75 years of Citizen Kane...

[Winston T. Boogie]

Title: Citizen Kane

Tagline: It's terrific!

Genre: Mystery, Drama

Director: Orson Welles

Cast: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore, Ray Collins, George Coulouris, Agnes Moorehead, Paul Stewart, Ruth Warrick, Erskine Sanford, William Alland, Everett Sloane, Fortunio Bonanova, Gus Schilling, Philip Van Zandt, Georgia Backus, Harry Shannon, Sonny Bupp, Buddy Swan, Gregg Toland, Don Ackerman, Nat King Cole, Gino Corrado, Maurice Costello, Demetrius Alexis, Gene Coogan, Art Dupuis, Rudy Germane, Mike Lally, Walter Lawrence, John Northpole, Victor Romito, Bob Terry, William Alston, Jack Gargan, Bert Moorhouse, Carmen Laroux, Sam Ash, Buddy Messinger, Terrance Ray, Sally Corner, Walter Bacon, Herbert Corthell, Harry A. Bailey, Danny Borzage, J.J. Clark, Tom Coleman, Carl Deloro, Jack Egan, Robert Haines, Ludwig Lowry, John McCormack, Hercules Mendez, Paddy O'Flynn, Sam Rice, Don Roberts, Larry Wheat, Larry Williams, Joan Blair, Morgan Brown, Harry Burkhardt, Edmund Cobb, Eddie Coke, Louis Natheaux, Arthur O'Connell, Guy Repp, Tom Steele, Richard Wilson, Louise Currie, Walter Sande, Jan Wiley, Milton Kibbee, Buck Mack, Alan Ladd, Thomas A. Curran, Jack Curtis, George Noisom, Gerald Pierce, Donna Dax, George DeNormand, Bud Geary, Bert LeBaron, Clyde McAtee, Cyril Ring, Roland Winters, Lew Harvey, Herman J. Mankiewicz, Eddie Dew, Perc Launders, John Dilson, Walter James, Robert Dudley, Suzanne Dulier, Al Eben, Johnny Eckert, Carl Ekberg, Edith Evanson, Carl Faulkner, Juanita Fields, Edna Mae Jones, Leda Nicova, Jolane Reynolds, Suzanne Ridgeway, Olin Francis, Louise Franklin, Renee Godfrey, Peter Gowland, Jimmy Grant, Jesse Graves, Ernest Grooney, Jack Gwynne, Teddy Mangean, Henry Hebert, Bryan 'Slim' Hightower, Mitchell Ingraham, Philip Morris, Francis Sayles, George W. Jimenez, Ellen Lowe, James T. Mack, Mickey Martin, Bruce Sidney, Major McBride, Frank McLure, Charles Meakin, Edward Peil Jr., Irving Mitchell, Frances E. Neal, Lillian Nicholson, Joseph North, William H. O'Brien, Field Norton, Dick Scott, Frank O'Connor, Russ Powell, Bert Stevens, Thomas Pogue, Lillian O'Malley, Jack Raymond, Gohr Van Vleck, Myrtle Rishell, Benny Rubin, Shimen Ruskin, George Sherwood, Edward Ryan, Landers Stevens, Harry J. Vejar, Tudor Williams, Arthur Yeoman, Tim Davis, Charles Bennett, Arthur Kay

Release: 1941-04-17

Runtime: 119

Plot: Newspaper magnate, Charles Foster Kane is taken from his mother as a boy and made the ward of a rich industrialist. As a result, every well-meaning, tyrannical or self-destructive move he makes for the rest of his life appears in some way to be a reaction to that deeply wounding event.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat...nniversary_with_this_supercut_of_homages.html

 

[TravisR]

The 50th anniversary of Citizen Kane happened about the time I was starting to get into older movies as a kid and all the anniversary talk and showings on TV are why I saw the movie relatively young (my friends were watching Ferris Bueller and Lethal Weapon I was more interested in this). It's shocking that the 75th anniversary is already here. Along with Hitchcock movies and Casablanca, Citizen Kane is a big reason why I'm a fan of many eras of movies.

Also, thank god the internet is basically anonymous or I'd be too embarrassed to admit that I knew that today was the 35th anniversary of the release of Friday The 13th Part 2 but had no clue that it was also the anniversary of Kane.

 

[Angelo Colombus]

Tuesday is the release day in the UK for 75th anniversary Kane Blu-ray release and I guess it will have the same stuff as the US version released a few years ago.

 

[Bert Greene]

Hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that "Kane" is now 75 years old. I recall when I was a young, budding film buff and how awed I used to be when I encountered an old film on television that had reached the 40-year-old mark. Always an early-talkie of some sort.

Plus, heck, it seems like it wasn't all that long ago we'd see Orson Welles doing magic tricks on Merv Griffin's show, Joseph Cotton popping up in some b-grade horrors, and Ruth Warwick in some afternoon soap.

"Citizen Kane" ...75 years old. Just dang.

 

[benbess]

And Citizen Kane is still in the news today, as I try to explain in an article recently published by the online non-partisan magazine Politico:

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/06/donald-trump-2016-citizen-kane-213943

In one scene, Kane stands before an oversize fireplace that recalls a medieval hellmouth. As Carringer writes, “The dramatic result is to create one of the most startling and psychologically upsetting effects in the entire film.” Near the end of his life, Kane is in a self-made hell of excessive ego, ambition and acquisition that Welles later described this way: “I wished to make a picture which might be called a ‘failure story.’ … My story was not, therefore, about how a man gets money, but what he does with his money—not when he gets old—but throughout his entire career.”

