so on). Granted, the chiaroscuro and dramatic angles and impressionistic cuts had already been in practice before, but never operating all together like this, and with such smoothly complex precision; yet such is the rub for a film as vociferously celebrated as this one—naysayers both studied and groundless must be heard. Quite the achievement for its supremely talented star, director, producer, and co-scripter (his film debut in all categories, no less), and Welles made the most out of the only opportunity he’d ever get to make a film exactly as he wanted without damaging interference from outsiders. The ego to match was inevitable—as co-writer Herman J. Mankiewicz reportedly put it: “There, but for the grace of God, goes God”—but what a thrill it is to experience, review, analyze, and simply appreciate this movie. Also breaking into motion pictures for the first time are a good number of the cast members (and the “Mercury Theatre is proud to introduce them”) as well as composer Bernard Herrmann. Because of Hearst’s hatred toward the film and the breadth of his influence, the picture proved controversial in many circles at the time of its release, and was reportedly booed whenever mentioned during the Academy Awards ceremony, where it won just one of its nine nominations: Best Original Screenplay for Welles and Mankiewicz.

99/100