by Allan Fish
(USA 1941 119m) DVD1/2
A declaration of principles
p/d Orson Welles w Herman J.Mankiewicz, Orson Welles ph Gregg Toland ed Robert Wise m Bernard Herrmann art Van Nest Polglase, Perry Ferguson cos Edward Stevenson spc Vernon L.Walker sound James G.Stewart
Orson Welles (Charles Foster Kane), Joseph Cotten (Jedediah Leland), Dorothy Comingore (Susan Alexander), Everett Sloane (Mr Bernstein), Ray Collins (Boss Jim W.Gettys), Paul Stewart (Raymond), Ruth Warrick (Emily Norton), Erskine Sanford (Herbert Carter), Agnes Moorehead (Mrs Kane), Harry Shannon (Mr Kane), George Coulouris (Walter Parks Thatcher), William Alland (Jerry Thompson), Fortunio Bonanova (Matiste), Philip Van Zandt (Mr Rawlston), Buddy Swann (Kane aged 8), Sonny Bupp (Kane III), Gus Schilling (Head Waiter), Philip Van Zandt (Mr Rawlston), Georgia Backus (Miss Anderson), Richard Barr (Hillman), Joan Blair (Georgia), Al Eben (Mike), Benny Rubin (Smather), Frances Neal (Ethel), Alan Ladd, Arthur O’Connell,
What can I say about Kane that hasn’t been said by a thousand critics and commentators before me? One feels almost in danger of inflicting paralysis by analysis. Often referred to as the greatest film ever made, it’s certainly a worthy contender to that most arbitrary of titles, but there is so much talk these days about the drama behind the film’s making, both in documentary or dramatic re-enactments such as the cable TV movie RKO 281, that the film itself is often overlooked. Now that it has, thanks to digital technology, been released pristinely to DVD it can be truly seen and appreciated as the masterpiece of the old Hollywood, typically rejected by its peers at the academy for How Green Was My Valley, as whopping an insulting oversight as has been offered before or since.
With the greatest respect to Kane‘s numerous technical innovations, it’s in terms if its narrative structure that it most amazes me. At the centre we have a figure who is vain, ambitious, egotistical, selfish, rich and patronising, yet all these characteristics are instinctively part of the darker side of human nature. We recognise them because we know them. But above all the other characteristics and themes of the film, the one that seems to course through its very being, through every frame, is one of betrayal. There is an irony here in that Welles himself doubtless felt rather betrayed by the way he was vilified in the press (at least Hearst’s portion of it) after the film’s premiere. Yet the real betrayal here is Kane’s, and though he betrays all around him, Welles himself seems more concerned by the fact that Kane himself is betrayed. Certainly only Bernstein remains fastidiously loyal, his reward for which is an office high up in a building with nothing to do (“me, I’m chairman of the board, I’ve got nothing but time.”) but tell perfect tales about girls on ferries. He feels betrayed by his first wife for not supporting him in everything, by his second wife for not being able to love him unconditionally and accept his tyrannical treatment and public humiliation of her, by his friend Jed Leland for daring to doubt his motives and, perish the thought, see through him, and by the public for not voting him into the political office that he seems to believe he has a divine right to. Welles continued this theme throughout his later masterpieces, particularly Touch of Evil and Chimes at Midnight, yet in all three films the betrayal is deserved, typified by Joe Cotten’s returning the Inquirer’s ‘declaration of principles’ in an envelope.
Welles elicits magnificent performances from his entire cast (with Cotten’s cynical Leland, Sloane’s loyal Bernstein and Comingore’s shrill Susan Alexander stand-outs along with Welles himself). The photography of Gregg Toland is among the greatest and most influential in the history of monochrome lensing, the score of Bernard Herrmann so multi-layered (including the amazing aria from the fictitious opera ‘Salaambo’) as to leave one awestruck and the editing, design and feel of the film so exquisite as to defy criticism. It’s a must see in every sense of the word and a masterpiece of technical virtuosity. Its narrative question may rest on a sled, but in the words never spoken by Barry Norman, “why not?“
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Wonderful analysis of the theme of betrayal that does indeed course through the canon of Welles. A fine review of a daunting film.
Thanks as always, Alexander.
Well, what could I possibly add here? LOL!!!
Well, on second thought there is so much to say that I must not keep my lips completely sealed. Allan is right to taut both Bernard Herrmann and Greg Toland, the film’s dazzling narrative structure and Orson Welles’ towering performance as well as the director’s stock company including Joseph Cotten, Edward Everett Sloane, Agnes Moorhead, Dorothy Comingore, Ray Collins, at al, all of whom are magnificent.
Perhaps the most rewarding CITIZEN KANE volume of the thousands that have been written (as part of the most analyzed film in movie history–a contention that Allan broached with his ‘paralysis by analysis’ quip) is “The Citizen Kane Book’ by Pauline Kael, an extraorinarily engaging volume that poses the theory that the film is more ‘fun’ than any film ever made. Kael long contended that this was the #1 film of all-time, a designation shared by so many critics, including the folks at Sight and Sound, who in a series of decade polls, have said as much over and over.
I must again chide Allan on his sustained (and tiresome) hostility to John Ford’s HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY, one of the greatest of all American films. No it did not deserve to win the Best Picture Oscar over CITIZEN KANE, but it was still one of the best films of 1941 without question and one of Ford’s greatest achievements. Leslie Halliwell loved the film as well. I am always deeply-moved by this classic film.
Wasn’t there a raging battle over whether or not Herman Mankiewicz really had co-authorship of this famous screenplay?
Another outstanding review!
I guess you can safely say that this is one of those films that can been endlessly, and every time you finish with it you learn something new or find fresh new insight. I once was lucky enough to see this on the big screen at a revival house. That was a night I won’t ever forget.
I’ve seen this film almost innumerable times. One of the greatest experiences of my life was seeing it on a huge screen at Union Square in early July San Francisco two and a half years ago. Magnificent. And Sam’s comment (as usual) leaves no stone unturned!
It is interesting to note that Welles shared direction credit with Toland…
Yes, he felt Toland deserved the attention, for all he taught him on the set.
Phil Van Zandt took his own life but swallowing an overdose of sleeping pills. He appeared in the last film Fifi Blows Her Top. He never saw it projected. Van Zandt is best known in the Three Stooges. His real name is Phil Pinheiro, he is Dutch but his last name is of Portuguese origin.
Phil Van Zandt was a Dutchman, but of Hebrew origin. His real last name is of Portuguese-Jewish origin.
Therefore, Phil Van Zandt is hardly a Dutchman by origin and of Middle Eastern origin.
Clarification:
Therefore, Phil Van Zandt is hardly a Dutchman by origin and he is really of Middle Eastern origin.