 

[wheeledgoat]

I'm hoping someone can help me here: I've never seen this movie through, despite its legendary status. I set about to fix that this past weekend but only got about an hour in when I got interrupted. And despite getting halfway through I just didn't feel the pull to go back and finish it. Now, my 48hr rental is expired and I'm struggling with the decision to re-rent and finish. Is there something miraculous in the 2nd half that makes it all worthwhile? Or has the movie shown me what it's all about by then, and if I'm not into it by the halfway point it's probably not going to do anything for me?

 

[ScottRE]

It's not the kinda movie that is a turd in the first half and then suddenly becomes great. You're either pulled in at the start or you're not. I always was. It's my all time favorite film and a beautiful piece of cinema from start to finish, even though the Peanuts characters blew the reveal for me even as a kid. Honestly, if you don't like it by now, you won't by the ending.

 

[wheeledgoat]

Thanks Scott - that's very helpful. I've read a little (but not too much, trying to avoid spoilers) - what pulled you in? I've read prase of the cinematography. I'm still tempted to re-rent, if only out of curiosity. If I knew what to 'tune in' to it may help me to develop some appreciation.

 

[David_B_K]

It's not the kinda movie that is a turd in the first half and then suddenly becomes great. You're either pulled in at the start or you're not. I always was. It's my all time favorite film and a beautiful piece of cinema from start to finish, even though the Peanuts characters blew the reveal for me even as a kid. Honestly, if you don't like it by now, you won't by the ending.

Same here. If I just start watching the opening I end up watching the whole thing. I still remember my excitement when the Criterion laserdisc arrived at my house back in 1985 or so (it was their first release along with King Kong). It was the best print I had ever seen of the film. Between watching the movie and going through Carringer's "visual essay" I think I was up til 2:00 AM that night even though I had to go to work early in the morning.

 

[Angelo Colombus]

There are many great scenes through out the movie and it's one of my favorite of all time. If you have a chance check out other films made by Welles like The Magnificent Ambersons, Touch of Evil, Chimes at Midnight, and The Lady From Shanghai. Also check out The Third Man with Welles as a actor in one of his best performances.

 

[Angelo Colombus]

Same here. If I just start watching the opening I end up watching the whole thing. I still remember my excitement when the Criterion laserdisc arrived at my house back in 1985 or so (it was their first release along with King Kong). It was the best print I had ever seen of the film. Between watching the movie and going through Carringer's "visual essay" I think I was up til 2:00 AM that night even though I had to go to work early in the morning.

Still have my Criterion lasers.

 

[Angelo Colombus]

Have to wonder for it's 80th anniversary next year will there be a better image in a 4k release?

 

[ScottRE]

Thanks Scott - that's very helpful. I've read a little (but not too much, trying to avoid spoilers) - what pulled you in? I've read prase of the cinematography. I'm still tempted to re-rent, if only out of curiosity. If I knew what to 'tune in' to it may help me to develop some appreciation.

Some films just work their magic on you, it’s different for everyone. Citizen Kane, King Kong, Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep, Frankenstein, and many more just grab me and fill me with a variety of emotions which all add up to “joy.” Some films are classics that do ZERO for me. The Graduate, for example, strikes me as clumsy and amateurishly shot (particularly in the finale at the church with the over the top mouthing and fist waving). Most of Stanley Kubrick’s work is utterly lost on me (I love Spartacus and “like” 2001 – and that’s it). As with humor, what we like in films is subjective. However, I truly appreciate you giving Citizen Kane a few honest and fair shots.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I love Citizen Kane and found it to be riveting from the very start but I am in a minority among my peers in feeling that way. More often than not, they respect the artistry and innovation but have grown up with decades of films that have used those innovations without thinking twice about it, so the reaction is a sort of, “this is what all the fuss is about?” reaction.

I think Welles is magnificent and find the story to be thrilling but there’s nothing in there that hasn’t been copied a million times since so I can understood why it doesn’t seem fresh to most people today.

 

[ScottRE]

There are many great scenes through out the movie and it's one of my favorite of all time. If you have a chance check out other films made by Welles like The Magnificent Ambersons, Touch of Evil, Chimes at Midnight, and The Lady From Shanghai. Also check out The Third Man with Welles as a actor in one of his best performances.

The Stranger is one of the best Noir Thrillers of the day, Great cast and amazing direction by Welles.

 

[Wayne_j]

Citizen Kane is having a 80th anniversary Fathom Event Today and Wednesday. I have my ticket for 3pm today.

 

[Wayne_j]

I'm back from the Fathom event. The presentation was solid except for a bit of discoloration (I've seen a lot worse from the SONY 4K projectors this theater uses).

Introduction by Ben Mankiewicz who as he points out is the grandson of the screenwriter.

As always I think the greatness of Kane comes not from the story or acting, but from the masterpiece of Cinematography, Editing, Directing, and Makeup.

 

[TJPC]

As far as appreciation is concerned, the film grabbed me when I was a teenager and I decided to always watch it whenever it came on (pre-vcr). I would set an alarm and get up at 3:00 a.m. or even take a day off school to watch it. I later owned the film on Beta, VHS, DVD, and Blu.

I learned never to show it to my high school classes however. The one time I did, they absolutely hated it, and I could not get them to even pay attention.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I was watching some of it yesterday on TCM and I still think it's a great movie with an entertainment value that doesn't measure up to its filmmaking. The character of Charles Foster Kane is even more fascinating today than it was back in my youth.