So -- greatest film of all time? Overrated horse-hockey? Somewhere in between?
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 28 September 2001 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink
― Pennysong Hanle y, Friday, 28 September 2001 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink
― jess, Friday, 28 September 2001 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink
― m jemmeson, Friday, 28 September 2001 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink
― dave q, Friday, 28 September 2001 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink
― Andy, Friday, 28 September 2001 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink
― Richard Dawson, Friday, 28 September 2001 00:00 (11 years ago) Permalink
I love the scene with the dancers in the news room, just so full of joie de vivre.
I wish Welles had done a musical, I suspect that could've been really something.
― Billy Dods, Saturday, 9 June 2007 16:25 (5 years ago) Permalink
It's All True is the closest...
― Dr Morbius, Saturday, 9 June 2007 16:43 (5 years ago) Permalink
For me, the best thing about Citizen Kane is its up front, unrepentant, hella wonderful theatricality. Welles took his larger-than-life-size main character and scaled everything else in the movie up to that size. This makes it all great fun to watch.
If it's about anything at all, it is just about fame and power, American-stylee. Everything it has to offer is so tightly bound to the surface of things, with the grandiosity, sordidness, arrogance, desperation and greed it puts on display, that the only way to 'get' the film is to watch it and let it speak for itself. And the superficiality of it makes for a puzzling mixture of intellectual shallowness and emotional depth.
As for Rosebud and all that bumpf, that's all just a silly red herring to keep the plot from disappearing altogether.
― Aimless, Saturday, 9 June 2007 17:28 (5 years ago) Permalink
i agree with all of that!
― Frogman Henry, Saturday, 9 June 2007 18:15 (5 years ago) Permalink
"Bernstein, am I a stuffed shirt?"
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Saturday, 9 June 2007 20:09 (5 years ago) Permalink
Sonny Bupp dies:
http://www.cinematical.com/2007/11/09/last-surviving-cast-member-of-citizen-kane-dies/
"Ma, is Pop governor yet?"
― Dr Morbius, Tuesday, 13 November 2007 18:52 (5 years ago) Permalink
RIP. I'd been on a Welles kick for the last couple of days, oddly enough.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 13 November 2007 18:54 (5 years ago) Permalink
RIP.
"Bernstein, am I a stuffed shirt?" Bernstein's "Girl In The White Dress" is a key scene in the movie, no?
― James Redd and the Blecchs, Tuesday, 13 November 2007 18:56 (5 years ago) Permalink
Sparky Schulz' favorite movie.
― Oilyrags, Tuesday, 13 November 2007 20:32 (5 years ago) Permalink
Annnnnd, I see that's been covered already.
So of course Simpsons, Schulz, and about 800k other things have reffed this. I'm kind of afraid to see it, like if I do it will just be like watching something where I know entirely what will happen the whole time. And I have to admit I'm intimidated by its Ultimate Status. But I would like to see it so someone tell me I'm talking silly nonsense or something.
― Abbott, Saturday, 15 December 2007 18:27 (5 years ago) Permalink
I've never seen a movie with or of Orson Welles.
― Abbott, Saturday, 15 December 2007 18:28 (5 years ago) Permalink
this film has a lot more going on than most top-ten all-time classic snoozefests.
― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Saturday, 15 December 2007 18:29 (5 years ago) Permalink
you should invite him over post-haste!
― gabbneb, Saturday, 15 December 2007 18:30 (5 years ago) Permalink
he was hot back then, Abbott.
― horseshoe, Saturday, 15 December 2007 18:31 (5 years ago) Permalink
Start with The Muppet Movie and work your way up to Citizen Kane.
― Eric H., Saturday, 15 December 2007 18:31 (5 years ago) Permalink
if one's never seen it, i wonder if they'd enjoy it more by starting with a less Serious and Important welles
― gabbneb, Saturday, 15 December 2007 18:31 (5 years ago) Permalink
er, what he said
I have "F for Fake" on my ntflx q; this is a docu, yes?
― Abbott, Saturday, 15 December 2007 18:31 (5 years ago) Permalink
Whoa I had no idea he had youthful hotness. Prolly not young Brando hotness tho?
― Abbott, Saturday, 15 December 2007 18:32 (5 years ago) Permalink
'citizen kane' is one of his more fun ones. if not the most fun!
― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Saturday, 15 December 2007 18:35 (5 years ago) Permalink
i don't think F for Fake is really the place to start? Lady From Shanghai or The Third Man might be more like it?
― gabbneb, Saturday, 15 December 2007 18:36 (5 years ago) Permalink
not dissimilar from Brando hotness, actually!
― horseshoe, Saturday, 15 December 2007 18:38 (5 years ago) Permalink
just jump in with 'kane'.
― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Saturday, 15 December 2007 18:40 (5 years ago) Permalink
Yes, Citizen Kane can be a bunch of fun if you're not spending all your time trying to focus and wrestle down "The Greatest Motion Picture Of All Time."
Naturally, I prefer The Magnificent Ambersons and Chimes at Midnight.
― Eric H., Saturday, 15 December 2007 18:41 (5 years ago) Permalink
I'm intimidated by its Ultimate Status
Don't be. It's a gallumphcious romp, not a frowning brow-wrinkler.
― Aimless, Saturday, 15 December 2007 18:41 (5 years ago) Permalink
Yeah, Kane's syntax is as far from insurmountable as The Wizard of Oz. It's not Resnais or anything.
― Eric H., Saturday, 15 December 2007 18:46 (5 years ago) Permalink
-- Abbott, Saturday, December 15, 2007 6:28 PM
dude go for Touch of Evil. it's one of my like all time top ten way gr8er than Kane
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Saturday, 15 December 2007 18:47 (5 years ago) Permalink
maybe more fun than Kane, but not as good an introduction because way less iconic?
― gabbneb, Saturday, 15 December 2007 18:52 (5 years ago) Permalink
This is all v reassuring, thx guys.
― Abbott, Saturday, 15 December 2007 18:52 (5 years ago) Permalink
This is gonna turn into what my Spike Lee thread did, huh.
Touch of Evil, also fantastic.
I'm pretty sure there are Welles films to avoid. I'm just not the one to suggest them.
― Eric H., Saturday, 15 December 2007 18:54 (5 years ago) Permalink
-- gabbneb, Saturday, December 15, 2007 6:52 PM
def less iconic, plus you get charlton heston in brownface which is great for lolz, but i really love the shit out of that movie.
possibly cause i was mad lifted the first time i saw it in the utsa library.
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Saturday, 15 December 2007 18:56 (5 years ago) Permalink
Welles is sooo fat in Touch of Evil, it's even more funny than de-gringoed Heston.
"Didn't you bring me any donuts or sweet rolls?"
― Eric H., Saturday, 15 December 2007 18:58 (5 years ago) Permalink
halfway into the movie i was entertaining the seriously baked suggestion that welles' casting of heston as a hispanic guy was some profound commentary on the social construction of race.
xp to self
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Saturday, 15 December 2007 18:58 (5 years ago) Permalink
i can't wait for morbs' disquisition on baked welles
― gabbneb, Saturday, 15 December 2007 18:59 (5 years ago) Permalink
just watch citizen kane, it really is awesome, you will love it, the end.
― s1ocki, Saturday, 15 December 2007 19:57 (5 years ago) Permalink
Abbott, you are talking silly nonsense or something.
Have you guys seen other films w/ Welles around that time? He wasn't THAT fat -- had to have been padded for Quinlan. Even the "I Love Lucy" he did wa sfrom maybe the year before, I think, and he was not mega-corpulent, just jowly.
The Ambersons Welles made might have been better than Kane, but the one that survives? No way.
(I think I like The Lady from Shanghai and Othello better than either.)
― Dr Morbius, Saturday, 15 December 2007 22:11 (5 years ago) Permalink
abbott see them in this order:
1) kane (really entertaining; really, honest - there's a reason it's been parodied ad infinitum on the simpsons, and there's a reason pauline kael - much as i hate quoting her - called it "the most fun of any great movie ever") 2) f for fake (crazy fun, and gives a good sense of welles's sense of humor) 3) touch of evil (crazy, baroque) 4) chimes at midnight/falstaff (best movie ever) 5) macbeth (funniest shakespeare ever - othello is better objectively but i still prefer this one)
ambersons is wonderful but a very frustrating watch. it's still better than almost any movie ever even in its current form but maybe hold off on that til you see these.
― J.D., Saturday, 15 December 2007 23:10 (5 years ago) Permalink
OTM, i think kane is a way deeper film than, say, the bicycle thief or potemkin or city lights or the seventh seal or the godfather, not to mention funner to watch (tho i like all those).
― J.D., Saturday, 15 December 2007 23:15 (5 years ago) Permalink
I saw CK for the first time just a few years ago, with all the attendant baggage, and it rocked me.
― wanko ergo sum, Saturday, 15 December 2007 23:18 (5 years ago) Permalink
OTM! the picture james naremore uses on the cover of "the magic world of orson welles" is quite fetching
JD's list is pretty solid except 1) falstaff/CoM is very hard to find (tho it rules), and 2) i'm not crazy about his othello
― impudent harlot, Saturday, 15 December 2007 23:56 (5 years ago) Permalink
also, the third man, for some more great welles/joseph cotten fun, even tho it ain't a welles film as such
― kingfish, Sunday, 16 December 2007 00:07 (5 years ago) Permalink
Why do I feel that
the bicycle thief or potemkin or city lights or the seventh seal or the godfather
weren't the "top-ten all-time classic snoozefests" enrique was referring to?
