The Greatest, plus the other 9.

Rating: 10/10 (28 September 2000)

Can there be any doubt that CITIZEN KANE is it? There have been critics who have called it the greatest "American sound" film of all time. Let me clear that up. As far as silent films go, there are a lot of great ones. The General, Nosferatu, The Iron Horse, Phantom of the Opera and Hunchback of Notre Dame come to mind. But all of them pale before Kane. When you turn to Foreign films, I'm sorry but none of them measure up either. Too many of them are culturally obscure, boringingly artistic or simply bad. There are great films made over seas, but again they fall far short of the pinnacle that is Kane. 2 centuries from now, Kane will be mentioned in the same breath as the Mona Lisa and Beethoven's Fifth. It is the very definition of the term "Classic." No other film has ever put together all of the bits and pieces that are needed to build a film in such perfect order as Kane. From Herrmann's score to the Welles/Mankiewicz script to Greg Toland's cinematography, this is an encyclopedia of film-making in one neat package. The number of people influenced by Kane since its release is incalculable, but evident in many films that have come opened after it. This film became Orson's curse. He never was able to duplicate it, and he was reviled/loved for not being able to do so. He is nonetheless one of the true geniuses of film history, ranking with Buster Keaton, Kubrick, Hitchcock and Kurosawa. It is to Hollywood's great shame that they never allowed Orson to get that close again. Their jealousy robbed us of who knows how many more films like Kane. THE TEN Greatest Films of all time: (In no particular order except #1)
1] CITIZEN KANE 2] NORTH BY NORTHWEST 3] SEVEN SAMURAI 4] THE GENERAL- 1927 5] KING KONG 6] 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY 7] GONE WITH THE WIND 8] VERTIGO 9] SINGIN' IN THE RAIN 10] CASABLANCA
Anyone who believes that Godfather I & II or Raging Bull are anywhere near the top ten needs to see more movies.