Of Welles

[LARSSON at VAX1.Mankato.MSUS.EDU]

Rising like a guppy to a gummy worm from John:
"Shamed tamed blamed by Chris (I guess the honeymoon's over), I must confess that
 I find
CITIZEN KANE a pompous and poorly paced film.  Yeah, sell off your little kid an
d he'll
probably grow up desperately and unsuccessfully looking for love.  Heavy.
 I know, I am evil and I am sorry.  I just can't appreciate it (nor that MAGNIFI
CENT
AMBERSONS either, for that matter).  Maybe it's just become--too familiar--such
a
cultural reference point!  Such an easy tale to summarize, to paraphrase, to enc
apsulate, I
dunno. A-and that *Boy Genius* crap, I never could get behind that either.  Some
 
excellent stuff, unquestionably.  But man, did you ever try to sit through his M
ACBETH?
Really risible.  Sorry again.  Chris is right:  deep end time for bonzo.  Need m
ore sugar.
Must cranch.


"

A. As someone else noted, CK is a film you *have* to see more than once.
I first saw it on latenight tv and was mildly amused but no more.  Then saw it
in a theater and was more impressed.  The third viewing (in a theater) began
to truly open my eyes and more and more revealed itself to me on each viewing.
Even after a long, long time, including shot-by-shot analysis on the Steenbeck,
I catch something new once in a while.  (One simple example, you can't possibly
understand that the music playing when Susan refuses to speak to the reporter
is important until you've seen her second meeting with the reporter)

B. *Was* it being brought up by a bank that ruined him?  That's one explanation?
Was it just having a lot of money and power?  That's Another.
Was he corrupted by his reporters, like Leland suggests?
Or was a spoiled brat from the get-go?  (Look at his goodbye scene with mom and
Thatcher again).

I won't even mention all the stuff going on in the deep focus cinematography,
the soundtrack, the editing, etc.

And which version of MACBETH did you see?  Not a great film, maybe not even a
good one, but he made it on a very low budget in ten days to prove it could be
done--and it is much better in the version that restores several cut scenes
and the original dialogue soundtrack (which the studio made him redub).

Anyway, Welles was a bundle of contradictions--hating and exploiting that
Boy Genius tag himself all his life.  "Rosebud,"
 though, he sometimes spoke of as a great idea (his own) and sometimes dismissed
as a plot device that was the best Mankiewicz could come up with.

I *do* think CK is a great film, but it's not my favorite Welles--those honors
go, in order, to CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT, TOUCH OF EVIL and THE MAGNIFICENT (and
mutilated) AMBERSONS.


Don Larsson, Mankato State U (MN)