The Best Drama Ever Filmed

Rating: 10/10 (23 May 2005)

This is a great movie, the best drama ever made. Everything about it is perfect. And the test of it is that no one at the time of its release knew what to do with it, or what to make of the genius of Orson Welles. These two facts themselves engender a tragedy that should, but probably will never be, a film like Citizen Kane. Yes, it was nominated for all the right things. And son of a gun, the Academy ACTUALLY gave CK an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
BEST ACTOR 1941 Sgt. York? I love Gary Cooper, but... BEST PICTURE, BEST DIRECTOR 1941 How Green Was My Valley, Best Picture, Best Director? A great film, and by my list of films, John Ford is a great director, but... BEST FILM EDITING 1941 Sgt. York again? Now, come on! Guys, didn't you see that newsreel mock-up stuff, splicing CFK next to Hitler etc? Sgt. York? MUSIC 1941 All That Money Can Buy...well, at least Bernard Hermann, music man for CK, won.
The Academy is not an Oracle of Film Greatness, and sometimes they even get it right. But in 1941 they looked past the brilliant Jewel that is Citizen Kane and picked up, instead, a handful of shiny pebbles.