Ep 4 // Citizen Kane

Summary

It’s Lora’s pick… ‘Citizen Kane,’ the 1941 debut film by Orson Welles. Often referred to as the greatest film ever made, it’s possibly Welles’ greatest achievement, but the controversy surrounding it (mainly stirred up by William Randolph Hearst, the main target of the film’s narrative) also led to his quick fall from grace.

The film has appeared on every single one of Sight & Sound magazine’s decennial polls of the “greatest films,” debuting as a runner up in 1952, then sitting at #1 for the next 50 years, before eventually dropping to #2 on both the 2012 polls of critics and directors.

Also, with the horrific events this past week in Atlanta and the overall rise in bigotry and violence toward our friends in AAPI communities, we suggest supporting groups Stop AAPI Hate. And for those who want to learn how they can assist people facing hatred and violence in person, we suggest looking into bystander intervention training with groups like Hollaback!

• 00:00 - Intro + the last good movies we saw
• 10:21 - About the show / expectations for ‘Citizen Kane’
• 14:19 - About the film / open discussion
• 54:02 - Disputed authorship of ‘Kane’
• 61:34 - Favorite scenes or moments / historical context / the test of time / influence
• 75:34 - Bonus question: what’s your favorite “ripped from the headlines” movie?
• 83:29 - Next week on Stereoactive Movie Club… / Outro

Produced by Stereoactive Media