Is citizen kane based on a book

This is a companion to citizen kane the film that was designed to sh. Here, in full, published for the first time anywhere, is the shooting script by herman j. A great deal in the movie that was conventional and almost. It held the top spot for 50 years until it fell to second behind vertigo 1958. Citizen kane considered the greatest movie of all time is finally becoming a book. The most lauded american movie ever, citizen kane was controversial even before it. Citizen kane won a reputation as the greatest film ever made when it topped the 1962 sight and sound poll. But a mystery still lies at the heart of this masterpiece. Welles hated rosebud, calling it a dollarbook freudian gag. My wife picked up a stack of the bfis classic film series books at a library sale. The details of this contrived portrayal of hearst and its rosebud joke is covered in the first half of the book. The assumption that the character of susan alexander kane was based on marion davies was a major reason hearst tried to destroy citizen kane.

The film is commonly praised for its intricate plot, filled with flashbacks that shuffle the chronology of kanes life, its extraordinary performances, its marvelous technical stunts, and its deepfocus photography. Laura mulvey is an experimental filmmaker and an academic focusing on feminist and psychoanalytic theory, and she brings these varied strands of her background together in her analysis of orson welles citizen kane. Citizen kane, trump, and hearst based on true story. Except in truth, hearst didnt pass away until 1951, ten years after the year depicted in the film. Mankiewicz and orson welles, illustrated with frame after frame from the movie, along with the cutting continuity the record of the completed movie a superb reading and visual experience. When orson welles masterpiece citizen kane first hit cinemas in. He points to longforgotten court papers in which herman mankiewicz stated that the name came from old rosebud, the 1914 kentucky derby winner, a horse that he bet on big. So the character of charles kane we see throughout citizen kane is very obviously based on hearst. Critics generally agree that citizen kane s protagonist, charles foster kane, is based on william randolph hearst, who built a media empire in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

The citizen kane book magnificently makes up for both omissions. When citizen kane finally opened in may 1941, it was a failure at the box office. The legacy of the film and its director as the anniversary of the premiere approaches, a look at how the movie changed the industryand what happened to. Citizen kane has long been acclaimed as a work of genius and. Citizen kane has long been acclaimed as a work of genius and endlessly dissected by critics. But patrick mcgilligan, in a book published last year, the years of luck and genius on the path to citizen kane, has the freshest answer yet. It has topped bbc cultures list of the greatest american films and many other polls before. Citizen kane is perhaps the one american talking picture that seems as fresh now as the day it opened. Citizen kane, american film drama, released in 1941, that was directed, produced, and cowritten by orson welles, who also starred in the lead role. Narrative innovations in citizen kane narrative film. Newspaper publisher william randolph hearst is the primary inspiration for citizen kanes protagonist, charles foster kane. Strangely enough, it is kind of based on a true story.

The story behind citizen kane hbo film traces struggle between welles, hearst. There is a great opening to the book the text goes over a stretch of. Hearst family forgive orson welles for citizen kane after 71 years. Hill washington post staff writer sunday, november 14, 1999. The sources for citizen kane, the 1941 american motion picture that marked the feature film. Citizen kane was a film and was not taken from a book, howerer the screen writers were herman j mankiewiecz and orson welles. Beatrice welles, daughter of orson welles, has given the goahead to frank brady to write citizen kane. As a landmark work in the history of cinema, it ranks among the few films ever produced for which a remake.

Citizen kane s narrative strategy, in which the whole story is told in flashback from slightly different points of view the equivalent of the unreliable narrator in fiction, was unprecedented in a. Though citizen kane is fiction, the number of parallels between kane and hearst make the connection between the two undeniable. Citizen kane book was disappointing it was a script where you read the lines of each person this is not what we though we were getting. He is very like lord copper, owner of the beast in evelyn waughs novel scoop. Citizen kane is acclaimed by many critics as the greatest movie ever made. Citizen kane and the meaning of rosebud film the guardian. Charlie kane played by welles himself, partly based on wr hearst and.