Citizen Kane (1. 94. Articles. Citizen Kane (1. Synopsis. Following the death of a once powerful millionaire, a reporter begins to research his life, looking for clues to the dying man's last remark, 'Rosebud.' As the reporter begins tracing the life of Charles Foster Kane from his early years as the ward of Walter Parks Thatcher (George Coulouris), a wealthy banker, to his monumental career as a newspaper publisher, he interviews several of Kane's former friends and colleagues. Among them are Jedediah Leland (Joseph Cotton), the paper's drama critic, Mr. Bernstein (Everett Sloane), Kane's devoted assistant, and Susan Alexander (Dorothy Comingore), Kane's second wife. Their memories of the famous tycoon paint an, often contradictory, portrait of an arrogant, intelligent, sometimes generous, and impulsive individual who ended up alone and unhappy in his palatial mansion known as Xanadu. Producer/Director: Orson Welles. Screenplay: Herman J. Mankiwiecz, Orson Welles, John Houseman (uncredited)Art Direction: Van Nest Polglase, Perry Ferguson (associate)Cinematography: Gregg Toland. Costume Design: Edward Stevenson. Editing: Robert Wise. Original Music: Bernard Herrmann. Cast: Orson Welles (Charles Foster Kane), Joseph Cotton (Jedediah Leland), Dorothy Comingore (Susan Alexander), Agnes Moorehead (Mrs. Mary Kane), Ruth Warrick (Emily Norton Kane), Ray Collins (Boss James . Gettys), Herbert Carter (Everett Sloane). BW- 1. 20m. Descriptive video. Why Citizen Kane is Essential. Controversy has long swirled around the authorship of the screenplay for RKO's Citizen Kane (1. Oscars. Mankiewicz and Orson Welles. As the film was being prepared for release, Welles attempted to claim sole credit and acknowledged the contributions of Mankiewicz only after being forced to do so by the Writers Guild. Critic Pauline Kael, in her 1. The Citizen Kane Book, revived the debate with her carefully detailed argument that it was Mankiewicz who was primarily responsible for the screenplay, from inception of the idea through the shooting script. And just what was the extent of the uncredited contribution of frequent Welles associate John Houseman? Whatever the balance of the collaboration, this much is known: When Mankiewicz and Welles began work on the script, it was titled American, and its central figure was an even more thinly veiled caricature of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst than appears in the completed film. Welles' imaginative storytelling skills as a director were reinforced by magnificent performances, beginning with his own in the title role, and groundbreaking techniques in photography, editing and sound. But when the film's highly guarded subject matter was at last revealed at previews in February 1. Rich Women is the premiere dating site for finding and meeting sexual and romantic partners of wealth and taste. We work hard – so you don't have to – to match. Hearst reacted with outrage, forcing repeated postponements of Citizen Kane's premiere with threats of libel and blocking the mention of the film in any of his newspapers. The movie finally opened on May 1, 1. However, pressure from Hearst and his friends in the film industry kept it out of many theaters, and it proved too sophisticated for small- town audiences. The film closed its first run with a loss of some $1. It was only after World War II, when it resurfaced in Europe and then on American television, that Citizen Kane took its rightful place as a cinematic masterpiece. In addition to a Best Original Screenplay Oscar. In what now seems an irony, since the film is considered by many the greatest ever made, the screenplay award was its only Oscar. Welles' deployment of certain visual elements (whether intended or not) from Mad Love cannot be denied, from the makeup to the use of a white cockatoo. It's also more than a coincidence that cinematographer Gregg Toland worked on both films. What set Mad Love apart from other Hollywood horror films of the thirties was the disturbing Expressionist style of director Karl W. A key German Expressionist cinematographer who had shot The Last Laugh (1. Metropolis (1. 92. Flashback 1941: Scientist claimed Global Warming Caused Hitler – Warmer temps Join our Oscar insider email list to get the latest news on all things Academy Awards. Dracula (1. 93. 1), Freund made his directorial debut with the classic chiller, The Mummy (1. As expected from a director who apprenticed at the feet of masters like F. W. Murnau and Fritz Lang, Freund applied many of Expressionism's stylistic trademarks, including chiaroscuro lighting, surreal set design, and extreme camera angles. The film's look was a remarkable achievement, given Freund's conflicts with his two different cinematographers, Chester A. Lyons and Gregg Toland. Film critic Pauline Kael attributed much of Toland's later brilliance in Citizen Kane (1. Mad Love. A documentary about the battle between Orson Welles and William Randolph Hearst over the production and release of Citizen Kane was the subject of The Battle Over Citizen Kane (1. Oscar. And the fictionalized story of RKO 2. Citizen Kane (1941) Synopsis Following the death of a once powerful millionaire, a reporter begins to research his life, looking for clues to the dying man's last. The Maltese Falcon (1941) is one of the most popular and best classic detective mysteries ever made, and many film historians consider it the first in the dark. Citizen Kane), a 1. Ridley Scott. As it turned out, Ridley and brother Tony Scott's Free Productions produced the film for HBO. In February 2. 