― Eric H., Sunday, 16 December 2007 00:18 (5 years ago) Permalink
funny, that's exactly what i thought he had in mind.
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Sunday, 16 December 2007 00:21 (5 years ago) Permalink
Maybe Potemkin, but I figured he was talking about Bresson and Antonioni and Godard.
― Eric H., Sunday, 16 December 2007 00:22 (5 years ago) Permalink
D. W. Griffith's "Birth of a Soporific"
― Abbott, Sunday, 16 December 2007 00:24 (5 years ago) Permalink
yeah it basically is, except 'the godfather'.
not bresson/antonioni/godard. well, maybe bresson -- but the pre-1960 canon. maybe early antonioni.
― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Sunday, 16 December 2007 00:24 (5 years ago) Permalink
ie griffith, chaplin, stroheim, lubitsch, murnau, lang, pabst, eisenstein, pudovkin, dreyer, carne, rossellini, de sica, bergman, fellini.
'kane' was like the one american sound film permissible back then -- a couple of fords, maybe, but not the westerns, that kind of thing.
changed end of the 50s -- discovery of 'regle du jeu', french new wave, rediscovery of hollywood genre cinema, blah blah.
― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Sunday, 16 December 2007 00:27 (5 years ago) Permalink
'ambersons' would be the best if done right, and it's still yoga flame as is, but the more you see it, the more the ending just betrays the whole thing, and i say that without being able to remember how it 'should' end.
― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Sunday, 16 December 2007 00:29 (5 years ago) Permalink
I think I like The Lady from Shanghai
Madness! I saw it again recently and it gets my vote as his worst: mannered, coy.
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Sunday, 16 December 2007 00:38 (5 years ago) Permalink
the stranger's kinda weak i think, at the very least it's a waste of edward g. robinson in a boring part
― impudent harlot, Sunday, 16 December 2007 01:14 (5 years ago) Permalink
-- Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Sunday, December 16, 2007 12:38 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Link
look who's talking!
― s1ocki, Sunday, 16 December 2007 02:04 (5 years ago) Permalink
ANyone seen this?
― Crêpe, Sunday, 16 December 2007 03:05 (5 years ago) Permalink
Ouch!
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 16 December 2007 04:32 (5 years ago) Permalink
Don't forget The Trial!
― C0L1N B..., Sunday, 16 December 2007 06:24 (5 years ago) Permalink
I wish I could forget the Jess Franco edit of the Don Quixote material though.
This film actually lives up to its reputation!
― Tape Store, Sunday, 16 December 2007 07:36 (5 years ago) Permalink
-- s1ocki, Sunday, 16 December 2007 02:04 (7 hours ago) Link
Now!
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Sunday, 16 December 2007 09:24 (5 years ago) Permalink
Shanghai is, um, FUNNY.
― Dr Morbius, Monday, 17 December 2007 14:26 (5 years ago) Permalink
Is is the animals that talk in this movie? Must rescreen this.
― wanko ergo sum, Monday, 17 December 2007 14:30 (5 years ago) Permalink
I saw <i>Journey Into Fear</i> the other night - 40s noir, starring Joseph Cotten and Orson Wells, how could it be bad? But it was bad. Or at least pretty uncompelling.
― Zelda Zonk, Monday, 17 December 2007 14:38 (5 years ago) Permalink
Wells = Welles
― Zelda Zonk, Monday, 17 December 2007 14:39 (5 years ago) Permalink
you didn't like Welles' fez?
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Monday, 17 December 2007 14:40 (5 years ago) Permalink
Welles was a pretty silly caricature in the movie, even by the standards of the times I think... For a noirish movie, there was something fundamentally wrong with the plot, there just wasn't any tension.
― Zelda Zonk, Monday, 17 December 2007 15:03 (5 years ago) Permalink
don't think much of his shakepeares (except 'chimes') or noirs (except 'touch of evil').
― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Monday, 17 December 2007 17:15 (5 years ago) Permalink
― mookieproof, Monday, 17 December 2007 17:22 (5 years ago) Permalink
YOU NEED A MORTICIAN! YOU NEED A MORTICIAN!
― impudent harlot, Monday, 17 December 2007 17:35 (5 years ago) Permalink
I love how great Welles looks as an old man, and how he nails how old people move and think -- their habit of sharing curdled witticisms and phony insights -- without condescension. The newsreel section, for example, where a young reporter interviews Kane after he returns from speaking to "the great powers of Europe."
