"[6]:168, Welles further said this to Mankiewicz's biographer: "I have only one real enemy in my life that I know about, and that is John Houseman. "That's why I left him on his own, finally," Welles said later, "because we'd started to waste too much time haggling. JSTOR is part of ITHAKA, a not-for-profit organization helping the academic community use digital technologies to preserve the scholarly record and to advance research and teaching in sustainable ways. Citizen Kane, widely considered the greatest film ever made, continues to fascinate critics and historians as well as filmgoers. [7]:498, "One of the things that bound his friends to him was his extraordinary vulnerability," Welles told Mankiewicz's biographer. 307–325. [26]:206–207, "Raising Kane" angered many critics, most notably Bogdanovich, a close friend of Welles who rebutted Kael's claims in "The Kane Mutiny", an October 1972 article for Esquire. … The final version of the screenplay … was drawn from both sources. [i][5]:246 Mankiewicz and Houseman were put back on the Mercury payroll[6]:262 June 18 – July 27,[11]:29–30 and continued to help revise the script. CrossRef Google Scholar. [4]:499–500[9]:204, One of the long-standing controversies about Citizen Kane has been the authorship of the screenplay. Welles's assistant Richard Wilson said that the person who circled Mankiewicz's name in pencil, then drew an arrow that put it in first place, was Welles. [6]:215 They were always given the same apartment in La Casa del Monte guest cottage[6]:214—"like a little castle of our own," said Sara Mankiewicz. 369–400. Robert L. Carringer is an assistant professor of English at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "[17]:111 Hill said that even as a boy Welles was interested in the lives of the controversial tycoons: "He sensed, even then, the theatrical impact that could be gained in assaulting, and possibly toppling, giants," wrote Brady. Citizen Kane, widely considered the greatest film ever made, continues to fascinate critics and historians as well as filmgoers. Welles then "adapted it with the same freedom and disregard for authority with which he adapt[ed] a Shakespeare play or a thriller by Nicholas Blake. [5]:230, Welles did not know Hearst, but he knew much about him through drama critic Ashton Stevens. The mimeographed scripts also have inserted individually dated revision pages, usually on blue paper. 2 (Winter, 1978): 369-400.. https://doi.org/10.1086/447995 While credit for its genius has traditionally been attributed solely to its director, Orson Welles, Carringer's pioneering study documents the shared creative achievements of Welles and his principal collaborators. His contract with RKO stated that the film would be produced, directed, performed and written by Welles, and his "boy wonder" persona had great publicity value for the studio. Schnelle Lieferung, auch auf Rechnung - lehmanns.de The Making of Citizen Kane, Revised edition Revised Edition by Carringer, Robert L. published by University of California Press (1996) While credit for its genius has traditionally been attributed solely to its director, Orson Welles, Carringer's pioneering study documents the shared creative achievements of Welles and his principal collaborators. "[3]:447 Orson Welles told Peter Bogdanovich that "Nobody was more miserable, more bitter, and funnier than Mank ... a perfect monument of self-destruction. Who wrote Citizen Kane ? Howard Hughes was the first idea. [9]:213 "When Mank left for Victorville, we were friends. This item is part of a JSTOR Collection. [2]:32[13]:221 Welles wanted the work done as inconspicuously as possible,[11]:17 and the ranch offered the additional advantage of prohibiting alcohol. Rosenbaum also reviewed the controversy in his editor's notes to This is Orson Welles (1992). He reviewed all seven drafts and concluded that "the full evidence reveals that Welles's contribution to the Citizen Kane script was not only substantial but definitive. Welles's irritation with Mankiewicz passed quickly, and he spoke of him with fondness. For terms and use, please refer to our Terms and Conditions Citizen Kane, widely considered the greatest film ever made, continues to fascinate critics and historians as well as filmgoers. [9]:204–205[19][d], In his earlier years as a journalist, Mankiewicz sought political reporters who kept him up on gossip about Hearst, and he had even started to write a play about him. Nominated for Academy Awards in nine categories, it won an Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay) by Herman J. Mankiewicz and Welles. Welles's first wife Virginia moved to Los Angeles shortly after their divorce,[5]:231–232[18] and on May 18, 1940, she married screenwriter Charles Lederer, favorite