Citizen Kane - Greatest film of all time ?

[Tommy Tainant]

i finally got round to watching this last night. Its the life story of an oligarch and is suprisingly modern in content. It stands up pretty well.
Orson Welles plays Kane who is based on the WR Hearst newspaper baron. he builds an Opera House so that his girlfriend can star in her own operas even though she cant sing for shit.

There have been several Kanes in history. I would suggest that Trump is one and Musk seems to be another.. Its not enough that they have untold wealth they also want you to love them as well.

Joseph Cotten plays his childhood friend and conscience and Agnes Moorhead plays his mother. I didnt recognise the rest of the cast.

Welles is mesmerising in the role. Its difficult to watch without thinking of Harry Lime. So confident and assured. Hollywood wasted this mans talent.

The film bobs along quite nicely with no wasted scenes and you can see some of the methods that the cineastes love. Lighting and editing ass to the drama.

its often touted as the greatest film ever. i am not sure if it is that. I am not sure how you would decide that. But it tackles big subjects and treats its audience with respect. It is definitely up there with the best.

 

[odanny]

I was not terribly impressed, nor was I impressed by Hitchcock. People who say they are great are those movie buffs who know what was revolutionary for its time, and I don't really care that much, I guess.

 

[bodecea]

i finally got round to watching this last night. Its the life story of an oligarch and is suprisingly modern in content. It stands up pretty well.
Orson Welles plays Kane who is based on the WR Hearst newspaper baron. he builds an Opera House so that his girlfriend can star in her own operas even though she cant sing for shit.

There have been several Kanes in history. I would suggest that Trump is one and Musk seems to be another.. Its not enough that they have untold wealth they also want you to love them as well.

Joseph Cotten plays his childhood friend and conscience and Agnes Moorhead plays his mother. I didnt recognise the rest of the cast.

Welles is mesmerising in the role. Its difficult to watch without thinking of Harry Lime. So confident and assured. Hollywood wasted this mans talent.

The film bobs along quite nicely with no wasted scenes and you can see some of the methods that the cineastes love. Lighting and editing ass to the drama.

its often touted as the greatest film ever. i am not sure if it is that. I am not sure how you would decide that. But it tackles big subjects and treats its audience with respect. It is definitely up there with the best.

The story behind it is more interesting.

 

[Tommy Tainant]

I was not terribly impressed, nor was I impressed by Hitchcock. People who say they are great are those movie buffs who know what was revolutionary for its time, and I don't really care that much, I guess.

I fell asleep during 2001 so that is another on my list to watch.

 

[Oddball]

One of the most overrated films of all time.

 

[marvin martian]

i finally got round to watching this last night. Its the life story of an oligarch and is suprisingly modern in content. It stands up pretty well.
Orson Welles plays Kane who is based on the WR Hearst newspaper baron. he builds an Opera House so that his girlfriend can star in her own operas even though she cant sing for shit.

There have been several Kanes in history. I would suggest that Trump is one and Musk seems to be another.. Its not enough that they have untold wealth they also want you to love them as well.

Joseph Cotten plays his childhood friend and conscience and Agnes Moorhead plays his mother. I didnt recognise the rest of the cast.

Welles is mesmerising in the role. Its difficult to watch without thinking of Harry Lime. So confident and assured. Hollywood wasted this mans talent.

The film bobs along quite nicely with no wasted scenes and you can see some of the methods that the cineastes love. Lighting and editing ass to the drama.

its often touted as the greatest film ever. i am not sure if it is that. I am not sure how you would decide that. But it tackles big subjects and treats its audience with respect. It is definitely up there with the best.

You Trump asslickers seem to able to work him into ANY discussion about ANYTHING, even an 80 year old movie. Get a girlfriend, dude.

 

[rightwinger]

Overrated
There are much better movies from that era

 

[bodecea]

You Trump asslickers seem to able to work him into ANY discussion about ANYTHING, even an 80 year old movie. Get a girlfriend, dude.

 

[bodecea]

Been to Hearst Castle and read Hearst's biography............fascinating all around.

 

[Oddball]

Been to Hearst Castle .....

Also overrated.

 

[bodecea]

Also overrated.

Not at all. Very cool place. Of course it's doubly nice that it's near all the Paso Robles wineries.

 

[Oddball]

Not at all. Very cool place. Of course it's doubly nice that it's near all the Paso Robles wineries.

Biltmore makes it like a 4 & 2 split level tract job in Tarzana.

 

[Flopper]

i finally got round to watching this last night. Its the life story of an oligarch and is suprisingly modern in content. It stands up pretty well.
Orson Welles plays Kane who is based on the WR Hearst newspaper baron. he builds an Opera House so that his girlfriend can star in her own operas even though she cant sing for shit.

There have been several Kanes in history. I would suggest that Trump is one and Musk seems to be another.. Its not enough that they have untold wealth they also want you to love them as well.

Joseph Cotten plays his childhood friend and conscience and Agnes Moorhead plays his mother. I didnt recognise the rest of the cast.

Welles is mesmerising in the role. Its difficult to watch without thinking of Harry Lime. So confident and assured. Hollywood wasted this mans talent.

The film bobs along quite nicely with no wasted scenes and you can see some of the methods that the cineastes love. Lighting and editing ass to the drama.

its often touted as the greatest film ever. i am not sure if it is that. I am not sure how you would decide that. But it tackles big subjects and treats its audience with respect. It is definitely up there with the best.

