Since 1952. Every decade, the world's top directors and critics select the ten greatest films of all time. Except for the first time. Citizen Kane tops the list every time. The world's most qualified critics of cinema agree that Citizen Kane is the greatest film production.
Director: Orson Wells (43rd Academy Awards Lifetime Achievement Award)
Writers: Herman Mancheviz / Orson Wells
Starring: Orson Wells / Joseph Cotton / Dorothy Cumminger
Genre: Drama / Suspense
Release: 1941-09-05 (USA)
Runtime: 119 min
William Randolph Hirst, a tycoon who looked exactly like Hitler
Kane's prototype is the richest man in the world at the beginning of the last century, dominating most of the American media industry. He owns land equivalent to several counties, and the hilltop palace in central California is even more imposing, and the beams in this room are from ancient Spanish buildings, brick and tile are antiques, no less than the royal palace. That man was William Randolph Hearst, an American newspaper tycoon.
The film was shot in secrecy, and when it was screened inside Hollywood before its release, Hearst completely banned Citizen Kane, and even threatened to block other films of Raiden Hua. Director Wells was shocked to hear this news, and he had only one way to save it, that is, to desperately show the film on a small scale and spread the word of mouth. Sure enough, the high praise of some peers made Lei Dianhua withstand the pressure, otherwise this work would always be preserved in the memory of a few people.
Citizen Kane is a masterpiece written, directed, and self-acted by ghost director Orson Wells when he was 26 years old. Orson Wells was born in 1915 and is home to Wisconsin, USA. It is not an exaggeration to describe Orson Wells as the term "child prodigy", who at the age of 22 founded his own troupe, the pinnacle of which was the radio drama "Martian Invasion" created by Orson Wells himself. At that time, Wells opened his mouth to millions of listeners in the United States announced: "It has been discovered that Martians have invaded the earth and are landing in New Jersey", accompanied by immersive background sound effects, many listeners mistakenly believe that it is a news report, scared to pull their legs and run, this broadcast caused panic in various cities in the United States, Wells became famous in one fell swoop, creating a classic moment in the history of American broadcasting. When Wells was 26 years old, Raiden hua film company asked him to shoot "Citizen Kane", he wrote his own script, and at the same time directed the film, taking a series of creative expressions, not only portraying an amazing artistic image with the depth and boldness of Shakespeare's plays on the screen, but also completing an epic biopic that no one has surpassed so far.
Wells, with the honor that Citizen Kane brought him, immediately followed by another film that reflected the American chaebol family, "The Abbesons", and claimed to surpass the achievements of "Citizen Kane". In 1942, when Wells finished filming Abesons, everyone who knew about the filming admitted in shock that the new film was better than Citizen Kane. The film of "Abesun Family" fell into the hands of the studio boss, was randomly edited, and suddenly lost its shine. The destruction of Orson Wells' second masterpiece by hollywood studio owners has become one of the most famous tragedies in the history of modern art. Orson Wells was devastated by this, and in the long years of his life, although he made many films, he never made a great film. Arrogant characters, geniuses all have tendencies towards self-destruction. Orson Wells, only two masterpieces, but unfortunately the good times flew by. He does whatever he wants, the mood is good to shoot, the mood is bad to rest, a film is often delayed again and again, causing other actors to have to withdraw, so the heroine in his film often mysteriously disappears in the middle of the film, which makes the audience feel very frightened. But in any case, the "genius self-destructive" type of Orson Wells-style characters are too rare, and the filmmakers produced by commodity society are mostly efficient and disciplined, completely without self-destructive tendencies, and have no genius qualifications at all. "Citizen Kane" has become a masterpiece, and Orson Welles has no regrets in this life.
Onion-like narrative structure
Citizen Kane consists of six flashbacks that together reflect the life of publisher Charles Fox's Kaym. But there is a strong internal logic in it. These flashbacks are not part of a piece of the puzzle, but rather onions peeled from the outside to the inside. You start from the first paragraph, and every time you stop and think about it after reading a paragraph, you will find that your understanding of Kane is quite comprehensive, but after reading the next paragraph, your understanding deepens by one layer; but even if you only look at the first few paragraphs, your understanding of the character is still complete, just not deep enough.
The whole film has a very simple framework: Before Kay Lao died, he said the word "rosebud", and the editorial office of a newspaper sent a reporter to interview Kane's relatives and friends in an attempt to find the meaning of the word. The reporter did not find out the truth throughout.
