Morris, Chris. “Warner Finds Superior Source for ‘Citizen Kane’ DVD Set.” Billboard 11 August 2001. 10 April 2008 <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=keh&AN=4958025&site=ehost-live>.

Chris Morris writes this article in August 2001, just as the popularity of the relatively new home video format DVD was starting to gain popularity.  Movie titles were released incrementally in this new all-digital format.

Morris writes that the popularity of Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane has created a high demand for the film to be released to the new DVD video format.  Warner Home had been working on a 60th anniversary release and it was planned for the 25 of September in that same year.  This new release was widely expected to be visually and sonically ungraded from the previous releases to home video.  Morris writes that Warner, in their attempts to rerelease Citizen Kane, had originally not been able to find a suitable quality source film.  RKO’s original camera negatives had been burned in a 1980 vault fire and as a result had also hampered past efforts a restoration.  The 1991 VHS release had featured the copy owned by New York’s Museum of Modern Art, however this print had dirt and scratches on it, among other defects.  Morris reports, however, that after patient and careful searching, Warner had found a new nitrate fine-grain print in a European archive and that this copy has offered better picture quality and served as an improved audio source.  The improved audio quality is very important because the original score had a very high dynamic range.  He also reports that the new DVD release would include an interview with Roger Ebert, a 1941 newsreel about the film’s premiere, and the documentary film of the Hearst-Welles conflict, The Battle Over Citizen Kane.

One might think that just like a personal computer user, large Hollywood movie studios would have countless backup copies of their master reels.  This seems not to be the case.  A fire at a single film vault destroyed RKO’s only master copy.  Orson Welles was the recipient of the actual production negatives and his copy was also lost in a fiery accident in the 1970s.  By re-mastering and fully digitizing the remaining high quality prints, the data can be stored in numerous locations very inexpensively and very safely.  As we learned in class, nitrate has a propensity to catch on fire and is very dangerous in that respect.  We also learned in class that Hollywood is usually very slow to adopt new media formats.  DVD hit store shelves in mid-1997 yet this movie was released in late 2001, almost 4 years later.  The studios might have an excuse in this case – the long and lucky search for a suitable master copy.

Davies, Marion. "The Times We Had : Life with William Randolph Hearst." Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merril, 1975.

In 1951 after W.R. Hearst’s death, his mistress, Marion Davies began to record her memoirs on magnetic tapes in the privacy of her Beverly Hills home. She was Hearst’s close companion for 32 years and some say she was the inspiration for the character Suzan Alexander Kane in Orson Welles’s 1941 classic, Citizen Kane. This article is the forward written by Orson Welles to a book of her recorded thoughts, published posthumously in 1975.

Orson Welles tries to clearly and efficiently explain all of his reasons why his character Charles Foster Kane and Susan Alexander Kane are not actual personas of William Randolph Hearst and Marion Davies. He does this by describing differences of Kane vs. Hearst and Davies vs. Susan Alexander. Welles writes that there are many parallels between his characters and the Hearst couple and that these parallels could have been confusing to the audience; however upon closer inspection, one sees that they are quite different. He begins by claiming that San Simeon – even if it hadn’t existed in real life – would have had to be invented for the purposes of the script. “Everything was invented.” He then writes that W.R. Hearst was born wealthy to pampering parents while Kane was born into poverty and raised by a bank. Marion Davies, a well known beautiful actress could have had anyone she wanted, whereas Susan Alexander felt that she belonged on the streets – and this is indeed where Kane found her. Also, Susan was a lonely wife trapped in an empty castle whereas Marion was a mistress and busy hostess of all the social events in Hearst’s estates. Lastly, he claims that Marion and Hearst is a love story while Citizen Kane is not. Welles concludes his passage by making one last reference to his film. Susan Alexander was a terrible singer and forced to perform by Kane. On the contrary, he claims that Marion was a very talented actress and would have been a star even without Hearst’s interference.

Central to general discourse of Citizen Kane, is the similarity of the movie characters to that of Hearst and his mistress. It might seem amusing that Welles, writing this forward 34 years after the movie’s release, claims that the characters in the film are absolutely not based on Mr. Hearst. So many allusions are made in the film to the Hearst Empire – the fact that Kane runs a newspaper, Xanadu, financially sponsoring and forcing Susan Alexander to perform – that it seems preposterous to claim otherwise. Welles ends the forward by writing, “As one who shares much of the blame for casting another shadow – the shadow of Susan Alexander Kane – I rejoice in the opportunity to record something which today is all but forgotten expect for those lucky enough to have seen some of her pictures… She would have been a star if Hearst had never happened.” It seems that in his older age, Welles regrets his cheeky comparison of this woman and wants her to be remembered for her own contributions to cinematic history.