00. Turner Classic Movies premiered Captured on Film: The True Story of Marion Davies (2. This original documentary sets the record straight about Ms. Davies' considerable talent and the vast differences separating her from the fictional Susan Alexander Kane. Of course, Citizen Kane has not escaped the lampooning eye of prime- time television's longest- running satire, The Simpsons. In the March 1. 8, 1. F0. 1) entitled . The opening shot of Burns Manor parodies Citizen Kane's opening of the . Director Steven Spielberg paid homage to the famous ending of Citizen Kane with the epilogue to Raiders of the Lost Ark (1. After a full two hours of watching Indiana Jones pursue the elusive Lost Ark of the Covenant, the priceless artifact is ignominiously and unceremoniously crated and buried in a vast warehouse, much like the fate of . But TV revived the film's fortunes, after it became one of the first films to be sold to television. With numerous airings, the film found a newer, wider audience and earned the praise once denied it because of the influence welded by the Hearst empire. Joseph Cotten made his screen debut as Kane's life- long friend, Jedediah Leland. The part was modeled on two well- known show biz personalities: Cotten's own agent, Leland Hayward, and producer Jed Harris. Cotten later showed a propensity (or maybe it was just blind luck) for starring or co- starring in some of the cinema's landmark films. He appeared in several more Orson Welles projects, including The Magnificent Ambersons (1. Touch of Evil (1. Welles in director Carol Reed's The Third Man (1. Alfred Hitchcock used him with chilling effect in Shadow of a Doubt (1. In addition to the pivotal role in Citizen Kane, Cotten also shows up as one of the reporters watching the newsreel at the beginning of the flick. Look closely or you'll miss him. Other actors making their screen debuts in Citizen Kane: Agnes Moorhead, Everett Sloane, Dorothy Comingore, Ruth Warrick, George Couloris, Paul Stewart, Ray Collins, and Orson Welles. Future movie star Alan Ladd made his debut as well, playing one of the shadowy reporters glimpsed at the beginning of the flick. He can also be seen more prominently at the end of the picture when chief reporter William Alland sums up his findings. Ladd holds a pipe and his hat is slightly cocked on his head. Ladd would hit the big time the very next year as Raven the hitman in This Gun For Hire (1. William Alland plays Thompson, the chief reporter investigating the mystery of . He also served as dialogue director for Citizen Kane. After appearing for Welles in The Lady From Shanghai (1. Macbeth (1. 94. 8), Alland turned to producing in 1. Among his credits are such science fiction classics, as It Came From Outer Space (1. The Creature From the Black Lagoon (1. This Island Earth (1. The Mole People (1. The Deadly Mantis (1. Gossip columnist Louella Parsons believed that Charles Foster Kane was a thinly veiled, slanderous portrait of her boss, William Randolph Hearst. As a consequence, Parsons successfully motivated her boss to declare war on RKO, Orson Welles, and Citizen Kane with a total boycott of the film's advertisement in all Hearst- owned and operated newspapers and media outlets. This move severely disrupted the film's release and damaged its box office potential, despite generally glowing critical reviews. Oddly enough, Hearst strangely enjoyed the film as a treatise on him and his empire, but he could not tolerate how his mistress, Marion Davies, was reflected in the Susan Alexander Kane character. Further opposition was mobilized against Welles by a coalition of Hollywood studio moguls that were whipped into a frenzy by Louella Parsons. Personally, bigwigs like Jack Warner, David O. Selznick, or Harry Cohn were not threatened by the film, but they did feel heat from Parsons and her boss, W. R. Apparently, they were not sure what incriminating evidence, if any, Parsons had on them and any of their contracted stars. The ringleader of this coalition was MGM boss Louis B. Mayer, who went a long way back with Hearst, all the way to when Marion Davies was a box office draw at MGM. Mayer and other studio heads pooled their resources and approached RKO president George Schaefer with a bid of upwards of $8. This was a tempting offer since the near- million would have provided RKO with a tidy profit on their initial investment and would have looked much more attractive to the stockholders than the black- eye the studio was receiving in Hollywood and in Hearst's newspapers. However, backed by RKO's benefactor in New York, Nelson Rockefeller, Schaefer turned the offer down, and countered the offer by threatening a lawsuit. The coalition, fearful of reprisals the studios couldn't afford, backed down. Parsons and company kept the heat turned up on Welles, even going so far as to get the federal government involved when allegations of Welles' political leanings were called into question. Welles denied that Kane was wholly drawn from Hearst: . Hearst or anyone else. On the other hand, had Mr.
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