Running Time: 119 minutes
Directed By: Orson Welles
Written By: Orson Welles, Herman J. Mankiewicz
Main Cast: Orson Welles, Dorothy Comingore, Joseph Cotten, Everett Sloane, William Alland
Sidenote: You may (or may not) have noticed that each and every post has been edited to include a number in front of the title. The number corresponds to the films chronological placement in the "1001" book and I did this so that it would be easier to follow me and for any new readers to the blog to always know where I stand in the grand scheme of things.
Now onto the business at hand...
ON MY JOURNEY I MET A MAN NAMED 'ORSON'
After finishing "Citizen Kane" tonight (or rather, this morning) my initial plan was to rewatch the movie all weekend, with another viewing of the movie and a viewing that would be accompanied by Roger Ebert's commentary track on DVD. After some thought (and not really being able to wait to get my thoughts on 'Kane' in writing) I decided against that plan and figured, that if every other movie only gets one shot, then "Citizen Kane" shouldn't be treated any different. My reasoning for wanting to rewatch the film, was because this time around I saw some very positive things in 'Kane' that I have never seen before, and I wanted to cement those epiphanies in my head.
I'll try to keep the plot of 'Kane' to a minimum, as the film is told in flashback and any effort to retell the plot, will probably get fairly confusing. When the film starts we're immediately introduced to Charles Foster Kane and we're immediately a guest at his funeral, as he dies at the beginning. As a group of newsreel reporters try to piece together the "Charles Foster Kane Story", they reflect on his dying words, or rather, word..."Rosebud". The reporters eventually decide that the word "Rosebud" will tell them everything they need to know to make a smashing piece on the life and times of C.F. Kane. They send out a reporter to visit the people who were the most important to Kane and we begin to get the story of our main character. We're told the Charles Foster Kane story from different points of view, from different characters in the film and you soon realize that each character only knew certain sides of Kane.
At the age of nine, young Charles Kane was living in poverty, with his mother, who owned a boarding house. When a prosperous gold mine is discovered on a previously worthless piece of property that his mother owned, the family is into money and Kane is sent off to live with Thatcher, a banker and the new legal guardian of Kane, so that he may be educated. We skip ahead to Kane's twenty-fifth birthday when he gains 100% control over his assets and seemingly is only interested in "The Inquirer", a small newspaper that he thinks would "be neat to run". Well Kane eventually turns that small, fledgling newspaper into a gold mine of his own, and it only takes him six years and the help of Mr. Bernstein and Mr. Leland. Later, Kane is married to the president's niece and following that he runs for Governor of New York, but is defeated when a scandal between Kane and a "singer" is outed. Kane and his first wife are divorced and Kane remarries Susan Alexander, his mistress and hopeful singer. He builds her an opera house, and later an empire of a household, the cost of which "no man knows".
I have quite a few things to say about "Citizen Kane", so lets get to it:
I'd like to start out by saying what I think is "Citizen Kane's" biggest downfall and that would be the hype. If you're a movie fan, be it at an intense level or just a casual one, then you've heard nothing else you're entire life than: "Citizen Kane is the greatest movie ever made!". Now when you hear nothing else but that line repeated over and over and then finally one day you say to yourself, "What the hell, if it's the greatest movie ever made, why not give it a go?" Then you see it, expecting the greatest thing since sliced bread and in my personal experience, you're left with a "HUH" feeling. Now, this is me citing my experiences during my first viewing of 'Kane', which was many years ago and maybe I was a bit too young to really appreciate it back then. But even this morning, as I sat here watching 'Kane', I still had a hard time swallowing the "greatest movie ever made" line, even as Welles brought the house down with his acting, that could only be referred to as intense. I really think that if this movie was one that you had to scrounge up and find in the back dark corner of a murky old video store, that it would be a lot better, because you wouldn't have that echoing voice in your head, constantly saying the words "This is the greatest film ever made and you MUST love it!!"
However...
This morning, I realized some of the greatness and it was amazing. It was like finally getting the punchline to a joke that the whole world had been laughing at for decades. Do I even have to mention the cinematography, which for its time was absolutely and utterly awesome, in every sense of that word? This film, in my opinion, was eons ahead of its time and I think that Welles could've made this film in the 2000 era and it still would've been accepted and heralded. Speaking of Welles, what a fucking brilliant actor!! He commands attention and respect every single time he hits the screen and has an aura about him that makes every other actor in the scene look twice as good. He was so intense and you could really tell that he poured his heart and soul into this production and wanted all but the best to come out of it. "Citzen Kane", even as I watched it on my small 20" television screen, had a way about it that made me feel like I was in a theater. The booming music, the great acting, the photography, everything just oozed of greatness, hell even the opening title that reads "Citizen Kane" across the screen, could've just as easily said "Get ready for something big".While I certainly don't think it's the "greatest movie ever made", I do finally get it. I get why people can't stop talking about 'Kane' and I really think with a few more viewings, sometime down the road, that this movie could wind up sitting on my DVD shelf, as I tell people the story of how, when I first saw it, I hated "Citizen Kane".
RATING: 7/10 I really didn't think it would get that high, but when you finish a movie, and the next minute you're on the computer looking up little factoids about it, then you know you at least gotta' go with a '7' or higher and I think in time, that rating will rise.
NEXT UP: The Lady Eve...More Fonda? I'm all for that!