Crowther, Bosley. "The Ambiguous ‘Citizen Kane’ :Orson Welles, in His First Motion Picture, Creates a Titanic Character Which Does Everything but Explain Itself ." New York Times (1857-Current file) [New York, N.Y.] 4 May 1941, X5. ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 - 2004). ProQuest. Van Pelt Library University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. 9 Apr 2008 http://proxy.library.upenn.edu:2100/

Bosley Crowther was a film critic for the New York Times. He is one of the first critics to call Citizen Kane the best movie of all time.

Crowther wrote a glowing review of Citizen Kane on May 2nd, 1941, the day after the premiere in New York. He was so impressed with the film that four days after the premiere, he wrote in this article that Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane could be the greatest movie of all time. He conceded that he might have been going out on a limb and that the felt slightly uneasy about this bold declaration, but that he knew that the film was vastly superior to average film of the day. He wrote that because the film maker was so young – only 25 –he was not sure how the future would fare for Welles. He commented about the movie’s hyped-up release and stated that at the premiere, the film was “riding the crest of the most provocative publicity wave ever to float a motion picture.” This wave of publicity was caused by Hearst’s insistence that the film be taken off of the market before it was even released. Crowther wrote about the viewers reactions to the portrayal of the media tycoon. Even though not a single “black mark” is made against the character, the audience still walked away with a vague idea of the rash techniques used by ruthless publishers. This juxtaposes the films portrayal of Kane as an honest publisher. Crowther then wrote about the ending of the film and how he felt that it increased the complexity of the film because the ending didn’t explain itself. He was of the opinion that Welles was a brilliant filmmaker, but because he was so young, he would need more experience in the discipline.

This article is groundbreaking with respect to the fact that it is one of the first to hail Welles’s movie as a masterpiece and one of the greatest movies ever made. In the years after the film, its popularity waned at first but then began to increase with time. When one looks today at various organization’s rankings of the best movies of all time (eg Time, AFI, IMDB), usually Citizen Kane tops the list. One might think that Crowther’s positive reviews of the film would inspire more viewership, however the film was not a blockbuster and it seems that Hearst’s attempts at suppressing it were effective.

Carringer, Robert L. "Citizen Kane." Journal of Aesthetic Education, Vol. 9, No. 2, Special Issue: Film IV: Eight Study Guides (Apr., 1975), pp. 32-49

This article explores the technical cinematic innovations that affect the composition of Welles's scenes.

In his essay on Citizen Kane, Robert Carringer describes this history of what many critics consider Orson Welles’s (and perhaps all of history’s) greatest film. Mr. Carringer begins by revealing some biographical information of Welles and the technical innovations that he pioneered in the film (all serving to draw closer attention to the acting). Most notably he comments on Welles’s use of unexpected ultra-low angles, his preference of using single long takes without intercutting, and the extreme depth of field that is used to bring every part of the scenes into focus. Carringer moves on to write about the validity of comparisons that critics have made of the similarity of the character of Kane to notorious personalities of the day, including most notably newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst. Mr. Carringer also covers Orson Welles’s career transformation from radio to cinema, and he ends the essay describing the plot and character of the film.

This article fantastically reveals some of Welles’s technical cinematic techniques, specifically the use of large depth of field. The director chose to break normal filmmaking conventions in order to achieve certain new dramatic effects. The use of extraordinary depth of field shots was quite unorthodox considering the technology available at the time. The camera aperture has to be very small to achieve this effect and therefore Welles had to use extremely fast film stock as well as special lights and lenses in order to let in as much light as possible. A larger depth of field eliminates the need for editing to break the dramatic space into multiple centers and it also allows for long, drawn out single-take shots. As items from infinity to within a few inches of the lens were all in focus, this enticed Welles to compose his scenes such that the audience’s attention would be drawn to characters entering from far away and off screen. An example is the flashback scene taken from the diary of Kane’s childhood. The shot frames 4 characters: Mary Kane signing away her son, Thatcher busily pushing the papers to her, Jim Kane pacing in the middle ground, and Charles, obliviously playing outdoors in the snow, seen through the window. This unusual effect helped to revolutionize film cinema and is taken for granted by future generations.