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 26 March 2008 02:23 (5 years ago) Permalink
Malpertuis
― remy bean, Wednesday, 26 March 2008 02:28 (5 years ago) Permalink
I read his credit as "Orson Welles (cassava)"
― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn, Wednesday, 26 March 2008 02:29 (5 years ago) Permalink
youtube of worst thing welles ever did
― remy bean, Wednesday, 26 March 2008 02:29 (5 years ago) Permalink
You sure about that?
― Dingbod Kesterson, Wednesday, 26 March 2008 10:34 (5 years ago) Permalink
Well that video didn't last for long.
― Eric H., Wednesday, 26 March 2008 11:03 (5 years ago) Permalink
Well, you all know how it goes, crumb crisp coating, IN July, I'll go down on you &c.
― Dingbod Kesterson, Wednesday, 26 March 2008 12:18 (5 years ago) Permalink
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3qg4i22x9M
― deeznuts, Wednesday, 26 March 2008 12:20 (5 years ago) Permalink
is bogdanovich's commentary on the 2-disc edition worth hearing?
― dan138zig (Durrr Durrr Durrrrrr), Wednesday, 12 May 2010 03:46 (3 years ago) Permalink
no iirc
― sir gaga (s1ocki), Wednesday, 12 May 2010 14:07 (3 years ago) Permalink
I thought it was pretty silly.
That's staring you in the face when you open up this thread--it's way, way up at the top (Sept. 28, 2001--within three weeks of 9/11). I got into a big back-and-forth on Kane once with a friend; can't remember if he said exactly the same, but he was dismissive in any event. I can see where someone would come away from a first viewing thinking it's slightly overrated--I don't think so, but with so much advance build-up, such a reaction seems more than reasonable--but it's hard for me to understand not thinking it's pretty great anyway. Even if you don't think it's profound (I do), I would still think you'd love the humour, the performances, and/or the whirlwind technique. I saw an interview a few years ago with Graham Yost (the guy who wrote Speed), and he recalled the time in high school when his dad, Elwy Yost (long-time host of a classic-movie show in Toronto), wrote a letter explaining that his son would be absent tomorrow because he wanted him to stay up and watch a midnight airing of Citizen Kane. I generally cringe when people well up on camera, but that time it seemed very spontaneous and genuine.
― clemenza, Wednesday, 12 May 2010 15:05 (3 years ago) Permalink
I still haven't gone back to finish this, and I'm not usually put off by hype about the 'classics'. Just feel no compunction to go through with the rest of it on what I've seen so far (Young dude gets old and crusty at a dinner table montage)
― Black IP's (darraghmac), Wednesday, 12 May 2010 15:07 (3 years ago) Permalink
rolling my damn eyes
― Greatest contributor: (history mayne), Wednesday, 12 May 2010 15:08 (3 years ago) Permalink
don't bother Black IP's
― conrad, Wednesday, 12 May 2010 15:12 (3 years ago) Permalink
yeah am aware of that reaction, but i felt it was important my voice was unstifled by your entrenched luvviness
― Black IP's (darraghmac), Wednesday, 12 May 2010 15:17 (3 years ago) Permalink
― conrad, Wednesday, 12 May 2010 15:22 (3 years ago) Permalink
Young dude gets old and crusty at a dinner table montage
You can do this with any film:Vertigo -- Old nervous dude stalks blonde babe around San FranciscoChinatown -- Detective dude gets bloodied up by short foreign dudePersona -- Actress babe pulls silent treatment on chatty nurse
― clemenza, Wednesday, 12 May 2010 16:32 (3 years ago) Permalink
Retitle:Dude, Where's My Snowglobe?
― Generation Blecch (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 12 May 2010 17:29 (3 years ago) Permalink
Moby-Dick: Nut chases a big fish
[sic]
― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 12 May 2010 17:36 (3 years ago) Permalink
kinda enjoying this tbh.
― Black IP's (darraghmac), Wednesday, 12 May 2010 21:32 (3 years ago) Permalink
am i the only one to have cried at the ending? such a pitiful man in the end..
― dan138zig (Durrr Durrr Durrrrrr), Wednesday, 12 May 2010 23:18 (3 years ago) Permalink
I just watched this for the first time and it actually lived up to the hype fer me. this fucking film. love that it ends with the same shot it starts with, suggesting you could just play it on repeat. that fucking screeching white bird!! scarier than most horror movies released today. those shots of the opening newsroom! my god.
― steendriver DUMB BIG, his HOOS got HOOS (dayo), Monday, 6 December 2010 15:12 (2 years ago) Permalink
Yes to all that. Love that bird.
*lowkeytalkaboutthisandthatSCRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEECH!*
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 6 December 2010 15:17 (2 years ago) Permalink
you know, it wasn't even a newsroom. it was the theater where they were projecting the newsreel. love how that also suggests that, in the film's chronology, kane is long dated at the time of his death - the world's moved on to talkies, papers don't dominate anymore.
