The ''Citizen Kane'' trailer is a four-minute, self-contained, "making of" promotional
featurette
In the American film industry, a featurette is a kind of film that is shorter than a full-length feature, but longer than a short film. The term may refer to either of two types of content: a shorter film or a companion film.
Medium-length film ...
by
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...
and the
Mercury Theatre
The Mercury Theatre was an independent repertory theatre company founded in New York City in 1937 by Orson Welles and producer John Houseman. The company produced theatrical presentations, radio programs and motion pictures. The Mercury also ...
, released in 1940 to promote the film ''
Citizen Kane
''Citizen Kane'' is a 1941 American drama film produced by, directed by, and starring Orson Welles. He also co-wrote the screenplay with Herman J. Mankiewicz. The picture was Welles' first feature film. ''Citizen Kane'' is frequently cited ...
''. Unlike other standard
theatrical trailers of the era, it did not feature any footage of the actual film itself, but was a wholly original
pseudo-documentary piece. It is considered by numerous film scholars such as
Simon Callow,
Joseph McBride and
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum (born February 27, 1943) is an American film critic and author. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for ''The Chicago Reader'' from 1987 to 2008, when he retired. He has published and edited numerous books about cinema and has ...
to be a standalone short film, rather than a conventional "trailer", and to represent an important stage in the development of Welles's directorial style.
Content
The film takes the form of a tour around the
film set, while the precise nature of the film is kept under wraps, in keeping with the secrecy built up around the
Mercury Theatre
The Mercury Theatre was an independent repertory theatre company founded in New York City in 1937 by Orson Welles and producer John Houseman. The company produced theatrical presentations, radio programs and motion pictures. The Mercury also ...
's debut feature. This was partly born out of necessity, to prevent
William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst Sr. (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American businessman, newspaper publisher, and politician known for developing the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His flamboya ...
from knowing in advance that the film was a parallel of his life.
The film's producer, director, co-writer and star Orson Welles—who was then an established radio star—does not appear in person, but serves as the unseen narrator, introducing members of the cast.
There are several specially filmed excerpts of the film in rehearsal, with each member of the principal cast out of costume, reciting a signature line of their character, and stressing that the film's title character prompts extreme reactions from different people. The trailer also contains a number of trick shots, including one of
Everett Sloane
Everett H. Sloane (October 1, 1909 – August 6, 1965) was an American character actor who worked in radio, theatre, films, and television.
Early life
Sloane was born in Manhattan on October 1, 1909, to Nathaniel I. Sloane and Rose (Gers ...
appearing at first to be running into the camera. Sloane actually runs into the reflection of the camera in a mirror.
The music heard throughout the trailer is the publisher's theme, "Oh, Mr. Kane". Welles heard the tune, "A Poco No" by
Pepe Guízar, in Mexico.
The special lyrics were written by Herman Ruby.
The music was arranged by
Conrad Salinger
Conrad Salinger (August 30, 1901, Brookline, Massachusetts – June 17, 1962, Pacific Palisades, California) was an American arranger, orchestrator and composer, who studied classical composition at the Paris Conservatoire. He is credited with ...
and is heard during the end titles of ''Citizen Kane''.
Cast
Production
The promotional short was filmed at the same time as ''Citizen Kane'' itself, and offers the only existing behind-the-scenes footage of the film. It had a slightly different crew, with the director of photography being
Harry J. Wild
Harry J. Wild, A.S.C. (July 5, 1901 – February 24, 1961) was a film and television cinematographer. Wild worked at RKO Pictures studios from 1931 through the 1950s. In total Wild was involved in 91 major film projects and two extended televi ...
rather than ''Citizen Kanes
Gregg Toland
Gregg Wesley Toland, A.S.C. (May 29, 1904 – September 28, 1948) was an American cinematographer known for his innovative use of techniques such as deep focus, examples of which can be found in his work on Orson Welles' ''Citizen Kane'' (1 ...
. The trailer was filmed at Toland's suggestion.
"I wrote the outline of the trailer and shot stuff for it while we were still shooting the movie," Welles recalled. "Because you see something that you're doing, and you say, 'That would be good for the trailer, you know?' Even if it wouldn't work in the film."
As it is classified as a trailer, no copyright was ever registered on the work, and it is now in the
public domain
The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work
A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...
. Consequently, it can now be freely viewed on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
, and other video websites.