Read Kendall. "Stellar Throng Attends El Capitan Event. " Rev. of: Citizen Kane. Los Angeles Times (1886-Current File) [Los Angeles, Calif.] 9 May 1941,18. ProQuest Historical Newspapers Los Angeles Times (1881 - 1986). ProQuest. Van Pelt Library University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. 9 Apr. 2008

This article by a LA Times correspondent, written on May 9, 1941, documents the west coast premiere of Orson Welles’s famous film Citizen Kane. Kendall reports that the premiere of Citizen Kane is held at the famous El Capitan Theater, a Hollywood landmark stage theater. The author describes a nostalgic feeling of “the old days” of Hollywood amid spot lights which pierced the sky in front of thousands of fans gathered – much in today’s fashion – to see their favorite stars. The glitz and glamour seems to add to Welles’s ego as he walks down the red carpet, his entrance timed. The crowds make even more noise for Barrymore as he walks into the theater. When stopped for questioning on the red carpet, Welles makes only one remark – about his gratefulness to George Schaefer, the president of RIO-Radio Pictures. “If it had not been for George J. Schaefer there would not be a Citizen Kane.” Outside the theater, the star-struck crowd for the premiere is so large that RKO had to erect temporary bleachers. The article then extensively lists the famous attendees, including Mickey Rooney, Ronald Reagan and Bob Hope. Kendall also includes a photograph of the “stellar foursome” including John Barrymore, Dolores Del Rio, Orson Welles, and Dorothy Comingore.

This article is a fantastic first hand account of the media and popular frenzy surrounding the grand release of RKO’s Citizen Kane. The movie premiered at the famous El Capitan Theater and was the first movie to be shown at that location. The theater remains a landmark to this day on the Hollywood strip. This article clearly shows that despite Hearst’s best efforts to suppress the film’s release, these attempts only furthered to publicize the movie and create even more attention for the premiere. Hearst did succeed in limiting the films success and it wasn’t for many years that interest in the film was revived. This article also, interestingly enough, reveals that as early as 1941, Hollywood felt a sense of nostalgia for the good-old-days of past. It is interesting to see these feelings manifest at such an early date, especially because today we consider Hollywood’s Golden Age to encompass the 1920s through the late 1950s.

"Citizen Welles Raises Kane." 27 January 1941. 9 April 2008 <http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,801256,00.html>.

    This article taken from the January 27, 1941 issue of Time magazine was written shortly after the movie was completed, but a good three months before the theatrical release on May 1st, 1941.  The article, written after the initial press screening of Citizen Kane describes the very initial reaction of William Randolph Hearst’s “Cinecolumnist” Lolly Parsons after she sees a private screening of the film with her two lawyers and chauffer.  RKO’s first screening of the film included invitations to Hollywood’s “journalistic elite” with the notable exception of Hearst’s representatives.  This raising an initial suspicion, compelled Ms. Parsons to insist on a special showing for her review.  Though told by Orson Welles that the movie was not about Mr. Hearst, she noted obvious similarities and appealed to RKO to halt the release of Citizen Kane.  Hearst’s papers made no mention of the film.  The article was written before the official release date was set and claims that RKO has decided to release it in the following month of February.  I was also written before Hearst’s famous $800,000 offer to offset the production costs and halt the release.

    This article is a fascinating account of the first weeks of the memorable Hollywood clash of Hearst vs. RKO regarding the release of Welles’s potentially libel-generating film Citizen Kane.  There are many obvious similarities between Charles Foster Kane and William Randolph Hearst, and Hearst, among others is assumed to be a main inspiration for the movie and the famous character.  Ms. Parsons, Hearst’s film columnist, cites the most obvious comparisons to be the multiple relationships Kane has with different women in his younger years and the “wholesale grabs of Europe’s artistic offscourings.”  Because of temporal limitations, the article only touches the very beginning of the altercations between Hearst, RKO and Welles.  The Hearst newspapers make no mention of the film, it is never reviewed, and eventually he makes an $800,000 offer to keep the film off the market.  The 25-year-old Orson Welles reaches – as many consider – his peak.  From here, he has a rapid falling out of Hollywood and mainstream cinema for many years.