― steendriver DUMB BIG, his HOOS got HOOS (dayo), Monday, 6 December 2010 15:20 (2 years ago) Permalink
I had to rewind the part with the bird to make sure my imagination wasn't fucking with me, that there wasn't a ghost in the machine.
I love the newsreel/theater scene so much because, by the time I saw it for the first time, I had been used to black and white films in my own admittedly limited experience as being constantly, perfectly staged in terms of dialogue -- everything was all about precision and delivering of lines. So the sudden cut and seeing and hearing a bunch of people all talk back and forth 'naturally,' however written and focused that part of the script was in turn, was a bit of a revelation. Everything actually felt relaxed.
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 6 December 2010 15:23 (2 years ago) Permalink
What I love most about the film now is the young Orson Welles, without makeup and jowls, ready for the world.
― look at it, pwn3d, made u look at my peen/vadge (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 6 December 2010 15:25 (2 years ago) Permalink
yes, it does feel like a breath of fresh air after the clipped narration of the newsreel especially! also the smoky light, the deep blacks, the journalist silhouetted by the projector. the cold light in thatchers archives-cum-mausoleum. beautiful, beautiful film.
― steendriver DUMB BIG, his HOOS got HOOS (dayo), Monday, 6 December 2010 15:28 (2 years ago) Permalink
young Welles is already a little jowly
― kind of shrill and very self-righteous (Dr Morbius), Monday, 6 December 2010 15:47 (2 years ago) Permalink
give ryan reynolds a year
― Goths in Home & Away in my lifetime (darraghmac), Monday, 6 December 2010 15:48 (2 years ago) Permalink
i would lvoe to watch this again sometime soon.
― shirley summistake (s1ocki), Monday, 6 December 2010 17:29 (2 years ago) Permalink
otm
not that it's that hard, to find two hours...
feel like it isn't presented in the best possible state, which is a shame
― rip whiney g weingarten 03/11 never forget (history mayne), Monday, 6 December 2010 18:01 (2 years ago) Permalink
Ned otm about the newsreel/theater scene contrasting with 'normal' black and white movies. We watched Kane for film class in my first year of uni, and I had a similar reaction. And the great thing about Kane is that while it is a film that books are endlessly written about and people cite as the greatest whatever, part of what I find great about it is that it is such a pleasure to watch on repeated viewings. And Welles is so magnetic as the young CFK.
I remember later on seeing Olivier's "Wuthering Heights" and thinking, 'there's something about the cinematography that is kind of familiar to me'...and then looking it up and realizing that Gregg Toland was the common denominator. Probably a big old 'duh' for everyone else who knows anything about anything, but it was a little epiphany for me at the time, lol.
― Square-Panted Sponge Robert (VegemiteGrrrl), Monday, 6 December 2010 18:34 (2 years ago) Permalink
always nice to see someone get genuinely excited about 'kane' -- it is a very fun, engaging, gorgeous film.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Monday, 6 December 2010 23:17 (2 years ago) Permalink
I just saw the for the first time, too, a few months ago. Really as big and watchable as they say it is!
― Stop Non-Erotic Cabaret (Abbbottt), Monday, 6 December 2010 23:20 (2 years ago) Permalink
Seeing Kane added another level to visiting Hearst Castle. It's like, "Holy crap he really DID have a fireplace bigger than he was."
― Square-Panted Sponge Robert (VegemiteGrrrl), Monday, 6 December 2010 23:31 (2 years ago) Permalink
"I think we might have a FAP tomorrow, Susan."
― Ned Raggett, Monday, 6 December 2010 23:34 (2 years ago) Permalink
Want to watch this again now, but waiting for the Blu Ray out next year. Saw it in the cinema once but it was on old print, so not much better than the DVD version I have.
― Chewshabadoo, Monday, 6 December 2010 23:50 (2 years ago) Permalink
Kane at 70
http://mubi.com/notebook/posts/3227
― resistance does not require a firearm (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 7 May 2011 00:42 (2 years ago) Permalink
what a fun movie.
― difficult listening hour, Saturday, 7 May 2011 00:43 (2 years ago) Permalink
how wonderful to be this guy:
paid for it of course
― difficult listening hour, Saturday, 7 May 2011 00:46 (2 years ago) Permalink
Who knew that Kane paved the way for The Human Centipede?
― thread assessor (latebloomer), Saturday, 7 May 2011 02:28 (2 years ago) Permalink
Yesterday was also Welles' birthday (and Freud, and Willie Mays).
― clemenza, Saturday, 7 May 2011 16:20 (2 years ago) Permalink
Morbs I'm curious - where do you rank this among Welles pics?
