Base Metal Into Gold

Rating: 9/10 (26 August 2008)

Pauline Kael in her famous essay on this film tried (wo)manfully to give all the credit to Herman Mankiewicz's script and Gregg Toland's camera work. It persuaded few at the time and is hugely unlikely when you look at the work both did outside of this film. Kael as a critic was always a doubtful proposition, her chumminess with the makers of many of the films she reviewed was on an ethical level with those internet reviewers who take cash to rave about Hollywood's latest mindless blast ie "The Dark Knight" - an adolescent film for adolescents. The credit for this film is almost entirely due to Orson Welles, less a man than a legend even then. That said though, Welles has to take the blame for the film's shortcomings as well. The story is little more than the usual homily about money not buying happiness, wealthy Hollywood dished up this message gleefully to an audience that had no chance to test it's truth. The script contains some great lines but lacks depth. The psychology second rate Freud. The acting is variable, only Welles himself really managing to put any gusto into the film. Despite this the film is close to the masterpiece many have proclaimed, a fitting testament to old Hollywood's ability to turn trash into great cinema on a par with "Casablanca". How it manages this is hard to pin down (if it was easy to describe other filmmakers could achieve the same results with equal ease). At root it comes down to the sheer cinematic nature of the film, none before or since has used the medium's possibilities with such abandon or genius (this is one of those rare films that is unimaginable in any other medium). In the right mood you can surrender to this film and become convinced it is a work of art. Of course it does not stand up to serious textual analysis - few films can - but this is an American film that does not insult it's audiences' intelligence -a rarity then and even more so now.