Perhaps we were brainwashed?

Rating: Null/10 (20 March 2001)

So....Citizen Kane was voted the number one film of all time by the American Film Institute but that doesn't mean we have to like it. As a film buff in long standing I still can't figure out what makes the film so great. After a few viewings throughout the years I become bored after about 40 minutes and when its over I'm sitting there wondering what all the fuss is about. I'll go as far as to agree its a fairly good account of a publishers rise to power but not a great one although the black and white cinematography and the score by Bernard Herrmann are assets to the film. Of the players Agnes Moorehead, Everett Sloane and Paul Stewart steal the acting honors. It also bemuses me that the film was nominated for 9 Academy Awards and only won one for the screenplay. Could it be that the Academy didn't feel it was so great in 1941? I wonder why? I submise that through the years some critics and film historians decided to boost the film to classic status which ultimately force fed film fans and some critics into actually believing the film is great and not to look naive we went along for the ride. Today we realize that Citizen Kane was not a factual account and as far as I'm concerned it all boils down to artistic claptrap. By the way the film that took the Oscar in 1941 was How Green Was My Valley directed by John Ford. Now thats a classic!