Released: 1941
Unrated
Length: 119 min.
Cast: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotton, Agnes
Moorehead, Everett Sloane
This is
a very dark film, first of all, but not in the way that modern films are
considered dark. Since this film was voted by the American Film Association as
the greatest film of American history, I figured it best to give it a shot and
see what it was like. I am a lover of old films by nature, and feel that there
is much more substance to be found in classics in good old black in white than
most of the crap that has been created for the modern era. And while Citizen
Kane is certainly not the most light hearted and uplifting film I have ever
seen, it certainly had some high film qualities that are worth mention.
This
was the first film to ever be directed by a man who was also the star and the
writer of it. Orson Welles created this story, only partly fiction, to be
based on the life of Randolf Hearst, a powerful American newspaper tycoon. It
tells the story of a man who grew up like any normal child playing with his
sled in the snow, until his parents strike it rich and for some odd reason
send the poor lad off to be a student in New York under a stranger. This
changes his life forever, and afterwards he becomes a cocky, self reliant
young man who eventually becomes the head of the most popular newspaper in the
city. He gains wealth and popularity, surrounding himself with people who
worship him and objects of art mostly in the form of statues to appease his
tastes. He gets married, and tries for run for Governor of the state. But a
scandal involving a mistress ruins his chances for the governor office, and
being the dope that he is he chooses the mistress (who he actually was NOT
having an affair with) over his wife and she becomes the second Mrs. Kane.
Well, this
lady has a thing for singing, so Kane builds her (all with his own money,
incidentally) a huge opera house for her to perform in. The problem...she
sucks at singing. He wants her to be great so that people will turn to him and
think him great all the more, but when he realizes there is no hope he cans
the idea, and their marriage begins to fail. So she leaves him, and in deep
depression the only thing he can say is, "Rosebud...".
I will not
spoil the significance of that word for those of you who have not seen the
film, but this brief synopsis is hardly anything of the depth to the story. It
is actually a flashback movie, told through the eyes of those who were around
Kane as he grew from humble beginnings to unimagined power and influence. The
morals of the story are quite good and very thought provoking. The idea
behind Kane is that he is a man who is very insecure despite all of his vast
fortune and power, and that all he wants is to be loved by the world. But that
is all he wants; a selfish desire to be shown the affection of the world, and
not to do anything to return it. When the world turns a cold shoulder, he
turns cold in return and wraps himself up in his meaningless treasures, that
in truth bring him no comfort at all.
The look of the
film is impressive and very innovative for that time, though it is a very old
film and tends to be dated none the less. But also it is very depressing at
times, and unless you care for the workings of politics and business and the
study of the human psychological condition you're really not going to get much
out of it other than two hours of boredom. The acting is solid, even if his
ditsy second wife gets on your nerves (and her singing really is the
pits!). Orson Welles did a fine job, and while I wouldn't call this the best
film in the last century it certainly is worth a high honorable mention. The
only thing that was really dumb, and this cannot be blamed on the filmmakers
really, was the old makeup they used to try and make Welles look
"old" for the scenes toward the end of his life. He never really
looked like he aged, but rather was wearing...well...bad makeup. That and the
story is very hard to follow the first time through in the beginning, but it
really is fascinating, and even a little funny sometimes. Not enough
unfortunately, and that does result in a very brooding film that leaves you
feeling a bit miserable by the end.
I wouldn't
bore your children with this, but if you have a political mind or someone
aspiring to be a tabloid newspaper journalist, then I'd give it a rental if I
were you. Owning it is probably a bit much, since you never really feel too
compelled to want to watch it more than once every decade...
Story:
Riveting plot most of the way, and very good study
of the dangers of worshipping wealth.
Acting:
Not too bad, even if some characters were kind of
stale. Welles did himself well (no pun intended).
Special effects: what
little there were were still pretty good, and most of those consisted of
interesting camera angles.
Language: None. They
say Gosh and Darn instead of the expected words. Very Nice!
Sexual content:
none
Heart enlightenment factor:
Again I stress, not something you'll get a good buzz from. If you're a softy
you may weep bitterly for the sadness element.
Soundtrack: None
really to speak of, for it had very little score.
Overall:
1/2 While it was dark and brooding, it was
technically very well done. But I would not say it was the greatest film of
the century, even if I wasn't one of those eggheads who sat in a room for
months and watched every film known to the free world to decide that...