Critical reception and legacy
Numerous film critics have treated the trailer as a cinematic work in its own right, arguing it represents a critical stage in the development of Welles's directorial style.
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum (born February 27, 1943) is an American film critic and author. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for ''The Chicago Reader'' from 1987 to 2008, when he retired. He has published and edited numerous books about cinema and has ...
has argued that all of Welles's films can be divided into narrative stories and documentary essays. He points to this short as being the first example of the latter from Welles, and that it is particularly important in light of the director's later experiments with the mockumentary format, including ''
It's All True'' (1942), ''
Around the World with Orson Welles'' (1955), ''
F for Fake
''F for Fake'' (french: link=no, Vérités et mensonges, es, link=no, Fraude, "Truths and lies") is a 1973 docudrama film co-written, directed by, and starring Orson Welles who worked on the film alongside François Reichenbach, Oja Kodar, and G ...
'' (1973), ''
The Other Side of the Wind
''The Other Side of the Wind'' is a 2018 satirical drama film, directed, co-written, co-produced and co-edited by Orson Welles, and posthumously released in 2018 after forty-eight years in development. The film stars John Huston, Bob Random, Pe ...
'' (1970-6), ''
Filming Othello
''Filming Othello'' is a 1978 documentary film directed by and starring Orson Welles about the making of his award-winning 1951 production '' Othello''. The film, which was produced for West German television, was the last completed feature film d ...
'' (1978), and the later versions of ''
Whatever Happened to Don Quixote?'' (1957–85).
At the time, it was almost unprecedented for a film trailer to not actually feature anything of the film itself; and while the film ''Citizen Kane'' is frequently cited as a ground-breaking, influential film,
Simon Callow argues its trailer was no less original in its approach. Callow writes that it has "great playful charm ... it is a miniature
documentary, almost an introduction to the cinema ... Teasing, charming, completely original, it is a sort of conjuring trick: without his face appearing once on the screen, Welles entirely dominates its five
icminutes' duration."
Similarly, Welles biographer Frank Brady has written "Since the film promised to be unlike any other ever made in
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood, ...
, Orson wanted the trailer also to be unlike any other. He spent weeks on scripting, shooting, and editing it, and emerged with a punchy and intriguing look at the behind-the-scenes life of the film. It ... stood out from all the other trailers coming out from Hollywood, clarifying that ''Citizen Kane'' was going to be something special."
In a 2006 essay on the trailer for ''Citizen Kane'', film scholar Paul Salmon notes that the short film has not been included in filmographies by Welles's biographers and is not mentioned in Robert Carringer's exhaustive book, ''The Making of Citizen Kane''. "But there is absolutely no doubt about the importance of the work within the context of Welles studies," Salmon writes, "especially with respect to its uncanny anticipation of so many of the key debates that have shaped critical discourse on Welles."
The spirit of generosity inherent in Welles's emphasis on introducing the Mercury Players operates within the parameters set by Welles's role as the maestro conducting the proceedings, or, to follow Callow, as the master magician who conjures up all the trailer's tricks. Already, before the debates around the authorship of ''Kane'', the trailer constitutes a deeply ambiguous work in terms of Welles's attitude toward collaborative filmmaking. And while there is a suggestion of disdain for the "ballyhoo" of commercial filmmaking, the trailer absolutely revels in show biz and its deconstruction.
Near the end of his career, Welles made one more extended film trailer with wholly original material: a nine-minute ''
F for Fake trailer'' (1976), made three years after the film itself, in anticipation of the European production's American debut.
Availability
The ''Citizen Kane'' trailer was first made available to a home audience on the 1987 Voyager laserdisc edition of ''Citizen Kane''.
[''Citizen Kane''. United States: Distributed by the Voyager Co., 1987, OCLC 422762255] Subsequently,
Gary Graver
Gary Foss Graver (July 20, 1938 – November 16, 2006) was an American film director, editor, screenwriter and cinematographer. He was a prolific filmmaker, working in various roles on over 300 films, but is best known as Orson Welles' final ci ...
's 1993 documentary ''Working With Orson Welles'' contained the trailer, and numerous DVD editions of ''Citizen Kane'' have contained the trailer as an extra, including the most recent 2011
Blu-ray
The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...
release.
References
External links
*
* (public domain short, with no copyright ever having been filed)
{{Orson Welles, state=autocollapse
1940 films
1940 short films
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American black-and-white films
Articles containing video clips
Citizen Kane
Featurettes
Short films directed by Orson Welles