Citizen Kane

In Our Time

BBC

History

4.6 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 12 January 2023

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Orson Welles' film, released in 1941, which is widely acclaimed as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, films yet made. Welles plays the lead role of Charles Foster Kane, a newspaper magnate, and Welles directed, produced and co-wrote this story of loneliness at the heart of a megalomaniac. The plot was partly inspired by the life of William Randolph Hearst, who then used the power of his own newspapers to try to suppress the film’s release. It was to take some years before Citizen Kane reached a fuller audience and, from that point, become so celebrated. The image above is of Kane addressing a public meeting while running for Governor. With Stella Bruzzi Professor of Film and Dean of Arts and Humanities at University College London Ian Christie Professor of Film and Media History at Birkbeck, University of London And John David Rhodes Professor of Film Studies and Visual Culture at the University of Cambridge Producer: Simon Tillotson

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds Music Radio Podcasts
0:04.7	Thanks for downloading this episode of In Our Time.
0:07.4	There's a reading list to go with it on our website and you can get news about our
0:10.7	programs if you follow us on Twitter at BBC In Our Time.
0:14.6	I hope you enjoyed the program.
0:16.9	Hello Citizen Kane released in 1941 is widely acclaimed as one of the greatest, if not the
0:22.3	greatest, filmed ever made.
0:24.6	Austin Wells plays the lead role of Charles Foster Kane, a newspaper magnate, and Wells
0:30.0	directed, produced and co-wrote this story of loneliness and megalomaniac.
0:35.4	It was inspired by the life of the mighty William Randolph Hearst who used the power of his
0:39.6	own newspapers to try to suppress the film's release and it was to take some years before
0:44.8	Citizen Kane became the sensation it remains.
0:47.6	When we did discuss Citizen Kane, a celebrity professor of film and dean of arts and humanities
0:52.4	at University College London.
0:54.4	Ian Christie, professor of film and media history at Berkbeck University of London, and
0:59.2	John David Rhodes, professor of film, studies and visual culture at the University of Cambridge.
1:04.8	JD Rhodes.
1:05.8	What did Austin Wells done before this that we all to know about?
1:09.4	I suppose it's where do you start or what didn't he do before that?
1:13.2	He was the ultimate wonder child.
1:16.1	He was very pretty just, very precocious.
1:18.7	He had acted as early as age 16 at the Gate Theatre in Dublin and used that performance
	...

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