A Classic Sets The Pattern.

Rating: Null/10 (11 April 2008)

Who wrote a better Elektra, Sophocles or Euripides? At this point it probably doesn't matter, but they set the pattern for a future Shakespeare. The brilliance of Citizen Kane is its source: The Mercury Theatre. Wells notched up cinema by making this play set to 24 frames per second. It also is early post-modern: It is made for the viewer, not the glory of the author. The viewer has complete understanding of what is going on, and the characters in the story are lost in a fog wondering what is Rosebud? Each character is stuck in their fixation of their relationship with Charles Foster Kane. Kane is the stage manager of this story. I first saw this film on a late night LA television station in 1966 when I was ten years old. I was alone. I knew I was watching something unique and special like no other film before, old or modern of that time. Later on in college in a film class I was re-introduced to it as a classic masterpiece, the choice viewing of the class. What has to be accepted is its uniqueness. The style can really only work for this film. You have to give Orson Wells great credit of theater to film vision. Another great example is his "MacBeth" done on a shoestring budget. I am not sure if it is important that this is the best film of all time. It is the only film that does what it does for its time. Theater vision burst through the camera lens, and if you watch it you never forget it. I think it is better to say that it is a classic best of classic cinema.