Director: Orson Welles
Distributor: RKO Radio Pictures
Top Billed Actors: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore
Won 1 Oscar:
Best Original Screenplay - Herman J. Mankiewicz and Orson Welles
Nominated for 8 more:
Outstanding Motion Picture - Mercury
Best Director - Orson Welles
Best Actor - Orson Welles
Best Scoring of a Dramatic Picture - Bernard Herrmann
Best Sound Recording - John O. Aalberg
Best Art Direction - Interior Decoration, Black-and-White - Art Direction: Perry Ferguson and Van Nest Polglase; Interior Decoration: Al Fields and Darrell Silvera
Best Cinematography, Black-and-White - Gregg Toland
Best Film Editing - Robert Wise
Plot: A series of flashbacks tells the tale of how a megalomaniac ended up.
Distributor: RKO Radio Pictures
Top Billed Actors: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore
Won 1 Oscar:
Best Original Screenplay - Herman J. Mankiewicz and Orson Welles
Nominated for 8 more:
Outstanding Motion Picture - Mercury
Best Director - Orson Welles
Best Actor - Orson Welles
Best Scoring of a Dramatic Picture - Bernard Herrmann
Best Sound Recording - John O. Aalberg
Best Art Direction - Interior Decoration, Black-and-White - Art Direction: Perry Ferguson and Van Nest Polglase; Interior Decoration: Al Fields and Darrell Silvera
Best Cinematography, Black-and-White - Gregg Toland
Best Film Editing - Robert Wise
Plot: A series of flashbacks tells the tale of how a megalomaniac ended up.
What better way to kick off a year in this Project than the legendary and ubiquitous film, Citizen Kane (1941)? In a Project in which the goal is to pick the Best Picture winner in hindsight, this is already marked in pen on my scorecard. Orson Welles' debut to film was a monumental on. Despite this being his initial Hollywood movie, he was the first person to be nominated for Best Director and Best Actor for the same film (and Best Original Screenplay to boot!). If the Best Picture category nominated producers like it does today, he would have been involved in all four possible above-the-line categories. The trivia for this film is extensive so I will attempt to recap as concisely as possible. Welles headed up a theater and radio troupe called Mercury. When it produced the now infamous broadcast of The War of the Worlds in 1938, Welles was put in the spotlight. Eventually, RKO Radio offered him a contract that gave him nearly complete artistic control, unheard of at that time. Welles had autonomy over hiring cast and crew as well as the then-evasive final cut privilege. RKO merely had to accept the story and Welles was off running. He assembled a team of complete newcomers in front of the camera as well as some wily veterans behind the camera (most notable cinematographer Gregg Toland). The then-25-year-old reveled in his hiring of young craftsman as well such as makeup apprentice Maurice Seiderman and film composer Bernard Herrmann (also making his debut!). What resulted is a film that topped so many widely regarded polls, such as the AFI Top 100 American Movies list (both incarnations) as well as Sight & Sound's poll of greatest films in 1972, 1982, 1992, and 2002. It was included in the initial year of the National Film Registry and was also awarded Best Film at the time by the National Board of Review and the New York Film Critics Circle. Although it has had its fair share of negative attention over the years, the data of all these awards and accolades is definitely on its side. Do I think it's the greatest film of all time? That might not be for me to say but notable critics like Roger Ebert certainly thinks so.
All of these accolades and positive criticism in future years brings about an oddity relevant to this Project - that it lost a whopping eight categories at the 14th Academy Awards, winning for only Best Original Screenplay. It was thought to be the frontrunner to win a majority of these awards, including Best Picture, so it may have come to a surprise to many that films like How Green Was My Valley (1941) and Sergeant York (1941) beat it out in multiple categories. Although this is the first film I am reviewing for 1941, I certainly think it should have won for more than just the one award. Sure, the screenplay is innovative and engrossing with its mix of montages and flashbacks that create a jigsaw puzzle of Charles Foster Kane's life, much like one Susan Alexander would tinker with at Xanadu; this narrative structure always keeps the movie fresh, making it hard to place where you are in the two-hour runtime due to the nonlinear nature. The other awards it was nominated for make up the technical achievements that it is praised for to this day. The film is known for Toland's deep focus cinematography, with the objects and actors in the foreground just as much in focus as the background. The way the actors are placed in a triangular formation in each sequence gives the film a consistency and with the deep focus, one can just admire each and every scene however one chooses, especially during the longer takes. Welles and Toland don't tell you where to look with focus - the audience is free to explore every nook and cranny of this masterpiece. More technical aspects that excel can all be summarized in one sequence - the famous breakfast montage that shows sixteen years go by in a span of two minutes. Herrmann's score (Herrmann actually won the Oscar that year but for a different film), Robert Wise's editing (yes, that Robert Wise), Seiderman's makeup (if this category was around in 1941 I would hope it would have won), Perry Ferguson's art direction (the table appears larger once Kane and his first wife become more distant), and finally Welles' performance (again, he's only twenty-five playing an old man!) all coalesce into an affecting and wonderfully put-together package. It's my favorite sequence of the entire film and is a microcosm of what the film has to offer on a technical level.