― five gone cats from Boston (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Saturday, 7 May 2011 16:26 (2 years ago) Permalink
The "ultimate collector's edition" blu-ray was announced today:
ho hum lobby cards book WAIT HOLY SHIT MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS
― muus lääv? :D muus dut :( (Telephone thing), Saturday, 14 May 2011 00:03 (2 years ago) Permalink
Aw hell yeah! Finally!
― Kevin John Bozelka, Saturday, 14 May 2011 00:06 (2 years ago) Permalink
aero, it's kind of impossible for me to think of it as anything but Welles' best both as entertainment and unsullied, unfucked-with tour de force. I see a certain greatness in Lady from Shanghai, Touch of Evil and especially Othello, but only prefer them to CK in fleeting moments.
After reading this, I was hoping that set would include an acclaimed BBC doc on the making of Kane, but apparently not? I hope this, tho, gets taken care of:
WB should certainly “un-restore” the “News-on-the-March” sequence which Welles intentionally wanted to have a dirty and scratched look, as well as all the scenes in the previous digital restoration that removed such “artifacts” as the raindrops on the windows outside of Mr. Bernstein’s office.
http://www.wellesnet.com/?p=1358
― resistance does not require a firearm (Dr Morbius), Saturday, 14 May 2011 02:12 (2 years ago) Permalink
srsly, how does somebody who removes raindrops and cleans up News On the March get a job in restoration?
― resistance does not require a firearm (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 16:22 (2 years ago) Permalink
Maybe he worked for Ted Turner.
As for me, I can't possibly choose any of Welles' other films over CK for sheer entertainment. That's what I tell skeptics afraid of its classic aura: it's fast moving and fun as all hell.
― ginny thomas and tonic (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 16:24 (2 years ago) Permalink
True. The pacing makes it seem pretty modern.
Can't wait for some HD Kane.
― Chewshabadoo, Tuesday, 17 May 2011 16:30 (2 years ago) Permalink
see teal+orange thread for a sneak preview
― school of seven bellhops (blueski), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 16:31 (2 years ago) Permalink
http://events.hometheaterforum.com/files/lowry.txt
<q=JohnLowry>May I please apologize for the lack of certain raindrops in the window. The work on Citizen Kane was done exactly two years ago, and we have made great strides in the interim. Today, removal of one drop of rain, snow, sleet or hail is unacceptable... regardless of incessant requests from the Postmaster General (Just kidding)</q>
― jay lenonononono (abanana), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 19:10 (2 years ago) Permalink
holy crap that kane set looks sweet
― Unity Tour 2011: 311 and Sublime with Rome (latebloomer), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 19:12 (2 years ago) Permalink
― Unity Tour 2011: 311 and Sublime with Rome (latebloomer), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 19:16 (2 years ago) Permalink
sadly the blu-ray version still includes the revisionist documentary and adds the shit biopic based on it. (revisionist because it claims that kane is based on welles himself which is silly/missing the point, and possibly included so that turner can try to mess with welles's esteem)
― jay lenonononono (abanana), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 19:16 (2 years ago) Permalink
Apparently the Ambersons disc is bare bones. :-(
― Handjobs for a sport (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 19:57 (2 years ago) Permalink
Other movies that are fast moving and fun as all hell.
The Magnificent AmbersonsTouch of EvilF for Fake
Just saying.
― scissorlocks and the three bears (Eric H.), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 20:07 (2 years ago) Permalink
cosign on F for Fake, it's cut like a music video. Great fun.
― Yossarian's sense of humour (NotEnough), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 20:22 (2 years ago) Permalink
Apparently the Ambersons disc is bare bones
well we don't even have all the bones of the film!
― resistance does not require a firearm (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 20:59 (2 years ago) Permalink
Ambersons is fun as hell but it's not fast moving -- and that's a compliment.
― ginny thomas and tonic (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:04 (2 years ago) Permalink
Touch of Evil drags more than CK does (the Heston-Weaver stuff leaves me cold).
― ginny thomas and tonic (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:05 (2 years ago) Permalink
ambersons is so slow-moving that whenever i watch it i end up staring at the edges of the frame in certain scenes to try and see if the image is static or just moving incredibly slowly
― anime hitler, the futanari führer (Princess TamTam), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:07 (2 years ago) Permalink
f for fake kinda bogs down towards the end. the picasso thing.
― difficult listening hour, Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:08 (2 years ago) Permalink
meanwhile citizen kane moves like star wars.
F For Fake is (somewhat) fun, and that's ALL it is.
― resistance does not require a firearm (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:09 (2 years ago) Permalink
chartres bit somehow manages not to be overrated.
― difficult listening hour, Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:10 (2 years ago) Permalink
I've the same problem with F For Fake that I do with Zelig: the joke gets tired after twenty minutes.
