In 1958, when I was 12, one of the three or four most wonderful events of my entire life occurred–something that changed me for good. Awestruck, I sat before a TV in a darkened living room in Williams Bay, Wis., and watched, for the first time, Orson Welles’ astonishing 1941 filmmaking debut, “Citizen Kane.”
“Citizen Kane” ((star) (star) (star) (star)) plays again this weekend at the Music Box, as part of its Saturday-Sunday 11:30 a.m. matinee series. And though I won’t be there to see it–if I were, it would mark more than 50 viewings of “Kane” for me–I envy anyone catching it anew.
Made when director-co-writer-star-producer Welles was only 25, with his inimitable Mercury theater/radio troupe (Joe Cotten, Everett Sloane, Agnes Moorehead, et al.) and cited many times as the greatest film of the 20th Century, this magnificent, complex, spunky and brilliant newspaper biography is the one filmmaking achievement that can probably never be topped. Based on the controversial life of yellow journalism magnate William Randolph Hearst, “Kane” has come to transcend its subject, its era, its creators–even perhaps the movies themselves.
That the staggeringly gifted Welles was never able to top “Kane”–and that, incredibly, he was allowed to direct only five more American studio movies (and about twice that outside Hollywood ) in the balance of his half-century film career–is one of the great cinematic tragedies. It’s only partially alleviated by the grandeur of his work on “The Magnificent Ambersons” (1942) “Othello” (1952), “Touch of Evil” (1958) and “Chimes at Midnight” (1966).
But there’s an added importance in seeing and celebrating “Kane” now, at a time when the controversies over Welles still rage and when two largely mean-spirited and dubious “histories” have recently appeared: writer-narrator Richard Ben Cramer’s ridiculous Oscar-nominated documentary “The Battle Over `Citizen Kane’ ” and David Thomson’s malicious and unpleasantly self-absorbed biography “Rosebud”–a book of which this often fine writer should be ashamed.
We may never get to the bottom of the riddle that was George Orson Welles–and we certainly won’t if it’s left to the Thomsons and Cramers of the world. But “Citizen Kane” remains the great shining moment that, for many movie lovers, redeems so many seasons in the dark.
This weekend’s Music Box matinee program, at 3733 N. Southport, also offers Jon Blair’s superb documentary “Anne Frank Remembered” ((star) (star) (star) (star) ) . The delightful Icelandic road movie “Cold Fever” ((star) (star) (star) 1/2) and Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones’ 1974 medieval twitfest “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” ((star) (star) (star) ) are the midnight movies. “Cold Fever” producer and co-writer Jim Stark will personally appear for the movie’s regular Friday premiere. Call 312-871-6604.
– The second week of the Black Harvest Film and Video Festival at the Film Center of the School of the Art Institute again casts the spotlight on African and African-American filmmakers. Included (and previously reviewed by John Petrakis) are Norman Loftis’ “Bicycle Thief”-inspired “The Messenger” ((star) (star) 1/2) at 7:45 p.m. Friday, and Ted Lyde’s “Back to Front” ((star) (star)) at 6 p.m. Saturday.
Black Harvest also offers the premiere of Isaac Julien’s intriguing documentary “Frantz Fanon: Black Skin, White Mask” (4 p.m. Saturday), with a special panel discussion and a reprise of one of its best 1996 shows: Cheick Oumar Sissoko’s Mali/Burkina Faso/French co-production “Guimba, the Tyrant” ((star) (star) (star) 1/2) , at 7:45 p.m Friday, and at 6 p.m. Sunday.