July 10, 2010 4:48am
Directed By: Orson Welles
Written By: Orson Welles, Herman J. Mankiewicz
Main Cast: Orson Welles, Dorothy Comingore, Joseph Cotten, Everett Sloane, William Alland
Sidenote: You may (or may not) have noticed that each and every post has been edited to include a number in front of the title. The number corresponds to the films chronological placement in the "1001" book and I did this so that it would be easier to follow me and for any new readers to the blog to always know where I stand in the grand scheme of things.
Now onto the business at hand...
ON MY JOURNEY I MET A MAN NAMED 'ORSON'
After finishing "Citizen Kane" tonight (or rather, this morning) my initial plan was to rewatch the movie all weekend, with another viewing of the movie and a viewing that would be accompanied by Roger Ebert's commentary track on DVD. After some thought (and not really being able to wait to get my thoughts on 'Kane' in writing) I decided against that plan and figured, that if every other movie only gets one shot, then "Citizen Kane" shouldn't be treated any different. My reasoning for wanting to rewatch the film, was because this time around I saw some very positive things in 'Kane' that I have never seen before, and I wanted to cement those epiphanies in my head.
I'll try to keep the plot of 'Kane' to a minimum, as the film is told in flashback and any effort to retell the plot, will probably get fairly confusing. When the film starts we're immediately introduced to Charles Foster Kane and we're immediately a guest at his funeral, as he dies at the beginning. As a group of newsreel reporters try to piece together the "Charles Foster Kane Story", they reflect on his dying words, or rather, word..."Rosebud". The reporters eventually decide that the word "Rosebud" will tell them everything they need to know to make a smashing piece on the life and times of C.F. Kane. They send out a reporter to visit the people who were the most important to Kane and we begin to get the story of our main character. We're told the Charles Foster Kane story from different points of view, from different characters in the film and you soon realize that each character only knew certain sides of Kane.
At the age of nine, young Charles Kane was living in poverty, with his mother, who owned a boarding house. When a prosperous gold mine is discovered on a previously worthless piece of property that his mother owned, the family is into money and Kane is sent off to live with Thatcher, a banker and the new legal guardian of Kane, so that he may be educated. We skip ahead to Kane's twenty-fifth birthday when he gains 100% control over his assets and seemingly is only interested in "The Inquirer", a small newspaper that he thinks would "be neat to run". Well Kane eventually turns that small, fledgling newspaper into a gold mine of his own, and it only takes him six years and the help of Mr. Bernstein and Mr. Leland. Later, Kane is married to the president's niece and following that he runs for Governor of New York, but is defeated when a scandal between Kane and a "singer" is outed. Kane and his first wife are divorced and Kane remarries Susan Alexander, his mistress and hopeful singer. He builds her an opera house, and later an empire of a household, the cost of which "no man knows".
I have quite a few things to say about "Citizen Kane", so lets get to it:
I'd like to start out by saying what I think is "Citizen Kane's" biggest downfall and that would be the hype. If you're a movie fan, be it at an intense level or just a casual one, then you've heard nothing else you're entire life than: "Citizen Kane is the greatest movie ever made!". Now when you hear nothing else but that line repeated over and over and then finally one day you say to yourself, "What the hell, if it's the greatest movie ever made, why not give it a go?" Then you see it, expecting the greatest thing since sliced bread and in my personal experience, you're left with a "HUH" feeling. Now, this is me citing my experiences during my first viewing of 'Kane', which was many years ago and maybe I was a bit too young to really appreciate it back then. But even this morning, as I sat here watching 'Kane', I still had a hard time swallowing the "greatest movie ever made" line, even as Welles brought the house down with his acting, that could only be referred to as intense. I really think that if this movie was one that you had to scrounge up and find in the back dark corner of a murky old video store, that it would be a lot better, because you wouldn't have that echoing voice in your head, constantly saying the words "This is the greatest film ever made and you MUST love it!!"
However...
This morning, I realized some of the greatness and it was amazing. It was like finally getting the punchline to a joke that the whole world had been laughing at for decades. Do I even have to mention the cinematography, which for its time was absolutely and utterly awesome, in every sense of that word? This film, in my opinion, was eons ahead of its time and I think that Welles could've made this film in the 2000 era and it still would've been accepted and heralded. Speaking of Welles, what a fucking brilliant actor!! He commands attention and respect every single time he hits the screen and has an aura about him that makes every other actor in the scene look twice as good. He was so intense and you could really tell that he poured his heart and soul into this production and wanted all but the best to come out of it. "Citzen Kane", even as I watched it on my small 20" television screen, had a way about it that made me feel like I was in a theater. The booming music, the great acting, the photography, everything just oozed of greatness, hell even the opening title that reads "Citizen Kane" across the screen, could've just as easily said "Get ready for something big".While I certainly don't think it's the "greatest movie ever made", I do finally get it. I get why people can't stop talking about 'Kane' and I really think with a few more viewings, sometime down the road, that this movie could wind up sitting on my DVD shelf, as I tell people the story of how, when I first saw it, I hated "Citizen Kane".
RATING: 7/10 I really didn't think it would get that high, but when you finish a movie, and the next minute you're on the computer looking up little factoids about it, then you know you at least gotta' go with a '7' or higher and I think in time, that rating will rise.
NEXT UP: The Lady Eve...More Fonda? I'm all for that!
July 10, 2010 4:48am
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