― ginny thomas and tonic (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:14 (2 years ago) Permalink
Zelig has a richer authorial metaphor, at least to me. Also funnier.
― resistance does not require a firearm (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:20 (2 years ago) Permalink
is the joke "orson welles has a moviola" because it's a pretty good joke
― difficult listening hour, Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:21 (2 years ago) Permalink
i like zelig but it takes longer than any other 80-minute movie i'm aware of. it has as much content as a longish shouts and murmurs piece.
― difficult listening hour, Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:23 (2 years ago) Permalink
"Orson Welles in a cool-ass cape"
― ginny thomas and tonic (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:23 (2 years ago) Permalink
"orson welles shows you pictures of his girlfriend"
― difficult listening hour, Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:24 (2 years ago) Permalink
You know what's funny? That Richard Gere made a movie about this too.
― ginny thomas and tonic (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:24 (2 years ago) Permalink
hmm I've never seen F for Fake.
sounds kinda silly
― underrated earl sweatshirt fans i have boned (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:27 (2 years ago) Permalink
well so is ILE.
― ginny thomas and tonic (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:28 (2 years ago) Permalink
f for fake is awesome
― Unity Tour 2011: 311 and Sublime with Rome (latebloomer), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:29 (2 years ago) Permalink
my favorite part in f for fake is when he's holding court at the restaurant, this roaring mountain laughing and telling lies and knocking over drinks.
― difficult listening hour, Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:29 (2 years ago) Permalink
my favorite part in f for fake of ILE is when he's holding court at the restaurant, this roaring mountain laughing and telling lies and knocking over drinks.
― ginny thomas and tonic (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:30 (2 years ago) Permalink
you're gonna need to eat more.
― difficult listening hour, Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:31 (2 years ago) Permalink
This thread needs
― stars on 45 my destination (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:39 (2 years ago) Permalink
― Britain, the 51sb State (darraghmac), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:41 (2 years ago) Permalink
― anime hitler, the futanari führer (Princess TamTam), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:44 (2 years ago) Permalink
*rouses from alcoholic coma* AAAAAHHHHHHH the....french champagne.....
― anime hitler, the futanari führer (Princess TamTam), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:47 (2 years ago) Permalink
-xpost-
LOL, those voiceover tapes are brilliant:
― Chewshabadoo, Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:48 (2 years ago) Permalink
Sorry, your version is better!
― Chewshabadoo, Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:50 (2 years ago) Permalink
Citizen Kane is great and all, but its inclusion in your list of all time greatest movies isn't going to attract my attention.
― scissorlocks and the three bears (Eric H.), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:50 (2 years ago) Permalink
And, let's face it, if you can't get my attention in list form, you ain't getting my attention.
" he duzzn do anythin'?"
― Britain, the 51sb State (darraghmac), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:50 (2 years ago) Permalink
who are you talking to, Eric
― anime hitler, the futanari führer (Princess TamTam), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:50 (2 years ago) Permalink
Royal "your."
― scissorlocks and the three bears (Eric H.), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:51 (2 years ago) Permalink
lists are awful
― Unity Tour 2011: 311 and Sublime with Rome (latebloomer), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:52 (2 years ago) Permalink
If only less of them featured Citizen Kane.
― scissorlocks and the three bears (Eric H.), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:53 (2 years ago) Permalink
Touch of Evil drags more than CK does (the Heston-Weaver stuff leaves me cold).― ginny thomas and tonic (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, May 17, 2011 5:05 PM (49 minutes ago)
― ginny thomas and tonic (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, May 17, 2011 5:05 PM (49 minutes ago)
― stars on 45 my destination (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:55 (2 years ago) Permalink
I guess you omit Erotica from your list of all time great albums.
― ginny thomas and tonic (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:56 (2 years ago) Permalink
Not desperately seeking attention from ILM'ers.
― scissorlocks and the three bears (Eric H.), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 21:58 (2 years ago) Permalink
desperately seeking susan from ilm'ers
― Unity Tour 2011: 311 and Sublime with Rome (latebloomer), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 22:03 (2 years ago) Permalink
desperately steening HOOS'n
― stars on 45 my destination (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 17 May 2011 22:05 (2 years ago) Permalink
I wonder what Welles thread will actually feature discussion of CK
― the gay bloggers are onto the faggot tweets (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 18 May 2011 00:50 (2 years ago) Permalink
btw the Jed Leland scenes in this make me nostalgic for an age when theatre reviews were called "notices."
― the gay bloggers are onto the faggot tweets (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 18 May 2011 00:52 (2 years ago) Permalink
also, was it Kael who wrote that Sloane's Bernstein was thought to be a vocal impression of Bernard Herrmann? I've always delighted in imagining Sloane's accent when reading Herrmann's quote to Brian De Palma when scoring Sisters: "YAW NOT HITCHCOCK!"
