Comments | selenak: In Memoriam: Citizen Kane

selenak

In Memoriam: Citizen Kane

Jul 24, 2003 16:40

Today my Special Edition DVD of Citizen Kane arrived, prompting my inner Orson Welles fangirl to squee. Incidentally, Kane isn't even my favourite Welles movie; depending on my mood, I favour Othello, Chimes at Midnight or Touch of Evil. But there's something breathtaking in seeing those familiar images of Citizen Kane in the immaculate, pristine ( Read more... )

citizen kane, orson welles, film review

Comments 16

lynnb July 24 2003, 07:49:46 UTC

I haven't watched the film in a long time, and now you've given me incentive to watch it again :) What always impressed me is that Welles didn't sugarcoat anyone in the fim; even the best characters aren't perfect, which makes it all the more fascinating.

I remember seeing the original movie trailer - how clever of Welles to keep appear to be spotlighting his cast, while being the narrator, thereby making himself more conspicuous :)

That trailer... selenak July 24 2003, 08:10:36 UTC

..is Welles being a tease and a shameless flirt with the audience, isn't it? Also the only trailer I can think of which solely (with one brief exception) consists of scenes NOT shown in the actual movie.

And ditto to the not-sugarcoating-anyone. I mean, Kane's ambiguity is a given, but he could have made Emily or Leland into saints, for example. Which they aren't.

I love that trailer... lynnb July 24 2003, 09:52:28 UTC

He was also introducing moviegoers to his Mercury Theater members, and he did a great job of it. Most of them were making their film debuts, weren't they? I don't remember seeing Joseph Cotten in anything before that, or Agnes Moorhead. That was their springboard. As for Ray Collins, I can only picture him as Lt. Tragg from Perry Mason, LOL.

And ditto to the not-sugarcoating-anyone. I mean, Kane's ambiguity is a given, but he could have made Emily or Leland into saints, for example. Which they aren't.

Oh, I agree. So much more interesting to watch a movie about human beings than saints any time.

Re: I love that trailer... selenak July 24 2003, 10:11:22 UTC

Yes, for most of them it was their film debut. Would you believe I never saw Perry Mason (know about it, of course)? So Ray Collins is stuck with his Wellesian connection as far as I'm concerned. (I've got many of the Mercury radio productions on tape or CD.)

Thread 7

coffeeandink July 24 2003, 07:50:33 UTC

Another Chimes at Midnight fangirl! uhmidont very kindly sent me a tape of it a year ago, but I still long for it on DVD.

Chimes at Midnight... selenak July 24 2003, 08:10:50 UTC

...better come out on DVD! The only way I saw it was via the local university some years ago, and alas I am not in the position of a video recorder which could have made a copy. It's brilliant, isn't it? And that battle scene still outdoes any of the later ones inspired by it in its laconic, unglamorized depiction of senseless warfare.

Also: this may sound unkind since I basically like him, but please let someone other than Peter Bogdanovich record the commentary. What he did for "Lady from Shanghai" was quite dull.

kernezelda July 24 2003, 08:07:18 UTC

I watched Citizen Kane for the first time about a year ago, and what remains with me most vividly is the conversation between Kane and his wife, where they age perceptibly and the set/costume changes subtly tell us that time is passing, passing.

It was the technical aspect of the film that intrigued me more than the plot complexities.

Oh, the breakfast scene knocked me out the first... selenak July 24 2003, 08:16:05 UTC

...time around, too. But after several times rewatching, other stuff starts to be noticeable as well.

ide_cyan July 24 2003, 09:06:32 UTC

Have you seen Velvet Goldmine?

No, I haven't. selenak July 24 2003, 09:49:38 UTC

Details, please?

Re: No, I haven't. ide_cyan July 24 2003, 10:05:04 UTC

It's an hommage to, or spoof of Citizen Kane, in its narrative structure, but instead of focusing on a newspaper magnate, the journalist-narrator investigates a glam rock star (David Bowie in fictionalised form), and the homoeroticism isn't sublimated, it's flaunted. :-)

It's fabulous, and the soundtrack's really good, too. The leading actors -- Ewan McGregor, Christian Bale, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and Toni Collette -- are splendid, needless to say, and the director's next movie was the deservedly praised Far From Heaven, should you need more of a recommendation.

To conclude: you should see this. :-)

rozk July 24 2003, 15:13:07 UTC

Since you are listening to it, I would like to give a shout out to the score, which was very much Herrmann's calling card for the movies and was one of the two or three best things he ever did. One of the things I particularly like about it is the aria he wrote for Susan to not sing - sung, as it is on most recordings, by someone who is capable of its more difficult bits, it is actually a wonderful pastiche of Massenet or someone of that vintage. (It is a great one to stick into music quizzes and confuse the canary fanciers.)

That aria... selenak July 24 2003, 20:34:32 UTC

...the commentary insists it's Straussian, but it always sounded more like Herrmann going for Massenet to me, too. In any case, Kiri te Kanawa did a good recording for a Herrmann collection, didn't she?

And yes, the soundtrack is fantastic. Would you believe that in the dubbed German version, they dubbed the music as well? One of my professors, the one who aquainted me with O.W. actually, never could get over that, and rightly so. Bernard Herrmann, he used to say, voice shaking at the heresy. They dubbed Bernard Herrmann!