The Hyperbole of Genius

Rating: 1/10 (24 May 2005)

All the pseuds say it; all the polls of the "greatest films ever made" say it: this is the greatest film ever made. Orson Welles, in between mouthfuls, shows his genius once again.
But things are never quite what they seem.
Take all that brouhaha about "The War of the Worlds." All those people thinking that the Martians had really landed. Or did they? I have heard this play twice, and I have to say that I cannot see anybody being taken in by a radio play that is not particularly good. Indeed when you dig up the contemporary newspapers, you can see a distinct absence of named people; and the articles smack of having been written before the broadcast even went out. At the time, the Mercury Theatre was being threatened with the termination of their radio series: they were that bad! What better to keep them on the air than the biggest load of hype in entertainment history. It is reckoned by some historians that not a single person headed for the hills as a result of this radio programme.
But surely Orson Welles answered his critics in "Citizen Kane." Didn't he?
Well if taking the story of Hearst, blackening the reputation of Marion Davies, and pinching unusual camera angles from other directors, like Michael Curtiz, is genius, then Orson Welles is a genius and "Citizen Kane" is indeed the greatest film ever known.
It just goes to show that if people go around shilling Orson Welles as a genius, the pseuds will be stupid enough to believe it.
But don't take my word for it. See The Adventures of Robin Hood, which predates Citizen Kane. There you will see all the unusual angles you will wish to see. Curtiz even has a couple of shots taken from the fireplace, the difference between Kane and Robin Hood is that in Robin Hood, the fire is lit. Also in Robin Hood you will see moving camera shots a-plenty, especially in the opening scene in the great hall at Nottingham Castle, which means that the often repeated statement that Orson Welles invented moving camera shots in Citizen Kane is utter drivel. I will repeat it just in case the pseuds miss it yet again: Citizen Kane is NOT the first film to use moving camera shots and Orson Welles did NOT invent this technique.
If you want to call Michael Curtiz a genius, I have no problem with that. He certainly has more right to that appellation than has Orson Welles.
But I can be wrong. And I have been proved wrong. I once said to a friend of mine: "Is it just me, or is Citizen Kane the most overrated film ever made?"
He replied: "You are wrong. Citizen Kane is a great film. whenever it is shown on television, I never sleep better."
As someone who has fallen asleep in front of Citizen Kane myself, I just had to admit that I was wrong.
And all those people who stayed at home instead of going to the cinema, making Citizen Kane a box-office flop. They were wrong, too.
Or were they?