Some negative criticism of the film stems from the fact that Welles didn't invent anything here - it's all taken from older films. However, by combining so many techniques that may have gone by the wayside in contemporary films from the late 1930s and early 1940s, Welles showed a true mastery of the art. He used these techniques such as nonlinear storytelling, elaborate transitions, and even the definitive deep focus cinematography to discover the meaning in them. They are used just to be flashy but always serve a purpose in the story. For example, he used the low angles and high angles on characters to show how small or large they could be. This is taken directly from his research of John Ford's Stagecoach (1939), but like all of these techniques, it is used to much greater effect here. When asked why he created such a radically different style of filmmaking, especially for a debut, he responded, "ignorance, ignorance, sheer ignorance—you know there's no confidence to equal it. It's only when you know something about a profession, I think, that you're timid or careful." I love this quote as it often applies to a scrappy underdog sports team or a star newcomer to any profession, ready to transform an industry for the better because they "don't know any better."
Overall, this is perhaps the greatest masterpiece to ever be nominated for Best Picture. It's a shame it didn't win but the footage doesn't lie. Its deep focus photography, inventive art direction, absorbing nonlinear narrative structure, convincing makeup, powerful musical score, surprisingly good performances, and flashy-yet-reserved editing all come together for the definitive film in American history.
My Score: 10/10
All of these accolades and positive criticism in future years brings about an oddity relevant to this Project - that it lost a whopping eight categories at the 14th Academy Awards, winning for only Best Original Screenplay. It was thought to be the frontrunner to win a majority of these awards, including Best Picture, so it may have come to a surprise to many that films like How Green Was My Valley (1941) and Sergeant York (1941) beat it out in multiple categories. Although this is the first film I am reviewing for 1941, I certainly think it should have won for more than just the one award. Sure, the screenplay is innovative and engrossing with its mix of montages and flashbacks that create a jigsaw puzzle of Charles Foster Kane's life, much like one Susan Alexander would tinker with at Xanadu; this narrative structure always keeps the movie fresh, making it hard to place where you are in the two-hour runtime due to the nonlinear nature. The other awards it was nominated for make up the technical achievements that it is praised for to this day. The film is known for Toland's deep focus cinematography, with the objects and actors in the foreground just as much in focus as the background. The way the actors are placed in a triangular formation in each sequence gives the film a consistency and with the deep focus, one can just admire each and every scene however one chooses, especially during the longer takes. Welles and Toland don't tell you where to look with focus - the audience is free to explore every nook and cranny of this masterpiece. More technical aspects that excel can all be summarized in one sequence - the famous breakfast montage that shows sixteen years go by in a span of two minutes. Herrmann's score (Herrmann actually won the Oscar that year but for a different film), Robert Wise's editing (yes, that Robert Wise), Seiderman's makeup (if this category was around in 1941 I would hope it would have won), Perry Ferguson's art direction (the table appears larger once Kane and his first wife become more distant), and finally Welles' performance (again, he's only twenty-five playing an old man!) all coalesce into an affecting and wonderfully put-together package. It's my favorite sequence of the entire film and is a microcosm of what the film has to offer on a technical level.
Some negative criticism of the film stems from the fact that Welles didn't invent anything here - it's all taken from older films. However, by combining so many techniques that may have gone by the wayside in contemporary films from the late 1930s and early 1940s, Welles showed a true mastery of the art. He used these techniques such as nonlinear storytelling, elaborate transitions, and even the definitive deep focus cinematography to discover the meaning in them. They are used just to be flashy but always serve a purpose in the story. For example, he used the low angles and high angles on characters to show how small or large they could be. This is taken directly from his research of John Ford's Stagecoach (1939), but like all of these techniques, it is used to much greater effect here. When asked why he created such a radically different style of filmmaking, especially for a debut, he responded, "ignorance, ignorance, sheer ignorance—you know there's no confidence to equal it. It's only when you know something about a profession, I think, that you're timid or careful." I love this quote as it often applies to a scrappy underdog sports team or a star newcomer to any profession, ready to transform an industry for the better because they "don't know any better."
Overall, this is perhaps the greatest masterpiece to ever be nominated for Best Picture. It's a shame it didn't win but the footage doesn't lie. Its deep focus photography, inventive art direction, absorbing nonlinear narrative structure, convincing makeup, powerful musical score, surprisingly good performances, and flashy-yet-reserved editing all come together for the definitive film in American history.
My Score: 10/10