Overview
The complete screenplay of one of the world's most famous and
controversial films "A definitive chronicle of the making of the film"
Sheridan Morley, Films & Filming This is the complete companion to
Citizen Kane - the film that was "designed to shock" (Kenneth Tynan) -
one of the best-loved and best-known movies in the history of Hollywood
and still the most staggering film debut ever. Not only was this Orson
Welles's first film as actor and director but most of the cast were also
new to the cinema. Yet so controversial was the subject matter that an
$842,000 bribe and the concentrated wrath of the Hearst newspaper empire
combined in an attempt to strangle its distribution. And the
authorship of the film is still a subject of conflict. Pauline Kael's
long essay, "Raising Kane", dissects a maze of Hollywood lore to
re-evaluate these and many other fascinating stories about the making of
this remarkable film. Her account is followed by the original
screenplay, illustrated with stills and frame enlargements.