A TRIUMPH IN HOLLYWOOD MOVIE MAKING!!!

Rating: Null/10 (6 December 1998)

ORSON WELLES WAS A YOUNG LAD OF 25 WHEN HE STARTED WORKING ON "CITIZEN KANE". MANY CRITICS HAVE FELT THAT THIS FILM IS THE BEST FILM EVER MADE. IT IS HARD TO SAY WHAT IS THE BEST FILM EVER MADE...IT DEPENDS ON ONE'S POINT OF VIEW - AND THAT POINT OF VIEW HAS BEEN SHARED BY MANY WHEN IT COMES TO REVIEWING THIS FILM. THE STORY BEGINS, OR RATHER IS THE END OF AN ERA, FOR CHARLES FOSTER KANE (WELLES). HE REPEATEDLY WHISPERS "ROSEBUD". WE DO NOT FIND OUT UNTIL AT THE END OF THE MOVIE WHO HE IS REFERRING TO. THE BEST SCENE IN KANE, I THINK, IS WHEN HE IS WATCHING HIS WIFE SING AN OPERATIC SOLO FROM A BALCONY THEATRE BOOTH. SHE SINGS SO HORRIBLY AND THE AUDIENCE GIVES HER SOME MINIMAL APPLAUSE. THREE SECONDS LATER, KANE STARTS TO SLOWLY CLAP AND THEN CLAP SO LOUDLY THAT THE AUDIENCE CLAPS ALONG WITH HIM - A SIGN OF HIS POWER AS A NEWSPAPER TYCOON. THE MOVIE GAINED MUCH PUBLICITY LATER ON, ESPECIALLY WHEN RANDOLPH HEARST STARTED TO DENOUNCE IT. I THINK IT IS A LANDMARK FILM IN TERMS OF THE ACTING, SCREENPLAY, AND BRILLIANT BLACK AND WHITE CINEMATOGRAPHY. AND WHY NOT FILM IT IN BLACK AND WHITE? KANE'S LIFE WAS DARK AND DREARY ANYWAY. A HOLLYWOOD MASTERPIECE!