1960: How did Orson Welles make CITIZEN KANE? | Monitor | Classic Movie Interviews | BBC Archive

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"Sheer ignorance - you know, there's no confidence to equal it." - Orson Welles.
Orson Welles speaks with Huw Wheldon about his career in film, with particular focus on Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons. He explains how a young man with no prior filmmaking experience was able to create such a groundbreaking masterpiece at his first attempt, why RKO Pictures gave him complete creative control of the project, and the most important lesson he learned from the greatest cinematographer of the time, Gregg Toland. Was the character of Kane based on the newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, or was the film actually autobiographical? Does Welles regret that his greatest success came to him so early in life? Why do Hollywood studios keep locking him out of editing suites?
Originally broadcast 13 March, 1960.*
*At 15:07, the beginning of Huw Wheldon's question was missing, so a fade transition has been inserted.
Incidentally, viewers in Britain can currently watch a selection of classic RKO films - including Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons - on iPlayer: www.bbc.co.uk/...
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1 окт 2024

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Комментарии : 128

@chrisjohnston4445 Год назад

When Orson talks about his "sheer ignorance" and "not knowing that these things were impossible", it reminded me of the old joke: "Theoretically, a bumblebee can't fly... but nobody told the bumblebee!"

@branislavvukic7752 Год назад

This reminded me of joke we have here in Balkan: Police comes to the Gypsy fella accusing him for stealing the rail-tracks for scrap- metal, he denies telling the police officer that children were playing there and they must have take it with them. The officer said:"C'mon man that rail-track weights 300 kilos!!!", and Gypsy answers: "Like child knows what is 300 kilos!!!!"

@lisaburns4131 2 года назад

What an interview , great man and great mind, plus a great voice.

@arriuscalpurniuspiso Год назад

His voice was musical, passionate, with a beautiful tone

@geeblanco 10 месяцев назад

Yeah his greatness is without question but the fact he stole his voice from Pinky and the Brain rather soiled his legacy imho.

@mybigfartsreallystin 8 месяцев назад

@@geeblancoHow cute...a trollbot... ...not really...gky... XD

@tracethisspace Год назад

"The storyteller's first duty is always to the story." Love this.

@Arjmm 3 месяца назад

Tolstoy said it's to the truth.

@glamourdazeshorts 2 года назад

I could listen to Orson all day

@MitchClement-il6iq 9 месяцев назад

Great story teller.

@ross.vazquez 2 месяца назад

Completely agree. Almost hypnotic

@QED_ 2 дня назад

I could listen to Huw Wheldon all day.

@TheRausing1 2 года назад

I’m 25 and a filmmaker and have made four or five absolutely awful short films. The fact he wrote, produced and directed Citizen Kane at 25 makes me feel a little sad I have to admit.

@TheStockwell 2 года назад

You won't feel so bad if you watch his first experimental film, "The Hearts of Age," or Kubrick's "Fear and Desire." 😸

@fredbreadbun6277 2 года назад

'Do you think,' said he, 'I have not just cause to weep, when I consider that Alexander at my age had conquered so many nations, and I have all this time done nothing that is memorable? '”- Caesar looking at a statue of Alexander the Great.

@fritsbos1527 2 года назад

When you cant remember if you did 4 OR 5 movies mabe IT is saying SOMETHING about your motivation

@maxresdefault_ 2 года назад

He spent a good chunk of his early life working in theatre. Kane was his first movie but he went in with years of experience directing live performances.

@arricammarques1955 Год назад

Be true to yourself, mate. Orson set the bar rather high.

@jphillips7083 Год назад

"Anything you say about Hollywood is true good or bad there is no statement too extreme which does not apply." (100%)

@garrison6863 Год назад

The contract Welles had on his first film is utterly incredible. And the fact he had Toland on his first film is just as amazing.

@davidrobinson2776 7 месяцев назад

Welles not only produced the greatest film of all time, he gave us the greatest acting performance of all time in the space of only 10 minutes in The Third Man. He had so much presence, so much charisma and despite not being a conventionally handsome man, the camera loved him. If someone told Welles something was impossible, he'd prove them wrong. That's genius.

@andrewharty3874 6 месяцев назад

We'll said sir

@retrothingz Год назад

Text book perfect interview ..on both sides. Thanks for the upload.

@SevenFields108 Год назад

There's not enough thumbs-ups in the world to do this justice! 👍👍👍👍👍🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

@SuperEgo19 4 месяца назад

Hearing Orson use the term cryptofascist is quite surprising for 1960. He was always ahead of the curve.

@christopherpardell4418 2 месяца назад

Erudition was far more prevalent in the world before 1960. Welles was certainly one of the most intelligent people you might run across, but people who could enthrall others with insight, education, and complex perspectives were one of the things education and affluence often produced. Philosophy was taught in school, as well as the rich tapestry of classical mythology, with all its deeper psychological and political ramifications explored.

@garryferrington811 2 месяца назад

We've lost a great deal.

