The Man and the Myth HUM 3280 Narrative

The Man and the Myth HUM 3280: Narrative Film Fall 2014 Dr. Perdigao September 8 -10, 2014

Credits • Producer: Orson Welles • Director: Orson Welles • Screenwriter: Herman J. Mankiewicz, Orson Welles • Cinematographer: Gregg Toland

Framing • Rosebud • (http: //davidlavery. net/Courses/3870/Films/Peanuts_Kane. jpg) • Accounts of Charles Foster Kane’s life • • News on the March newsreels Investigation by reporter Jerry Thompson Walter Parks Thatcher (guardian) Bernstein (Kane’s assistant) Jedediah Leland (old friend, newspaper associate) Susan Alexander (second wife) Raymond (butler)

Framing • Death of a great man • Anonymous • Sun rises and sets • Newsreels recounting life, death • Xanadu, Kubla Kahn • Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Kubla Kahn” (1816) • http: //www. online-literature. com/coleridge/640/

The Other Xanadu (the lesser or greater? ) http: //cormackcarr. com/2010/08/07 /finding-your-xanadu/

Contexts • Orson Welles’ 1938 “War of the Worlds” broadcast, work with the Mercury Players • 1939—big year for Hollywood (The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind) but big news was Welles’ contract with RKO Pictures • Originally Welles intended to make film based on Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness with camera as protagonist, handheld camera chronicling Marlow’s journey, scrapped by studio • Influence of Fritz Lang, experimental filmmaking • Worked with screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz • Titles of project—“American, ” “John Citizen, U. S. A. ”

The Real Story? • Based on William Randolph Hearst—most powerful newsman in U. S. ; political ambitions; construction of San Simeon estate for his lover in California (half the size of Rhode Island) • Spanish-American war—“You provide the pictures and I’ll provide the war. ” • Susan Alexander as Marion Davies, even “Rosebud” claim • 25% of world’s art market in Hearst’s possession • Welles discounted claim but noted the film is based on financial barons living during the period the film covers • Welles was asked to destroy the film, for payment of $800, 000 by Louis B. Mayer, head of MGM; film banned from theatres under pressure from Hearst’s columnist Louella Parsons and Mayer; RKO president George J. Shaefer threatened legal action; Welles offered to buy for $1 mil; film finally released

Re(a)d Papers • Hearst’s attack on Welles—claims of Communist leanings • Stage production of Native Son—critics called closer to Moscow than Harlem • FBI file started on Welles • New play called “Communistic” • Welles under investigation, considered threat to the nation’s “internal security”

1941 • Nominated for 9 Oscars • 4 nominations for Welles—Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Screenplay • Boos when title read • Lost all categories except for Best Screenplay • RKO retired film to the vault

Threads • Making of Welles and Hearst, parallels • Welles’ own story worked into film • Loss of mother—Welles’ life, not Hearst’s • Welles at peak of success at 25, youngest “has-been” at 26 • Hearst dies in 1952 at age 88 • Hearst’s real life fades against construction in Citizen Kane, legacy rewritten in film • Mid-1950 s, film comes back, on international lists of greatest films in early 60 s • Welles’ autobiographical film—lives out life in isolation

Form and Content • Inside/outside, windows and doors, reflections • High boom shot—Kane’s possessions, focus on sled • Use of quick cuts, dissolves, iris shot • Deep focus photography • Shadow and sharp contrast • Jigsaw puzzle in cinematography and narrative • “No Trespassing” sign at beginning and end • Snow: snow globe: Rosebud