The first is a nine-minute documentary that is so informative that you'll learn about Kane's major events, including his construction of the palace. His political views, his political career, his achievements in the publishing industry, his life and private life, such as his two marriages, etc., it is no exaggeration to say that many biopics depict biographical characters in less depth than this documentary.
In the second paragraph, through the reporter's access to library materials, he learned the life of Kai Lao from the manuscript of the memoir of the banker Mr. Thatcher.
The third paragraph is a reporter's interview with Mr. Bernstein, Kane's manager and business partner. Bernstein was full of admiration for Kane, and he revealed many things about Kane's early days. And Kane began to show the habit of collecting, his influence on international politics and his first marriage.
The fourth segment is an interview with Kahn's good friend, the drama critic Lee Lunde. Lee Lund knew Kane very well, they were classmates, and as Kane evolved from an enthusiastic youth to an arrogant newspaperman, his attitude towards Kane began to change from full support, to suspicion and conflict, and finally completely parted ways. Lee Lund provided reporters with inside information about Kane's first marriage, his encounter with his second wife, the disillusionment of his political career, and the details of his eventual enmity with his friends for his wife's opera career.
The fifth paragraph is a reporter interviewing Kane's second wife, Su Jin. Susan recounts her painful experiences of being forced to practice opera, her fiasco on stage, her suicide, her days in the "palace" until she made up her mind to leave Kane.
The sixth flashback comes from Raymond, Kai's grand butler. Raymond witnessed the desolation of Kane's lonely family after Susan left. He had also heard Kane say the word "rosebud" to himself a few times, but he didn't understand who or what it meant. This paragraph is short and leads directly to the end.
Some of the characters in Citizen Kane reached rare heights in the art of cinema, but this is worth analyzing. Citizen Kane's performances were phenomenal during the casting stage, with almost all of the film's cast having no experience in film acting, but the roles seemed to be tailored to them. Not to mention the protagonists, even the housekeeper Raymond, the politician Getty, the childhood Kane, etc. have distinctive characteristics, and most of the actors in the film are from wells' Crystal Theatre Company. The troupe is known for its radio and stage plays, and it is reasonable to say that the first film will have a tendency to be overheated; But with the exception of a very small number of close-ups, all the performances are very natural, without unnecessary exaggeration.
The main characters in the film all have a large age span, from youth to old age, such as Orson Wells, who only took over the newspaper scene is his real age (25 years old), but he realistically plays the middle-aged and old look. But the actor's amazing performance can't cause a good voice from the general audience, because there is no scene in the film that allows the actor to "show off" his acting skills, but conversely, when you read the script carefully, you will find that the actor is really indispensable.
Citizen Kaysing is not a one-legged play by Orson Wells. There are many heroes who have made it a masterpiece. But if we can compare across industries, Orson Wells, as a director, has undoubtedly made the greatest contribution. Not to mention his revision of the script, even if the final version is compared to the finished film, Orson Wells's genius is still clear.
The two-minute-plus scene shows Kane and his second wife, Emily, from the intoxication of the new marriage to the subtle changes in the same bed and dreams, condensing the nine-year marriage process. Concise and original, the shooting is not difficult, it is completely the crystallization of the choreographer's ingenuity.
Poaching drama This is another cutscene that shows the passage of time, and the techniques of this paragraph have been repeatedly imitated by posterity, so everyone may not feel strange. But in all similar treatments, this paragraph has not been replaced by future generations, at least in terms of difficulty. Susan premieres Susan is forced to go to Liangshan by Kane and starred in an opera in Chicago. This segment appears twice in the film, with the one recalled by Lee Lund the most amazing.
If the first few paragraphs give full play to the expressiveness of the film, then the childhood drama reflects the director Wells's clever use of stage position and the attention of photography to the composition.
Hirst and Kane are just "shape-like", and the real "god-like" to Kane is Wells himself. There is an interesting story: when the film premieres in San Francisco, Wes stays at the local Fairmont hotel and meets Hearst in the elevator; Wells thinks for a moment and then "respectfully" invites Hearst to the premiere as a guest, but Hearst does not say a word and ignores him. When Hearst stepped out of the elevator. Wells yelled, "If I had kane, he would have come," which was a dramatic scene and a wonderful line. Drama is like life, life is like drama, Orson Wells has entered the realm!
"Citizen Kane" is such a movie when you first watch it may feel "general", but when you understand its background and knowledge, and then watch it a second or even a third time, when you understand all the amazing points, you will have the feeling of being struck by lightning and electrified, it has changed from "ordinary" to "extraordinary", which is why many people like "Citizen Kane".