|
Citizen Kane
''Citizen Kane'' is a 1941 American Drama (film and television), drama film directed by, produced by and starring Orson Welles and co-written by Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz. It was Welles's List of directorial debuts, first feature film. The film à clef, quasi-biographical film examines the life and legacy of Charles Foster Kane, played by Welles, a composite character based on American Media proprietor, media barons William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, Chicago tycoons Samuel Insull and Harold Fowler McCormick, Harold McCormick, as well as aspects of the screenwriters' own lives. After the Broadway theatre, Broadway success of Welles's Mercury Theatre and the controversial 1938 radio broadcast "The War of the Worlds (1938 radio drama), The War of the Worlds" on ''The Mercury Theatre on the Air'', Welles was courted by Hollywood. He signed a contract with RKO Pictures in 1939. Although it was unusual for an untried director, he was given freedom to develop his own ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gregg Toland
Gregg Wesley Toland (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'' (1941), William Wyler's ''The Best Years of Our Lives'' (1946), and John Ford's ''The Grapes of Wrath'', and '' The Long Voyage Home'' (both, 1940). He is also known for his work as a director of photography for ''Wuthering Heights'' (1939), '' The Westerner'' (1940), '' Ball of Fire'' (1941), '' The Outlaw'' (1943), ''Song of the South'' (1946) and ''The Bishop's Wife'' (1947). Toland earned six Academy Award nominations for Best Cinematography, and won for his work on ''Wuthering Heights''. He was voted one of the top ten most influential cinematographers in the history of film by the International Cinematographers Guild in 2003. Career Toland was born in Charleston, Illinois, on May 29, 1904, to Jennie, a housekeeper, and Frank Toland. His mot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Rose (illustrator)
William F. Rose (September 16, 1909– May 29, 1972) was an American illustrator and film poster artist active in the 1930s and 1940s. He is recognized as one of the most distinctive poster artists of the Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era, a time when most film posters featured painted illustrations rather than photography. Rose painted dozens of poster illustrations for RKO Pictures, RKO Radio Pictures and other studios. As one of the leading designers in RKO's art department, he helped to define the studio's bold visual aesthetic. Although he was prolific, only a fraction of his poster designs have been individually attributed to him. Most of his output remains unidentified. His artwork is prized by collectors, and original prints of his posters have fetched high prices at auction. One of his most iconic posters is the alternate "StyleB" design for ''Citizen Kane''(1941), which pitched the film as a more conventional romance than it actually was. The poster f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 promptbooks and phonographic recordings of four Shakespeare works for use in schools. After a series of acclaimed Broadway productions, the Mercury Theatre progressed into its most popular incarnation as ''The Mercury Theatre on the Air''. The radio series included one of the most notable and infamous radio broadcasts of all time, "The War of the Worlds", broadcast October 30, 1938. The ''Mercury Theatre on the Air'' produced live radio dramas in 1938–1940 and again briefly in 1946. In addition to Welles, the Mercury players included Ray Collins, Joseph Cotten, George Coulouris, Martin Gabel, Norman Lloyd, Agnes Moorehead, Paul Stewart, and Everett Sloane. Much of the troupe would later appear in Welles's films at RKO, p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Broadway Theatre
Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, American and British English spelling differences), many of the List of Broadway theaters, extant or closed Broadway venues use or used the spelling ''Theatre'' as the proper noun in their names. Many performers and trade groups for live dramatic presentations also use the spelling ''theatre''. or Broadway, is a theatre genre that consists of the theatrical performances presented in 41 professional Theater (structure), theaters, each with 500 or more seats, in the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District and Lincoln Center along Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway, in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Broadway and London's West End theatre, West End together represent the highest commercial level of live theater in the English-speaking world. While the Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway thoroughfare is eponymous ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harold Fowler McCormick
Harold Fowler McCormick (May 2, 1872 – October 16, 1941) was an American businessman. He was chairman of the board of International Harvester Company and a member of the McCormick family. Through his first wife, Edith Rockefeller, he became a trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation. In 1948 he was awarded the Henry Laurence Gantt Medal by the American Management Association and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).Lester Robert Bittel, Muriel Albers Bittel (1978), ''Encyclopedia of professional management .'' p. 456 Early life Harold Fowler McCormick was born in Chicago May 2, 1872, to inventor Cyrus McCormick, Cyrus Hall McCormick (1809–1884) and philanthropist Nancy Fowler McCormick, Nancy Fowler (1835–1923). During the 1890s, he competed in the US Open (tennis), US National Tennis Championships. Career As an officer of the Aero Club of Illinois, founded on February 10, 1910, McCormick became the third president in 1912, following Octave Chanute and James E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samuel Insull
Samuel Insull (November 11, 1859 – July 16, 1938) was a British American business magnate. He was an innovator and investor based in Chicago who helped create an integrated electrical infrastructure in the United States. Insull created holding companies that purchased utilities and railroads. Insull was responsible for the building of the Chicago Civic Opera House in 1929. Due to the Great Depression, his vast Midwest holding company empire collapsed, and he was accused of profiting personally by selling worthless stock to unsuspecting investors who trusted him because of his position and reputation. Following a seven-week trial, he and 16 co-defendants were acquitted of all charges after two hours of jury deliberation. Early life Insull was born on November 11, 1859, in London, the son of Insull Insull, a tradesman and lay preacher who was active in the temperance movement, and Emma Short. He was one of five siblings who survived to adulthood. His younger brother, Martin, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joseph Pulitzer