― the gay bloggers are onto the faggot tweets (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 18 May 2011 00:55 (2 years ago) Permalink
What are your favorite unremarked-on scenes? Mine: "Certainly we're speaking, Jedediah. You're fired."
― ginny thomas and tonic (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 18 May 2011 01:08 (2 years ago) Permalink
^CFK at his queeniest
I like it when old Leland refers to Xanadu as "Sloppy Joe's" (fave Hemingway bar in Key West)
― the gay bloggers are onto the faggot tweets (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 18 May 2011 01:11 (2 years ago) Permalink
I love when Leland says "crimitism" instead of "criticism." Apparently, it was shot at the end of a loooooong day (or days) and Cotten was delirious with sleep deprivation. Welles just smiles at him.
― Kevin John Bozelka, Wednesday, 18 May 2011 01:44 (2 years ago) Permalink
The Magnificent Ambersons
this is a joke, right?
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Wednesday, 18 May 2011 02:24 (2 years ago) Permalink
I think he's got it confused with "Meet the Fockers"
― Mark G, Wednesday, 18 May 2011 08:29 (2 years ago) Permalink
i can't see how either of these hold water; i don't see any of the later sections as offering diminished returns, because they're different; the section on the cathedral is one of the most lyrical in cinema, to me, and the picasso section is playful and graceful in an entirely different way from the start of the film's more mad-cap, technological fun. sure f for fake is uneven, in that it veers, but i don't think it's that it tries one thing and then flags.
― mailbox of snakes (schlump), Wednesday, 18 May 2011 10:51 (2 years ago) Permalink
'f for fake' is great, but getting criterion treatment kinda overexposed it for a while. i enjoy it most because it really lets welles play the showman, which none of his other movies really did. it's a wonderfully unique film -- i can't think of anything else remotely like it. i'd happily shell out for a criterion that consisted of nothing but welles interviews, come to think of it.
the most remarkable thing about welles, for me, is that all of his movies are so different in style, tone, everything. it's almost impossible to believe the same guy made 'ambersons' AND 'f for fake' AND 'the trial.'
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Wednesday, 18 May 2011 12:18 (2 years ago) Permalink
"you see, my mother died a long time ago, and her things were put in storage out west--there wasn't any other place to put them--i thought i'd send for them now, and tonight i was going to take a look at them. you know, a sort of sentimental journey. i run a couple of newspapers; what do you do?"
― difficult listening hour, Tuesday, 7 June 2011 02:04 (1 year ago) Permalink
ever notice the dude on the Smart Puffs bag looks exactly like Peter Bogdanovich?
― David Allah Coal (sexyDancer), Tuesday, 7 June 2011 02:59 (1 year ago) Permalink
missing the cravat, though
― David Allah Coal (sexyDancer), Tuesday, 7 June 2011 03:01 (1 year ago) Permalink
lol!
― \(^o\) (/o^)/ (ENBB), Tuesday, 7 June 2011 03:03 (1 year ago) Permalink
on the new release:
For the new Blu-ray, Ned Price and his team at Warner Brothers Motion Picture Imagery scanned three different copies (or "film elements"): the MoMA print; a 35 mm fine-grain master that was found several years ago at a film lab in Brussels; and another 35 mm fine-grain master, discovered much more recently at a European film archive. (For a purely technical caveat, click here.)
"The three film elements had different strengths and weaknesses," Price explained. "For instance, one of them had less flicker in one reel but coarser grain in another reel. So we put together the best bits and pieces of all three." (Even so, Price and his team had to clean up, frame by frame, a lot of dirt and misalignments, especially in all those opticals and dissolves. The restoration project took over a year to complete.)
http://www.slate.com/id/2303638/pagenum/all/
― incredibly middlebrow (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 15 September 2011 20:36 (1 year ago) Permalink
Had never seen this. Now I have. Wow!
― Scary Move 4 (dog latin), Tuesday, 8 May 2012 10:54 (1 year ago) Permalink
:D
― Chewshabadoo, Tuesday, 8 May 2012 11:15 (1 year ago) Permalink
It's great no matter how much people want to rearrange the canonical furniture.
― World Congress of Itch (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 8 May 2012 13:56 (1 year ago) Permalink
Citizen Kane = Magnificent Ambersons = Chimes at Midnight = F for Fake = Touch of Evil
― jungleous butterflies strange birds (Eric H.), Tuesday, 8 May 2012 14:10 (1 year ago) Permalink
You'd need a big room for all that furniture.
esp if Orson is living there
― World Congress of Itch (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 8 May 2012 14:24 (1 year ago) Permalink