nephew of Hearst's mistress Marion Davies. [15]:116, Carringer observed that Citizen Kane is one of the few Welles projects based on an original story idea rather than an adaption of existing work. [9]:204, Mankiewicz began threatening Welles to get credit for the film. [15]:82, 114 "After seven complete revisions, Welles finally had what he wanted," wrote Brady. [4]:356 To Welles, his departure was a relief. "[Welles] claims he wrote a parallel script," Houseman told Leaming. . The best-known controversy in film criticism of recent years has been over the authorship of the Citizen Kane script. [20]:20 "There were two castes in Hollywood," wrote Meryman, "those who had been guests at San Simeon and those who had not." He implies that American, with only the conventional amount of polishing, was what was filmed. [5]:553–554 Rosenbaum's 2020 preface to his earlier essay also references the fact that the 1972 Bogdanovich piece was ghost-written by Welles himself. A rich incorporation of the experiences and knowledge of its authors, the film earned an Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay) for Herman J. Mankiewicz and Welles. That was his role, and he played it to the hilt. The best-known controversy in film criticism of recent years has been over the authorship of the Citizen Kane script. ", "The by-line carried only my name," Bogdanovich later wrote, "but Orson had taken a strong hand in revising and rewriting. [a][7]:98 Houseman and Welles were partners in the Mercury Theatre,[4]:55 but when Mercury productions moved from New York to California the partnership ended and Houseman became an employee, working primarily as supervising editor on the radio shows. His principal contributions were the story frame, a cast of characters, various individual scenes, and a good share of the dialogue. ", Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay), "Joseph Campbell and Jean De Blasis Interview", "Citizen Kane Remembered [May–June 1969]". Loved him. Mankiewicz and his wife were part of the social set invited to Hearst Castle on several occasions. The fact is that there isn't one single line in the picture that wasn't in writing—writing from and by me—before ever a camera turned. the story behind citizen kane. He also transformed Kane from a cardboard fictionalization of Hearst into a figure of mystery and epic magnificence. CrossRef Google Scholar. "John Houseman on 'What happened to Orson Welles? I can tell you positively he didn't." The guild credit form listed Welles first, Mankiewicz second. [b][5]:246 "I'd been nursing an old notion," Welles told Bogdanovich, "the idea of telling the same thing several times—and showing exactly the same thing from wholly different points of view. This study is the first in a series of essays in progress on American films and American narrative tradition. He was hired to supervise Mankiewicz as he put a rough draft on paper. Citizen Kane is the only major Welles film on which the writing credit is shared. With a story spanning 60 years, the quasi-biographical film examines the life and legacy of Charles Foster Kane, played by Welles, a fictional character based in part upon the American newspaper magnate William … "[6]:255, Questions over the authorship of the Citizen Kane screenplay were revived in 1971 by influential film critic Pauline Kael,[4]:494 whose controversial 50,000-word essay "Raising Kane" was printed in two consecutive issues of The New Yorker and subsequently as a long introduction to the shooting script in The Citizen Kane Book. [5]:218–219 How much Huxley's book influenced Welles's choice of subject is unknown; Brady wrote that "a more personal coincidence, however, might have helped fuel the idea." [6]:264–265, Mankiewicz's rancor toward Welles grew over the remaining 12 years of his life. Reviews. Welles visited the ranch occasionally to check on their progress and offer direction. Since its origins in 1890 as one of the three main divisions of the University of Chicago, The University of Chicago Press has embraced as its mission the obligation to disseminate scholarship of the highest standard and to publish serious works that promote education, foster public understanding, and enrich cultural life. He couldn’t be affectionate or loving outside his family. There was continual communication with Welles,[15]:81 and Houseman often travelled to Los Angeles to confer with him. [4]:52–53 He summarized the screenwriting process: "The initial ideas for this film and its basic structure were the result of direct collaboration between us; after this we separated and there were two screenplays: one written by Mr. Mankiewicz, in Victorville, and the other, in Beverly Hills, by myself. 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