There's a tradition in Hollywood that the head of the art department got their name on every film. The formal name on the film is the name of someone who didn't play any part in the making of the film at all. It's really difficult to find out who actually designed the set, who did the drawings and even more difficult tofind out who was the set decorator. And yes, you're right, Ian. That is such a precision. I can't think of a moment in Gleeing when something seems to jar, or something you think they should have done that a bit more carefully. There is such thought that's gone into every single moment.
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