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Citizen Arcane-How to Unravel Orson Welles
By Jack Wilson
A funny thing happened on the
way to Citizen Kane. When Kane dies at the beginning of the movie he
says the word “Rosebud” which sets off the reporter telling the story
in search of the meaning of that word. Why was it so important to Kane
that it would be uttered with his last breath?
The answer is revealed at the end of the movie and I won’t disclose
it here in case some of you have not seen the movie yet. Since it is
perhaps the greatest movie ever made by an American, I recommend that
you see it just because you need to fill in your education. It is also
very enjoyable.
But that scene brings up a real issue which did not seem to occur
to the writer Joseph Mankiewicz, the director Orson Welles, or the
continuity crew. The sad fact is that there was no one in the room
when Kane spoke that fateful word, so the reporter could not have
known about it.
There are all sorts of innovations in that movie made by a 25 year
old director; his first film. You can find that information all over
the web and in many books. Meanwhile, that success did not fare well
with the studio because it was thought that it depicted the
dictatorial newspaperman William Randolph Hearst who was not a bit
amused and pitted all his might against Welles, effectively preventing
him from having the brilliant career he deserved. The Magnificent
Andersons, Welles’ second film was taken away from him and edited by
the studio. Whenever Welles sought backing and studio support for a
new endeavor, he was thwarted.
Welles managed to make several very interesting movies after that
and had something of a career narrating and acting, but his greatness
was essentially truncated by the Hearst boycott.
In his later life, Welles became physically huge. He joked that his
doctor told him that if he was going to participate in a dinner for
four, that three other people had to be there too. He debased himself
appearing on talk shows doing foolish magic tricks and jabbering about
nothing.
Even with all his subsequent troubles Welles left a legacy of one
of the greatest movies of all time and several small masterpieces. All
this started with his Mercury Theater radio group which upended the
world unintentionally by broadcasting H. G. Welles’ War of the Worlds
as if it were really taking place, scaring the wits out of America.
Jack Wilson is a writer, artist and movie buff in Tempe, AZ
http://www.geocities.com/galimatio/jackwilson.html
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