Warner Bros – PG – RRP £19.95

Article № 3

IMPROVING UPON PERFECTION

Citizen Kane: 60th Anniversary Edition

Warner Bros – PG – RRP £19.95

The question isn’t whether Citizen Kane is one of the greatest films ever made; that’s a given. The question is whether it’s the greatest. The American Film Institute thinks it is, voting it to their number-one-spot. Not bad for a movie that failed when it first hit the screen. In any case, it’s a self-recommending film and I’m not here to tell you to buy it. Let me just say I can’t imagine anyone even remotely interested in cinematography not buying it. Warner Brothers give their new DVD edition every advantage a classic movie of this stature should get: newly remastered picture and sound, two full audio commentaries, a documentary as long as the film, and a ton of peripheral material all contained in a two-disk package.

As everyone probably knows, co-writer, producer, and director Orson Welles based his story on the real publishing tycoon William Randolph Hearst, his fictional character of Charles Foster Kane closely imitating the personal and professional life of the famous newspaperman in not altogether flattering terms. The resemblance was so startling, in fact, that Hearst, who controlled a good number of the countries media outlets in 1941, tried everything he could to stop the movie from ever been seen. The disc’s accompanying documentary, “The Battle Over Citizen Kane,” does a good job detailing the contoversy surrounding Hearst’a attempts to suppress the film which was made on the modest budget at RKO. Hearst even tried to buy the negatives (with the help of his pal, MGM’s Louis B. Mayer), and when that failed he refused to allow any of his newspapers or radio stations to run ads for it. By the time the film opened the general public were either brainwashed into believing it was a loser or didn’t get a chance to see it at all thanks to it’s limited distruction. It wouldn’t be for another decade or two before the movie was re-evaluated and began appearing in art houses and college classrooms as a true classic of the silver screen.

Obviously, books have been written on the merits of Citizen Kane. Let me just mention in passing that, while it breaks little new ground, it does bring together a number of film-making techniques that had been in various stages of development previously. For example, the movie refines the use of narrative point of view and flashback storytelling; emphasizes psycological lighting, light and shade (chiaroscuro), and deep-focus photography; embraces a soundtrack of amazingly wide dynamics for its time; provides frequent instqnces of overlapping and interruptive dialogue; employs complex and elaborate camera work, unique camera angles, abrupt cuts, multiple exposures, special effects, and agonizing dissolves; uses mirrors, mirroring, and mirrored scenes and imagery extensively; and incorporates numerous other examples of modern cinematography and storytelling in general. The result is a cinematic masterpiece that’s just as dazzling to watch today as it was over six decades ago. That it has influenced almost every film-maker since is hard to dispute.

Warner’s special two-disc set (which does not advertise itself as a “special edition” but most definitely is one, a nice touch of modesty for a big studio) includes a multitude of valuable bonus features. Disc one contains the feature film, accompanied by the choices of two audio commentaries. The first is with film director and Walles biographer Peter Bogdanovich, who has spoken lovingly before on the subject of his hero and sometime mentor. The second commentary is with film critic Rodger Ebert, who spares us no apologies in his unabashed affection for the movie. Both men supply knowledgeable insights, behind-the-scenes anecdotes, and revealling observations on the film-making process. In addition to the commentaries there’s a 1941 movie premiere newsreel, a gallery of storyboards, rare photos, alternate ad compaigns, studio correspondence, call sheets, and other memorabillia; thirty-one scene selections; and a theatrical trailer.

Disc two contains the wonderful 1995 PBS documentary, “The Battle Over Citizen Kane,” which is almost as long at 113 minutes as the two-hour feature film itself. The documentery, of course, chronicles the struggles between Hearst and Welles over the film and its content, two titans of their time in a clash of super-egoes. Today, Hearst is a footnote, Welles a curiosity, and Citizen Kane a monument. The movie outlives them both. It’s been written that the 1941 Academy Awards uadience hissed and booed the film’s nine Oscar nominations-for Best Picture, Actor, Director, Writing, Art Direction, Cinematography, Film Editing, Scoring, and Sound Recording. It managed only to win for it’s screenplay, mainly, it’s surmised, because it was co-writen by Mankiewicz. The movie made Orson Welles forever a living legend, yet because of the movie’s unwarrented notoriety he was also forever an outcast in Hollywood. As an aside, William Randolph Hearst III, the old man’s grandson, said in 1985 that he had always enjoyed Citizen Kane and Welles was invited to visit the Hearst Castle, San Simeon, anytime he pleased “on my tab.” I suppose time heals all wounds. In the case of Citizen Kane, time and technology have also helped improve upon a good thing.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14