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 ( 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)

The Other Xanadu (the lesser or greater?) /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-1950s, film comes back, on international lists of greatest films in early 60s 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