I believe it is one best films every made. However, younger audience are not likely to see it that way for several reason. First being it's B&W and younger audience want color and CGI. The Well's camera techniques, deep focus and rear projection, extreme close-ups, overlapping dialogue and use of varying contrast to set a mood were new in 1940 but they they have now been used in thousands of time in films.

The subject matter of the film is timeless, a man that wanted love from the world and went to fantastic extremes to get it, yet never had any love to give.

I think some audience were confused by Rosebud at the end of film. “Rosebud” was the word written on a sled he possessed during childhood. The sled is seen at the beginning, but never again. If you were not paying attention at the time, you lost a big part of what the film had to say. Kane, right before death, recognizes the wrongs he’s committed in his life and yearns for his childhood innocence. His only positive childhood memory was playing with that sled, therefore his remembrance of the phrase makes complete sense; he is finally aware that he drove everyone away, and only desires to be at peace, to receive another chance at life. A chance he would never get.

 

[Flopper]

I was not terribly impressed, nor was I impressed by Hitchcock. People who say they are great are those movie buffs who know what was revolutionary for its time, and I don't really care that much, I guess.

Back in 1941, when the movie was released audiences didn't think much of it. It lost money and was pulled and shelved after 6 months. As one critic said, this is a movie's whose time has not come. No one made movies like this. Audiences expected a drama to have good guys and bad guys and good to triumph over evil. The kind of movies that were popular were Pinocchio, Sargent York, Gone With the Wind, Buck Privates, When Ladies Meet. The film faded from view after its release, but it returned to public attention when it was praised by French critics such as André Bazin and re-released in 1956.

 

[jbrownson0831]

i finally got round to watching this last night. Its the life story of an oligarch and is suprisingly modern in content. It stands up pretty well.
Orson Welles plays Kane who is based on the WR Hearst newspaper baron. he builds an Opera House so that his girlfriend can star in her own operas even though she cant sing for shit.

There have been several Kanes in history. I would suggest that Trump is one and Musk seems to be another.. Its not enough that they have untold wealth they also want you to love them as well.

Joseph Cotten plays his childhood friend and conscience and Agnes Moorhead plays his mother. I didnt recognise the rest of the cast.

Welles is mesmerising in the role. Its difficult to watch without thinking of Harry Lime. So confident and assured. Hollywood wasted this mans talent.

The film bobs along quite nicely with no wasted scenes and you can see some of the methods that the cineastes love. Lighting and editing ass to the drama.

its often touted as the greatest film ever. i am not sure if it is that. I am not sure how you would decide that. But it tackles big subjects and treats its audience with respect. It is definitely up there with the best.

Joseph Cotton is an excellent actor. If you want to see him as a great villain, watch the 1953 movie Niagara filmed at the falls, with Marilyn Monroe as co-star.

 

[Flopper]

Joseph Cotton is an excellent actor. If you want to see him as a great villain, watch the 1953 movie Niagara filmed at the falls, with Marilyn Monroe as co-star.

I agree, however I think his best is The Thrid Man. Also, Portrait of Jenny, Gaslight, as well as Niagara. In real life he was on the most prolific actors of his time. He played in 103 movies, 47 TV productions, and over 100 radio productions, 15 Broadway shows. He also wrote an number screen plays and several books.

 

[whitehall]

Kane had a plot which was relatively rare in pre-war frivolous junk Hollywood was pounding out at the time. The audience didn't like it that much but gradually Hollywood built an aura about the movie. It isn't even a spoiler these days to say "Rosebud". I think Kane was overrated and the legend only serves self styled "movie critics" at cocktail parties and maybe that's even fading away. I liked Wells' "The Third Man" better.

 

[rightwinger]

Kane had a plot which was relatively rare in pre-war frivolous junk Hollywood was pounding out at the time. The audience didn't like it that much but gradually Hollywood built an aura about the movie. It isn't even a spoiler these days to say "Rosebud". I think Kane was overrated and the legend only serves self styled "movie critics" at cocktail parties and maybe that's even fading away. I liked Wells' "The Third Man" better.

I always thought Orson Wells was too Thespian in his acting.
Came off as phony

While I thought the camera work in Citizen Kane was impressive, the story was plodding

 

[iamwhatiseem]

I gotta go with rightwinger on this.
I saw it for the first time several years ago and thought it was good... but not the hype it is said to be.
Compare it to say Godfather I ... not even close.

 

[Flopper]

I gotta go with rightwinger on this.
I saw it for the first time several years ago and thought it was good... but not the hype it is said to be.
Compare it to say Godfather I ... not even close.

We judge movies, books, and theater, based on contemporary customs and standards. No doubt, Citizen Kane was ahead of it's time in 1940 when a movie that ended in death of the protagonist, had to leave audiences with something other than despair and hopelessness. In the 50's to 70's, people looked at Citizen Kane much differently because movies then did not have to put smiles on the faces of audiences or inspire them. People saw the genius of Welles plot twists, his introduction of avant-garde storytelling, unique use of the camera, incredible attention to detail, from the music to the lighting. Filmmakers in the 60's and 70's and later made such heavy use of Well's techniques, that today Citizen Kane seems about as fresh as yesterdays garbage. However, if you look at the film considering the era it was made, Welles was one of the most gift filmmakers of all times.

There are two movies that Welles though were his best and critics agreed, Citizen Kane and the Magnificent Ambersons, however both lost money at the box office. The Welles production that made money, got critics approval, and Welles disapproval was The Stranger. If you haven't seen it, it's worth watching, a good suspenseful story, certain not in the league of Citizen Kane.