Henderson, Brian. “Notes on Set Design and Cinema.” Film Quarterly, Vol. 42, No. 1 (Autumn, 1988), pp. 17-28

    Brian Henderson elaborately describes certain key techniques in classic and modern filmmaking by citing examples from famous films such as Citizen Kane, Bringing Up Baby, North by Northwest and Johnny Guitar.  Henderson begins his article by discussing distinctive creators among set designers and production directors in “the latest stage of auteurist dialectic.”  He moves from a comparison of Hollywood set designers to the architectural profession and discusses the value of production stills taken during the filming of movies.  Production stills, though giving a simple and concise summary of the visual set which can preserve our knowledge of the filmmaking, don’t preserve the full knowledge of the filming because no single vantage point can be used to reproduce or understand a set.  A photograph only presents a view from a single angle.  One would need multiple shots from different angles to accurately learn about the styles of different film sets.  Henderson argues that production stills are most valuable simply for publicity purposes – he cites examples of sets from Bringing Up Baby.  The author also describes visual and illusionary techniques in filming, such as the use of large foreground models and miniature background models to simulate depth.  Some filmmakers replace parts of the sets with miniatures that are built to scale or they use devices that create composite images such as rear projection, glass shots, travelling mattes, the Shufftan process, or an optical printer.  Some of these special effects are used to supplement the narrative of the film.  The Shufftan process which uses a semitransparent/semi-reflective mirror can be good at showing before and after images – a technique used in documentary filmmaking.  He also mentions techniques used by Orson Welles in Citizen Kane, and techniques by Alfred Hitchcock.

    Henderson elaborates in some detail the extent of the use of special effects in Welles’s Citizen Kane.  An interview with optical printer, Linwood Dunn, reveals that not very many people know about the extent of the post production work and modifications made to the film.  Many photographic effects used and only a handful of people actually worked on the post production special effects.   Dunn says that special techniques other than advanced hardware had to be used to get the deep-focus shots that Welles desired.  In scene of Susan Alexander’s suicide attempt, the girl and poison are featured in the foreground while the doctors and Kane contrasted as they enter in the far background.  To achieve this effect, in-camera editing techniques were used.  First the foreground was shot with a dark background, then film was rewound, the lens refocused, and the film stock was exposed again with the background lit and foreground dark.  Over 50% of footage involved special effects, but this was not well known for about 40 years after the film was released.  Shots of Xanadu (Kane’s palatial estate) were filmed as miniature models.  This common technique saved money on set design.

Carlson, Shear and Carringer. "Citizen Kane." PMLA, Vol. 91, No. 5 (Oct., 1976), pp. 918-920

In his letter to the editor of the PMLA, Walter Shear argues that Robert L. Carringer’s analysis of Kane’s character in “Rosebud, Dead or Alive: Narrative and Symbolic Structure in Citizen Kane” is overly complex and fails to see the obvious simplicity of the film. Carringer argues that Kane’s personality is a pastiche of the multiple viewpoints of all his closest acquaintances, and that this distorts any seemingly objective display or definitive account of the actual character. Carringer argues his case citing that the only way Kane’s character is revealed in the film is through interviews with close friends, associates and family members. As a result, the character, he argues, is subjected to the various biases of those describing him to the inquiring reporter, Jerry Thompson. Mr. Shear argues on the contrary that Kane’s character is revealed through his desire for people to love him. As Shear cites, “’Love… that’s why he did everything. That’s why he went into politics.’” He states that this relatively simple view can closely describe Kane’s actions and ambitions. Not only does it support Kane’s decision to run into politics; it also justifies Kane’s desire for his paper to have a personal relationship with each one of his readers. He also has multiple relationships in his young adulthood. Shear states that this quest for love could be a search to replace his mother as a source of love in his life. (This being a result of being snatched from his family at too young an age.)

Shear convincingly describes the motives of Charles Foster Kane’s impulses in life – politics, running a newspaper because it would be fun and enthusiastically underwriting his second wife’s singing career – all in an effort to gain acceptance and be adored by the public. With this knowledge in hand, one can very easily watch the film and understand some of the seemingly rash decisions that the character of Kane makes. Who in their right mind, with so many alternatives, choose to run a faltering newspaper “because it looks fun?” With a secure personal fortune and no need to earn money, it would make sense that a person in such a situation would seek to find personal gratification of a love that was never present in childhood.

