Citizen
Kane Screening Report:
1. “Citizen Kane” is considered one of the
greatest films of all time and its greatness had most do with its writer,
director and star Orson Welles. Welles had a presence every time he was on
screen and being a member of the audience you felt every time Kane experiences
something painful, happy, saddening etc. However, Kane had a lot of trouble
trying to get the film made; in addition, when the film was completed it was a
failure and sealed away in the studios’ vault. Even though Welles went on to
star and direct many other famous films, he wanted to prove that even at age
24, he would be able to deliver a classic film. Studios did not want to take
the risk and during production Welles was able to maintain complete control.
Furthermore, Welles based the story on a man named William Randolph Hearst, who
was a very wealthy man but wanted to run a newspaper.
2. During Pre-production of the film, Welles
tested many different actresses for the Emily Norton Kane role and eventually
landed Ruth Warrick, who Welles personally invited. According to TCM, Warrick
stated that Welles “was not in good shape at the beginning of production. When
principal photography began, Welles was suffering from the effects of caffeine
poisoning as the result of consuming thirty to forty cups of coffee a day.
Welles then switched to tea, figuring that the hassle of having to brew the
beverage would naturally limit his intake. But Welles had someone on call to
brew the tea for him, and within two weeks, Welles was the color of tannic
acid. It was also reported that he would go for long periods without eating,
then put away two or three large steaks with side items at one sitting.” In
addition, during the bedroom scene where Kane is wrecking Susan’s room, Welles
suffered a severe cut on the hand but the camera did not catch the injury. Even
though Welles was not in the best of health he always wanted to make sure his
actors were comfortable on set and he tried to build relationships with them
all. However, Welles did not show the same hospitality to Dorothy Comingore,
who played Susan, Kane’s second wife. Welles was concerned with making the
relationship of the characters as real as possible. Welles explained, "I
treat her that way because she's got to hate my guts when we get to the later
scenes. When she yells and screams and finally walks out on me, I want her to
feel every bit of it in her bones." In addition, Comingdore’s career after
“Citizen Kane” came to a halt after being “blacklisted” for ingratiating herself
with Communist Party members. The scenes where Kane was onscreen were usually
dark and did not require a lot of lighting and Welles believed the low angle
shots provided a more authentic touch. TCM’s “unsung” hero of the film was a
man named Perry Ferguson, who designed the huge sets and art direction.
Ferguson made all his sets look realistic and expensive, which came to light in
Xanadu mansion Kane built.
3. The article entitled “Essentials: Citizen
Kane” gives descriptive insight on what exactly Welles had to go through
physically and mentally to make the film. It was incredibly taxing on his body
and he was forced to mistreat one of the main actors in order to give a genuine
performance. In addition, it mentions the people Welles hired to make the film and
the preconceived monumental failure it was suppose to be, especially with
Welles being so young. However, it goes on to mention the nine academy award
nominations it received and how it is hailed “The greatest film of all time” by
The American Film Institute in 1998.
4. Overall, “Citizen Kane” was a good movie
that showed great emotion, depth and kept the audience wanting more. There were
times where emotions did go over the top and some characters came off annoying
at times. I thought it was very clever how when Kane was younger there was more
lighting and it was more upbeat and when he was older it more serious, not a
lot of lighting and the camera shots were really low. However, the biggest
thing was Welles performance as Kane because he was able to display every
emotion so vividly and even when Kane was wrong you still found yourself
rooting for him; whether it was to become a better man or be more socially open
with the others around him. I can see why it was a classic and it definitely
deserves all the praise it has garnered the passed 70 years.
CHECKLIST
FOR PLAGIARISM
1) (X) I have not handed in this assignment for any other
class.
2) (X) If I reused any information from other papers I have written
for other classes, I clearly explain that in the paper.
3) (X) If I used any
passages word for word, I put quotations around those words, or used
indentation and citation within the text.
4) (X) I have not padded the
bibliography. I have used all sources cited in the bibliography in the text of
the paper.
5) (X) I have cited in the bibliography only the pages I
personally read.
6) (X) I have used direct quotations only in cases where it
could not be stated in another way. I cited the source within the paper and in
the bibliography.
7) (X) I did not so over-use direct quotations that the
paper lacks interpretation or originality.
8) (X) I checked yes on steps 1-7
and therefore have been fully transparent about the research and ideas used in
my paper.
Name: Wayne Clark
Date: 3/24/14
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