The film is a kind of mole-hallen drive with this strange, over-large presence of creatures and objects. It wants you to feel so powerfully its own artifice at key moments. And I think that's also a way in which Wells is allowing everyone in a way to get their due, even if the credits don't completely testify to that. He wants you to see the work that goes into producing a Hollywood film. And he wants us to, the people watching. That's what's so amazing, is that it's the dialogue between the film and Wells and us. You know, it's not just about the plot, but it's saying, I want you to be
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Orson Welles' film, released in 1941, which is widely acclaimed as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, films yet made. Welles plays the lead role of Charles Foster Kane, a newspaper magnate, and Welles directed, produced and co-wrote this story of loneliness at the heart of a megalomaniac. The plot was partly inspired by the life of William Randolph Hearst, who then used the power of his own newspapers to try to suppress the film’s release. It was to take some years before Citizen Kane reached a fuller audience and, from that point, become so celebrated.
The image above is of Kane addressing a public meeting while running for Governor.
With
Stella Bruzzi
Professor of Film and Dean of Arts and Humanities at University College London
Ian Christie
Professor of Film and Media History at Birkbeck, University of London
And
John David Rhodes
Professor of Film Studies and Visual Culture at the University of Cambridge
Producer: Simon Tillotson