Citizen Kane's reputation as one of the greatest films of all time is matched only by the accumulation of critical commentary that surrounds it. What more can there be to say about a masterpiece so universally acknowledged? Laura Mulvey, in a fresh and original reading, illuminates the richness of the film, both thematically and stylistically, relating it to Welles's political background and its historical context. In a lucid and perceptive critique she also investigates the psychoanalytic structure that underlies the film's presentation of Kane's biography, for once taking seriously what Orson Welles himself disparagingly referred to as 'dollar-book Freud.' In her foreword to this special edition, published to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the BFI Film Classics series, Laura Mulvey focuses on the film's politics, highlighting the contemporary 'rhymes' in Kane's portrayal of a scandal-prone press baron in a time of economic crisis.
First published in 1971 by Secker and Warburg, 2002 reprint by Methuen for Sight and Sound.
This new edition includes a revised preface and overview of criticism, an updated chronology of the film's reception history, a reconsideration of the locus of responsibility of Welles's ill-fated The Magnificent Ambersons, and new ...
The Citizen Kane Book: Raising Kane
Walking Shadows dramatically dissects the wild, high-profile battle between newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst and famous young actor, director, and filmmaker Orson Welles over Welles’s groundbreaking film Citizen Kane.
James Naremore compiles other instances of this charge in The Magic World of Orson Welles (New York: Oxford University Press, 1978), 45–46. Andrew Sarris weighs in on the same topic in “Citizen Kane: The American Baroque,” in Gottesman, ...
Citizen Kane has generated a significant amount of critical scholarship since its release in 1941. Orson Welles' work continues to be recognized as a singular artistic achievement, and this collection...
Citizen Kane
Etudie les principaux domaines stylistiques qui fondent l'originalité de Citizen Kane (image, décors, montage, musique et bande sonore), propose également un rappel historique de la genèse du film et examine...
This is a companion to Citizen Kane - the film that was designed to shock (Kenneth Tynan) - one of the best-known movies in the history of Hollywood. Not only...
Focus on Citizen Kane