Perez, Louis. "The Meaning of the Maine: Causation and the Historiography of the Spanish-American War." The Pacific Historical Review 58 (1989): 293-322. JStor. 8 Apr. 2008.

This article examines the causes of the Spanish-American War and the role that the sinking of the Maine battleship off the coast of Havana played in motivating the United States to enter into the war. The article cites many historians and military experts who seem to concur that the United States started the Spanish-American war largely because of the sinking of the battleship, which was attributed by many to foul play on the part of the Spanish. This opinion that Spain was to blame for deliberately sinking our ship near Havana was largely adopted by the public as a result of so-called “yellow journalism” on the part of William Randolph Hearst and his paper, New York Journal, along with competing newspaper New York World. In what many consider to have been sensationalist attempts to increase newspaper distribution, both of these papers and others across the United States motivated public outcry that left the government no choice but to declare war on Spain.

This is relevant to Citizen Kane because the film’s namesake, Charles Foster Kane, was based largely in part on the real-life newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, and Hearst went to great lengths to limit the release of Citizen Kane because of the unflattering way in which he was portrayed in the film. Perhaps the most memorable example of how Citizen Kane made Hearst look bad was the way in which Kane seemed to take great pleasure in instigating the war with Spain in the film. He famously dictated: “Dear Wheeler: you provide the prose poems. I'll provide the war,” and this article gives more insight into the real story behind Hearst and the Spanish-American war.

Carringer, Robert L. "Citizen Kane." Journal of Aesthetic Education 9 (1975): 32-49. JStor. 8 Apr. 2008.

This article gives a great summary of many different issues surrounding the making of Citizen Kane, including the life of the major creative agents of the film, insight into the back story of William Randolph Hearst, and the historical significance of the film. The article begins with a characterization of Welles’ style as a director, mentioning that though this film initially has many of the elements of a traditional Hollywood film, the way in which Welles incorporates many different techniques in ways previously unseen makes this film groundbreaking and timeless. It further mentions some of the events in Welles’ life that led to the making of the film, the roles that writer Herman Mankiewicz and composer Bernard Hermann played in the film, and briefly discusses the role that Hearst played in unwillingly inspiring the character of Kane. Perhaps most importantly, this article does a great job of comparing this film to other work that Welles did following Citizen Kane and pointing out trends in Welles’ style as a director and as an actor.

This article is relevant to the film because it does an excellent job of tying together the many different elements that shaped Citizen Kane and outlining the significance that many different people played in the creation of this film. For one, this article gave insight into how Welles’ previous experiences on the stage and in radio inspired him to make this film and suggests that he may not have been as ‘solely responsible’ as he came to suggest. Lastly, this article touched upon Welles interactions with the major film studios during the making of this film and his subsequent tumbling from success, starting with the making of The Magnificent Ambersons.

Ultimately, the chapter continues, Schaeffer holds a meeting outlining the importance of refusing Hearst’s offer and releasing what he expects may be the highest grossing movie of all time, as no film had ever received so much pre-release publicity.

Churchill, Douglas. "ORSON WELLES SCARES HOLLYWOOD :His 'Citizen Kane' Draws the Fire of W.R. Hearst, and Thereby Hangs a Tale -- the Hays Censors Ride Again." New York Times 19 Jan. 1941. ProQuest. 9 Apr. 2008

This is an original article published in the heat of the controversy over the release of Citizen Kane when it is still uncertain what action William Randolph Hearst will take against Welles, RKO, and even Hollywood as an institution if the film was released. The article outlines the development in the first ten days of the controversy, and at that time, it was entirely uncertain whether or not Welles’ film would reach an audience.

According to the article, at this point William Randolph Hearst had threatened all of Hollywood with some “embarrassing publicity” and had already launched several private investigations into some of the major individuals responsible for the film, including Welles and the head of RKO. Hearst also mandated that all of his Hearst publications delete any and all mention of RKO and its product from its columns as a result of the controversy. Furthermore, as the result of Hearst’s threats against RKO and those that supported the film’s release, it is suggested in this article that some major players in Hollywood were considering turning against the film out of fear of retribution. This would pose further problems to RKO due to needed cooperation between studios in order to survive in Hollywood, claims the article.