2/2/2024 0 Comments Kane debut photos![]() With good reason, Welles shared the final screen credit with his cinematographer. Of course, these effects were in service to what was already a uniquely-photographed picture. Other treated shots include the camera moving through the window of the El Rancho nightclub for Susan Alexander Kane's scenes, the downward tilting shot from the miniature statue of the Thatcher library, the tilt upwards to the rafters of the workers reacting to Susan's singing, and rear projection and multiple-exposure compositions being employed where the deep, or pan, focus was otherwise impractical, such as when there were figures extremely close to the camera and in the extreme background with another plane for the middle action-the shot of young Kane through the window playing in the snow, the three-tier composite of Boss Getty observing Kane's campaign rally, Leland's firing, Susan's suicide attempt, the shot with the parrot, e.g. There's also the pre-"Forrest Gump" (1994), pre-"Zelig" (1983) insertion of Kane into archival footage. ![]() In the "News on the March" reel, a terrific film-within-film newsreel parody overall (including intentional scratches and, reportedly, edited by RKO's newsreel department, to make it look authentic), a shot of construction of Xanadu is cobbled together from an actor in the foreground, stop-motion trucks in the middle plane, and the matte painting of the mansion atop the hill. There are many such marvelous compositions throughout. ![]() ![]() The reflection of the nurse in the broken snow globe was created with Dunn's printer. According to Dunn, "Once Orson Welles learned about the optical printer he just went hog-wild with it." From the start, there's a miniature for the gate with the matte paintings of Xanadu in the background, and dissolves-lots of long dissolves in this one (and wipes and a few more dazzling effects)-transition between ever-closer views of the lit window, always matching the same frame position, until a reverse angle shot inside followed by an extreme close-up of Kane's lips, with the added snow effects, as he mutters the dying word. More than half the picture has been guessed to be effects shots. Outside of co-writer Herman Mankiewicz, cinematographer Gregg Toland and Welles, arguably the most important contributions to the production came from Linwood Dunn and his optical printer, and that's not even to mention a score by Bernard Herrmann, editing from Robert Wise, and contributions from a host of less well-known technicians doing career-best work, including lead matte painter Mario Larrinaga, the special-effects team's boss Vernon Walker, and art director Perry Ferguson. The difference is that the effects here are realistic as opposed to fantastic. While "Kane" is famous as an arty old black-and-white film, which it is, it belies that it was genre-mixing popular entertainment and a special-effects extravaganza of its day: the virtuosity of the editing and sound design in addition to the matte paintings, miniatures, multiple-exposure photography, rear projection, and the most significant use of the optical printer in between "King Kong" (1933) and "Star Wars" (1977). Much of this was accomplished by composite photographic effects. The picture constantly exploits a deep depth of field, with figures in the foreground and background in focus, to show it off. Moreover, the story is about a powerful storyteller notoriously based on William Randolph Hearst (and other famous rich guys, if not also a bit of Orson Welles)-a newspaper man, populist politician, overseer of his lover's career, and who even dictates the story beyond his grave with his final word. The plot is a jigsaw puzzle of flashbacks from multiple sources-the "News on the March" film-within-the-film, the dead man's memoir, a reporter interviewing characters for the meaning of "Rosebud"-linked by an also-layered sound design and framed by a curious camera violating the "No Trespassing" sign in entering and exiting the Xanadu estate. In both senses, there's a deep focus from various angles. Indeed, it's a marvel of cinematography and plot. The most frequently acclaimed "greatest film ever," idiosyncratic in its day yet massively influential, a cultural staple, a narrative and technical tour de force, and there's the whole thing of the wunderkind granted carte blanche for his debut to the machinery of classical Hollywood at its peak-the expectations for "Citizen Kane," to say the least, are high.
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