Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 8, 1991 TAG: 9103080499
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-1 EDITION: METRO FILM CLIPS
SOURCE: Chris Gladden
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
In a column about the Oscar race last week, I wrote that Orson Welles won multiple Oscars for "Citizen Kane."
Bart McGullion, an actor and director hereabouts, called to remind me that Welles didn't win multiple Oscars.
Welles was nominated for best director, best best actor and for co-writing in the original screenplay category. "Citizen Kane" was nominated for best picture. But the only Oscar Welles received was one that he shared with Herman J. Mankiewicz for screenwriting.
I guess in my imagination I was righting a Hollywood wrong. A half-century of scrutiny - yes, this is the picture's 50th anniversary - has established "Kane" as possibly the greatest movie of all time. Certainly, it's in the top 10. In many ways, it reinvented moviemaking.
It had the audacity to deliver an unflattering portrait of a powerful, living figure (William Randolph Hearst).
Cinematographer Gregg Toland pioneered the use of low angle shots and deep focus. And Welles incorporated moments of his own life into the story while telling it in a newsreel format.
"Citizen Kane" has had a profound influence on filmmakers and writers. Critic Pauline Kael took a typically perverse stance in "The Citizen Kane" book and gave the writing credit to Mankiewicz. But Welles clearly delivered a directorial tour de force.
"Kane" has become the yardstick for measuring movie quality.
"It ain't no `Citizen Kane'," is a common description used by movie enthusiasts when a picture doesn't meet expectations.
And what beat this undeniably great movie in the 1941 Oscar race?
The competition was by no means shabby.
"How Green Was My Valley," John Ford's poignant drama about Welsh coal miners, won Best Picture. Ford scored again for best director (He won the honor the previous year for "The Grapes of Wrath").
And Gary Cooper beat Welles in the Best Actor category for his portrayal of World War I hero Sgt. York.
It was doubtful, however, that Welles was devastated. Always a maverick, he refused to to fit into the Hollywood studio system. Welles enjoyed controversy and mischief-making as much as he apparently enjoyed film and theater.
If impudence, brilliance, originality and flamboyance had been Oscar categories, Welles would have surely won made a clean sweep.
by CNB