Joseph Pulitzer ( ; born , ; April 10, 1847 – October 29, 1911) was a Hungarian-American politician and a newspaper publisher of the ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' and the ''New York World''. He became a leading national figure in the U.S. Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party and served one term representing New York's 9th congressional district. In the 1890s, the fierce competition between his ''World'' and William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal-American, ''New York Journal'' led both to develop the techniques of yellow journalism, which won over readers with sensationalism, sex, crime, and graphic horrors. Circulation reached a million copies a day and the journalism opened the way to mass-circulation newspapers that depended on advertising revenue, rather than on cover price or on political-party subsidies. Such newspapers attracted readers by using multiple forms of news, gossip, entertainment, and advertising. Pulitzer's name is best known for the Pulitze ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American newspaper publisher and politician who developed the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His extravagant methods of yellow journalism in violation of Journalism ethics and standards, ethics and standards influenced the nation's popular media by emphasizing sensationalism and human-interest story, human-interest stories. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887 with Mitchell Trubitt after being given control of ''The San Francisco Examiner'' by his wealthy father, Senator George Hearst. After moving to New York City, Hearst acquired the ''New York Journal'' and fought a bitter circulation war with Joseph Pulitzer's ''New York World''. Hearst sold papers by printing giant headlines over lurid stories featuring crime, corruption, sex, and innuendos. Hearst acquired more newspapers and created a chain that numbered nearly 30 papers in major American cities at i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Media Proprietor
A media proprietor, also called a media executive, media mogul, media tycoon, or press baron is an entrepreneur who controls any means of public or commercial mass media, through the personal ownership or holding of a dominant position within a media conglomerate or enterprise. Those with significant control of a large media-based forum may also be called a business magnate. Since the advent of social media, influencers and entertainers who have garnered large followings on platforms have also been considered media proprietors. History In the United States, newspaper proprietors first became prominent in the 19th century with the development of mass circulation newspapers. In the 20th century, proprietorship expanded to include ownership of radio and television networks, as well as film studios, publishing houses, online platforms, and other forms of multimedia companies. Reflecting this, the term "press baron" was replaced by "media baron" and the term "media mogul" (or "Hollyw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Composite Character
In a work of media adapted from a real or fictional narrative, a composite character is a character based on more than one individual from the story. It is an example of dramatic license. Examples Film *'' The Wizard of Oz'' (1939): Glinda, Good Witch of the North is based on Glinda the Good from '' The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' and on The Good Witch of the North from the same book. *'' Lawrence of Arabia'' (1962): Claude Rains as the diplomat Mr. Dryden. As with Omar Sharif's Sherif Ali and Anthony Quayle's Colonel Harry Brighton, Dryden was an amalgam of several historical figures, primarily Ronald Storrs, a member of the Arab Bureau but also David Hogarth, an archaeologist friend of Lawrence, Henry McMahon, the High Commissioner of Egypt who negotiated the McMahon–Hussein Correspondence (which began the Arab Revolt), and Mark Sykes, of the Sykes–Picot Agreement, which partitioned the post-war Middle East. Screenwriter Robert Bolt stated that the character was cr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Foster Kane
Charles Foster Kane is a fictional character who is the subject of Orson Welles' 1941 film ''Citizen Kane''. Welles played Kane (receiving an Academy Award nomination), with Buddy Swan playing Kane as a child. Welles also produced, co-wrote and directed the film, winning an Oscar for writing the film. Inspiration The general consensus is that publishing tycoon William Randolph Hearst is the primary inspiration behind Charles Foster Kane. In the film, Kane is given the line "You provide the prose poems; I'll provide the war," undeniably similar to "You furnish the pictures, and I'll furnish the war," a quotation widely attributed to Hearst. Also, an overhead shot of Hearst's ranch is shown in the film as Xanadu, the lavish estate where Kane resides. In addition, Kane's unsuccessful attempt to make his second wife an opera star parallels Hearst's effort to make his mistress Marion Davies a serious dramatic movie actress despite critics' complaints that she was miscast and bett ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Film à Clef
A (or , , (, ) is a film describing real life, behind a façade of fiction. "Key" in this context means a table one can use to swap out the names. is the film equivalent of the literary ''roman à clef'', and the two share the same techniques. Many ''films à clef'' are biopics of Hollywood personalities. Selected notable ''films à clef'' *''8½'' (1963) is based on Federico Fellini's experience suffering from " director's block". *'' 8 Mile'' (2002) is inspired by the life of Eminem. *'' 21'' (2008) *''Adaptation'' (2002); while parts of the film are adapted from Susan Orlean's non-fiction book '' The Orchid Thief'', most of the film is a heavily fictionalized account of Charlie Kaufman's difficulty in adapting the book into a screenplay. *'' All Good Things'' (2010) is inspired by the life of Robert Durst. *''All the King's Men'' (1949), is based on the life of Huey Long. *'' All That Jazz'' (1979) musical film by Bob Fosse loosely based on his struggle with life and healt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
