Erich Von Stroheim on CITIZEN KANE

[Wellesnet]

From film critic Fred Camper's website:

http://www.fredcamper.com/M/VonStroheim.html

[Roger Ryan]

I've read this review before and it's a fairly astute one. Surprisingly, Stroheim dislikes the subject matter and script or, rather, feels that the story is too trite and not presented well. One would imagine that the man who bucked Hollywood tradition just as it was forming and thought that a six hour-plus cut was the way to present GREED would be more receptive to the structure of KANE. His criticism of repetitious scenes appears to be based on one of the film's greatest strengths: it's ability to replay events in Kane's life to show subtly different interpretations of its protagonist. However, in mid-review he begins addressing the technical aspect of KANE, as well as the performances, and becomes effusive in his praise. By the end he's calling it a "great picture" that will go down in history! At first, one suspects that Stroheim is simply jealous of this upstart Welles, but the balance of the review makes the entirety feel more even-handed.

[mteal]

His complaint about the film's structure would probably have been echoed by many average filmgoers at the time, but "jealous" is a word that comes to my mind too when I read Von Stroheim's review. He seems to be thinking "I need to take this punk down a peg or two before I praise him." It reminds me a bit of D.W. Griffith's reaction to KANE: "I like CITIZEN KANE...especially all the things in it that were stolen from me." Of course, Welles's belittling of the director's role later in life - along with his effusive praise of actors - suggests he may have been jealous himself of all the young hotshot directors who were flying high in Hollywood in the early to mid-70's, without doing anything in front of the camera.

[mido505]

I wonder if Welles read that review, because the writer/director of THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS seems to have taken some of Von Stroheim's criticisms to heart, working on a broader social canvas, with more purity and simplicity and less "bric a brac", and greater sympathy for even the most unsympathetic characters. I think Von Stroheim would have loved the uncut Ambersons.

Odd, how much these two have in common.

Welles spoke very highly of Von Stroheim in THIS IS ORSON WELLES.

[mteal]

I'd like to know his thoughts on any other Welles film, but yes, AMBERSONS would be especially interesting, since that was also Welles's diploma, so to speak, from the Von Stroheim school of film maudit.