@JM-uk9yb 2 года назад

He’s a genius

@rameybutler-hm7nx 3 месяца назад

Orson welles would be criticised and shunned by modern media. He would be hated. Im glad this showman, came at the time he did because without him i would have never explored other films and books.

@garryferrington811 2 месяца назад

You may be right. He was such a maverick.

@emgee81 2 года назад

18:37 Interesting to note that Agnes Moorehead was mentioned here. A very fine actress, born in 1900 in Clinton, Massachusetts (35 miles outside of Boston) who appeared in many a great production on radio, TV and in film. She won a Primetime Emmy Award and two Golden Globe Awards, in addition to being nominated for four Academy Awards. However, I think she will always be most fondly remembered on screen for wonderfully playing the part of Endora (Samantha's Mother) in the TV series Bewitched. She died in 1974 in Rochester, Minnesota. Bewitched is one of my favourite programmes of all time and I'm 41! My mother was born in 1965 and she was named Samantha after the character played by the lovely Elizabeth Montgomery - so I think maybe I might be a little bit biased? LOL :D

@photosbydoyle Год назад

he's only 45 years old here.

@kipperbill Год назад

Infectious Laughter!

@stevemccormack9948 Год назад

Orson Welles, a sharp mind right to the last.

@edwardmulholland7912 11 месяцев назад

Welles was an incredible artist, “Citizen Kane” is an incredible movie. The powers that be never forgave him. But Orson kept on going, but the establishment never stopped punishing him for daring to call out powerful people/families. Stanley Kubrick was a fan - but Kubrick was a better chess player than Welles - until “Eyes Wide Shut”, apparently. Both men were critical of the elites, that’s a no no. The sheeple should never have access to the truth.

@danzambrana 10 месяцев назад

Kubrick finessed the execs in the making of 2001. He was a genius as well.

@edwardmulholland7912 10 месяцев назад

@@James-ks7lv No, get back in your box.

@spikemufc 10 месяцев назад

It is obvious how disappointed he was for not being able to complete "The Magnificent Ambersons". He regretted it until the rest of his life

@kipperbill Год назад

Infectious Laughter!

@jonathaneffemey944 Год назад

Thanks so much for posting.

@rigsby1454 2 года назад

What a brilliant man

@dthorne4602 2 года назад

17 minutes in, tells the true story of an artist and the fear of selling out

@martinwatters2729 Год назад

No wonder HEMINGWAY and ORSON where great friends in real life . ONE had no fear the other was chased by demon's. ORSON had no fear HEMINGWAY lived it and wrote about courage also placed him self in it.But ORSON truely feared nothing.

@VintageSongstress 9 месяцев назад

Such a voice! Such class! I absolutely adore this man.

@AaronPatelzick Год назад

Incredible interview.

@Brucie27 Год назад

well sir it is 2023 almost 2024 and we learn about you in film class as one of the youngest directors to make one of the greatest movies of all time. id like to think. theres no more hate on that you were amazing. i learned about you in Hs and college.

@TheJonathanNewton 11 месяцев назад

Of course. What did the haters ever achieve themselves?

@JuanMiPibernus 10 месяцев назад

Hate to tell you this, but Orson is THE quintessential hater, but he was also extremely talented

@jphillips7083 Год назад

I could smell his cigar when he fired it up!

@alev4287 Год назад

Spell Kane Cain and you got the real idea behind the story. All these movies have double meanings behind them.

@chriskelvin248 2 года назад

Fascinating interview with a fascinating man. It also struck me how similar "the Queen's english" and "American broadcast english" sounded at that point in time. Only 62 years ago and already the trajectories are headed in quite different directions. Today's American broadcast english is liberal with contractions and slang, whereas if the "dialect" of then were spoken now, with its use of non-rhotic R's and more rigorous vocabulary and sentence structures, it would be perceived as comedy.

@dan4x4 Год назад

As an english person i noticed this too - very similar

@RetrofIex 3 месяца назад

Orson Welles may have been the most articulate speaker ever

@dthorne4602 2 года назад

Reminds me of the way Shatner looks in his old age

@rigsby1454 2 года назад

haha yes I know what you mean. Same cadence in the voice. Never thought of that!

@yossarianmnichols9641 Год назад

Nowadays the stars have their own production company and they get their own financing and there is no more studio dictatorship.

@chisciccise 4 месяца назад

The one element missing: Orson Welles.

@garryferrington811 2 месяца назад

Quite a few movies go through corporate executive committees. You don't have the old studios, you have corporations which couldn't care less about the movies themselves.

@TheJPCatholic 2 года назад

I’ve been waiting for this entire interview, very happy to see it in good quality. Very underrated director and film.

@pfzt 2 года назад

Very underrated director and film? wut? You forgot the /s my friend ;)

@CrackSmonka 2 года назад

Yeah, that exactly the word to define Orson Welles: 'underrated'. He directed arguably the best film ever, but he's 'underrated'. Yeah.

@gvran71 8 месяцев назад

First bust on Hollywood Mount Rushmore.

