March 16th: CITIZEN KANE (Orson Welles, 1941)

NOTE: This film will be projected in the high-definition Blu-ray format.

When a newspaper tycoon dies, a reporter tracks down those who knew him to determine the meaning of his cryptic last words.

Orson Welles was a prodigy who left his native United States as a teenager and lied about his age to secure theatrical acting jobs while traveling through Ireland and the UK. Later in New York City he was a leading figure in President Franklin D. Roosevelt's public theatre projects in low-income neighborhoods, heading innovative productions such as a Haitian voodoo take on Macbeth and a modern-dress version of Julius Caesar.

Around this time Welles also took his talents to radio, primarily in scripted drama, with literary adaptations as well as popular entertainments like The Shadow. This culminated in the Halloween prank broadcast of H.G. Wells' War Of The Worlds, disguised as a real breaking news program. The ensuing panic and media brouhaha due to gullible viewers landed Welles on the cover of Time magazine.

Film studio RKO offered Welles an unprecedented contract, giving the 24 year-old complete creative control of his first feature, pending approval of the budget and story idea, with no interference in the script, shooting, or editing process. After an original plan to adapt Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness in an entirely POV style fizzled, Welles collaborated on an original script with veteran screenwriter Herman J.  Mankiewicz.

The story's genesis came from both men, who had in the past written scripts dissecting the lives of prominent figures. As they narrowed their focus to the publishing world, certain elements from the life of the powerful and wealthy William Randolph Hearst would be applied to their own characters. Eventual leaks to the press resulted in controversy about the subject matter before shooting began.

The bulk of the film's cast came from Welles' own radio company the Mercury Theatre, almost none of whom had appeared on camera before, including Welles himself. On the technical side, Welles quickly educated himself by watching German Expressionist films as well as works by Jean Renoir and John Ford, the latter's Stagecoach being a major influence. Ford's veteran cinematographer Gregg Toland would approach Welles personally asking to work on the film.

Toland implemented camera techniques both old and new to achieve whatever visual idea the naive Welles would dream up, leading to innovative approaches in composition and scene transitions. Most notable was the wide-angle "deep focus" photography which allowed for striking images of long-range clarity and forced perspective. In addition, Welles' experience in radio led to a very sophisticated sound design, with complex audio montages and an uncommon use of overlapping dialogue.

Aside from Toland, Welles hired younger, less experienced people with talent that he could collaborate closely with (as opposed to veterans loyal to the studio) including editor Robert Wise (eventual director of West Side Story, The Sound Of Music), composer Bernard Herrmann (Hitchcock's Psycho and Vertigo, among others), and make-up artist Maurice Seiderman, whose work in aging Welles up to 70 years old was as groundbreaking as anything else in the film.

Hearst and those working for him began a massive smear campaign to silence the film, with MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer even offering RKO a large sum of money to destroy the negative. The newspapers owned by Hearst would not run ads or listings for theatres wanting to exhibit it, so while the film was ultimately released, it did not reach the public or make money as well as expected. Critics were over the moon, praising every facet of the production. 

Citizen Kane was nominated for 10 Academy Awards, with Welles becoming the first person acknowledged for writing, producing, directing, and acting in the same film. Unfortunately, the industry backlash would lead to only one win, for Mankiewicz and Welles' screenplay. The film had a huge effect on European critics and filmmakers after its post-war release, and over the years has amassed a level of influence and acclaim unmatched by any other title, leading to its long-held tag as "The Greatest Film Of All Time".

Running time is 2 hours.