Updated 27 April 2007

ENGLISH 114: INTRODUCTION TO FILM, Fall 2006

Section 2: Monday, 6:00-9:30 p.m., Professor Larsson

Week 14, April 23, 2007

Reminders:

Extra Credit papers are due in 1 week. No papers will be accepted or read after April 30.

Final Exam will be at 6:00, this room, on Monday, May 7

· Questions related to the last 2 weeks of class (Sound, Citizen Kane)

· Cumulative questions about terms and concepts covered in the reading and in class. There may be some general questions relating to films seen earlier this semester.

· Questions about mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing and sound in a film clip shown during the exam.

**REASONS FOR CITIZEN KANE’S INFLUENCE**

1. Controversy of Production History

Scandal caused by references to William Randolph Hearst (right) nearly stopped film’s release, crippled its distribution

· For more, see documentary The Battle over Citizen Kane (available in Memorial Library)

· A fictionalized (and somewhat inaccurate) account is presented in the HBO production RKO 281

· The best book on the subject is The Making of Citizen Kane by Robert Carringer (also available in Memorial Library)

2. Content and Narrative Form Are Somewhat Unusual for Time

· Theme that criticizes American “success ethic”

· Criticism of living, powerful man

· Complexity of flashback structure

· Somewhat open ending

3. Dramatic and Innovative Uses of Film Style

· Complex use of props and other elements of mise-en-scene to support narrative, suggest meanings

· Dramatic uses of low-key lighting

· Unusual uses of camera angles and extended camera movement

· Innovative development of “deep-focus” cinematography

· Use of overlapping dialogue and sound for emotional context

Effect of Hearst Controversy on Welles and Citizen Kane

· RKO President George Schaefer replaced

· Control of The Magnificent Ambersons taken from Welles,
ending is re-shot and re-cut, original footage destroyed

· Welles continues to work in theater and film but never has full funding and full control at same time again

· Kane earns critical praise but does not succeed at box office

· Kane is pulled from theaters, put on shelves at RKO, neglected and forgotten

· Re-released in early 1950s

· Acclaimed “greatest film” by international critics at Brussels World Fair

· Remains at top of “best films” lists ever since

Indirect Influence on American Films

· Downbeat themes, complex narrative structures become more common by end of World War II

· Innovations in lighting, deep focus cinematography developed further

· Helped to spur development of film noir style in 1940s and 1950s

(Film Noir: American films from late 1940s and 1950s labeled “black film” by French critics because of downbeat themes and dark passions in narrative, notable use of low-key lighting and extreme camera angles.)

Direct Influence on Future Filmmakers and Critics

Other notable Welles films:

The Magnificent Ambersons

The Lady from Shanghai

Othello

Touch of Evil

Chimes at Midnight