@flipflopsguy8868 9 месяцев назад

"Yes, Always" ! - Orson Welles

@rickarra1833 10 месяцев назад

I love the way he uses his voice to suck you into his story

@dannywoody5497 3 месяца назад

Absolutely love Orson Welles. What a deep in interest & human being. Way too much of an artist to be treated fairly

@mrg8255 22 дня назад

Real men are mostly obsolete now.

@hassanshayegannik155 10 месяцев назад

The greatest!

@DavyTracy-l7i 11 дней назад

Jackson Carol White Sandra Martinez Kimberly

@stewartmoore5158 13 дней назад

Can you imagine meeting someone with the personality of a 1960s television host? You'd think you'd met a real life android.

@lucianopavarotti2843 12 дней назад

Amazing to me that interviewer Hew Wheldon was 44 at the time , actually year younger than Welles. Wheldon looks and sounds 20 years older.

@bijuviswanath2637 10 месяцев назад

Great filmmaker

@stevejohnston2715 3 месяца назад

Orson was an incredible liar, truth-teller and gentleman...what an interesting, contradictory character.

@garryferrington811 2 месяца назад

Small television screens then, which is why you have these really extreme, discomforting closeups.

@TonyDucks89 Месяц назад

I've heard they are remaking a gender swapped Citizen Kane with Elizabeth Banks directing and playing the lead.

@TopOfThePopsFan Год назад

Did he do the voice-over for Carlsburg lager - 'probably the best lager in the world'.

@stephenbarrette610 Год назад

He might have done. He certainty did a lot of commercial voice overs. I remember hearing a ‘tape’ back in the 1980’s when I was working at the BBC of Orsen having an argument with a producer / f-wit about ‘Peas in July. A quick Google and the RU-vid copy of part of it just appears by magic. Gosh anything I can think of, seems to appear… when I type it into the ‘Google’ - just kidding, worked in IT for the last 40 years. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0O1_AyKSV88.html

@Mc007Queen Месяц назад

He's not lying ... the topic about the cameraman ... saying that you can learn this in less than 3 days ... back then it was true that topic was brought up many years later and he said the same thing ... Orson Welles if you watch videos after this interview many years later .. he will say the same thing

@kmetcalfe 5 месяцев назад

This is a great interview. Thank you for posting it.

@SharonDavis-v6n 4 дня назад

Harris Donna Miller William Johnson Scott

@brikfiend 7 месяцев назад

A legend interviewing a legend , perfect .

@findingnino Год назад

The head of RKO was a genius!

@spacemissing 6 месяцев назад

Superior interview of a superior talent.

@martinwatters2729 Год назад

I love ORSON such a breath of fresh air held in check because he was so on track and remained in the same. GENIUS,

@MitchClement-il6iq 8 месяцев назад

And met some the greatest people in history.

@jasonenosart 10 месяцев назад

This kind of picture will never be made until a deal like this is given again... And we got that with Nolan's Oppenheimer

@NUCLEARDASH 4 месяца назад

HA!

@MegaFount 3 месяца назад

Everything Welles made has value and unique features. My favorites: Mr. Arkadin, The Trial, and Touch of Evil.

@38kob 5 дней назад

that was boring as hell man

@lizriveratoro8729 7 месяцев назад

Hearst hate the citizen Kane movie cause was about diversity and cultural differences and since Orson didn't have a clue about how it would've worked in the cinema industry. But did knew a lot of culture and diversity in races. But clearly shows that the Charles Kane was identical and identifiable to William Ran Hearst. 😂😂 Hearst was a coward because of Rosebud joke at the end. When everyone knew that Mollie and Marion knew the horns and screw up Hearst was. 😂

@Setare.hezarshab 7 месяцев назад

❤❤❤

@SandraSmith-vb5pf 6 месяцев назад

MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE 💭🚨💉💲💲💲💲💲💲

@mrg8255 22 дня назад

I am reminded of Trump listening to orson.

@baudelaire2169 19 дней назад

Por favor no vuelvas a comparar a Orson con ese animal

@kathypiazza7228 13 дней назад

What the contrast between an intelligent interesting well spoken man as compared to TFG?

@joemarshall4226 9 месяцев назад

Orson still has his affected mid Atlantic accent here. By the 70s, he lost it.

@christiansmith-of7dt 3 месяца назад

Dar Pan Sus 3 legs one arm

@CliffBronson1212 5 месяцев назад

❤❤❤

@lighth7h-im3gd Год назад

nerd

@CartersRemasters 10 месяцев назад

So much noise on that image, I'm all for not messing much with the orignal film, but c'mon, you can clean it up a bit

@blurredlenzpictures3251 5 месяцев назад

Don't worry Orson, your grandkids and every other fan of film is aware you were very good!

@jamesmoore9511 9 дней назад

At 2:00 Political cryptofascist describes the Assault on President Trump.

@petersokol1603 Год назад

He didn’t it was written by someone else…he had no hand in the script….it was filmed by somebody else who knew what they were doing…all he did was act and puff up like a bird….he was not a cinematic genius……most of his films sucked…and he ate and drank himself to death with other peoples money.