PAID IN FULL

Bob Cummings and Lizabeth Scott

PAID IN FULL (1950). Director: William Dieterle.  

"Youth should be a blessing, not an apology." 

Jane Langley (Lizabeth Scott) makes continual sacrifices for her spoiled sister, Nancy (Diana Lynn), and even steps aside when both women fall in love with the same man, Bill Prentice (Robert Cummings). Bill and Nancy get married but he soon realizes that he got hitched to the wrong sister. Nancy is too selfish and immature to make a good wife or mother, but both Jane and Bill are too dumb to see it. When a tragedy involving a child occurs, no one seems to be held responsible for it. Meanwhile Dean Martin sings "You're Wonderful" on the soundtrack and Eve Arden, playing an arch gal named "Tommy," delivers her advice in her usual sardonic style. 

Cummings with Diana Lynn

Paid in Full is somewhat absorbing romantic schlock with generally credible performances. Others in the cast include Ray Collins of Perry Mason as a doctor, John Bromfield and Dorothy Adams, as well as Charles Bradstreet and Carol Channing in bits. Lizabeth Scott [I Walk Alone] delivers each and every line in a beatific style that makes her come off like the biggest sap on the planet. Shot by Leo Tover and with a score by Victor Young. William Dieterle also directed Dark City with Scott.

Verdict: Not one of the great classics of Hollywood. **1/4. 

CRACK-UP

Herbert Marshall, Pat O'Brian and Claire Trevor

CRACK-UP (1946). Director: Irving Reis. 

Art lecturer George Steele (Pat O'Brian) breaks into a museum, acting all crazy, and insists that he was just in a tremendous train wreck and barely survived. Cops, museum staff, and sort-of girlfriend Terry (Claire Trevor) are worried by his behavior, even more so when they learn that there has been no news of any train wreck. George tries to retrace his steps, and even takes a train from Grand Central, the same train he thinks he took earlier, to try and figure out what happened to him. There is talk of a missing or forged art masterpiece. When his friend and colleague Stevenson (Damian O'Flynn) is found murdered, George goes on the run. 

Ray Collins ministers to O'Brian

Based on a short story by Fredric Brown, Crack-Up is a fair suspense story that in the long run doesn't really deliver. This is too bad, because the picture begins very well, is well-acted, and has a couple of terrific scenes, especially a creepy one when George goes back on the train, sees another train slowly approaching from the other direction, and is terrified -- as is the audience --  that there is going to be a crash. But the rest is just a ho hum mish mosh that just doesn't distinguish itself from the competition, despite good photography by Robert De Grasse and a score by Leigh Harline that adds heft to certain sequences. The climax is criminally flat as well. 

O'Brian and Trevor

In addition to the actors already named, we've got Herbert Marshall wasted as an alleged romantic rival for Terry's affections, Ray Collins as a concerned colleague, Wallace Ford as a not-so-concerned police officer, Dean Harens as a handsome art aficionado, Mary Ware as the timid secretary, Mary, and Robert Bray as a silent and sinister figure on the train and elsewhere. While there are good performances and sequences in the movie, one can also understand why this is one bit of film noir that is almost completely forgotten. 

Verdict: Initially intriguing but ultimately minor crime drama. **1/4. 

VENGEANCE VALLEY

Robert Walker and Burt Lancaster 

VENGEANCE VALLEY (1951). Director: Richard Thorpe.

Owen Daybright (Burt Lancaster) was taken in by cattle man Arch Strobie (Ray Collins), when he was a boy, and he grew up with Arch's son, Lee (Robert Walker). Owen has often had to cover for Lee, who can be irresponsible. Lee impregnated Lily (Sally Forrest) --  apparently before he married his wife, Jen (Joanne Dru) -- but Owen has to front for him. This causes Lily's two brothers, Hub (John Ireland) and Dick (Hugh O'Brian), to assume he is the baby's father, and they start gunning for him. Fearing the truth may come out, Owen tells Lee that he should take his wife and make a fresh start elsewhere, but Lee has other plans.

Out for blood: Hugh O'Brian and John Ireland

Vengeance Valley is strange. While this isn't technically a "B" movie, it has all the appearances of one, and aside from the business with the pregnancy,  it plays like something Roy Rogers could have starred in. The acting is all good, although Ray Collins, best-known as the detective on Perry Mason, sometimes seems disinterested. Carleton Carpenter is also in the cast as Hewie, a cowpoke who has a crush on Lily, and he's fine. Ted de Corsia also scores as another rancher who comes afoul of Owen. Director Richard Thorpe doesn't make the most of the film's dramatic moments, but the story is nothing special and doesn't live up to its title. This was Lancaster's first western.

Verdict: So-so western with a very good cast. **1/2. 

MA AND PA KETTLE ON VACATION

Parisian dining: Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride

MA AND PA KETTLE ON VACATION (1952). Director: Charles Lamont.

Ma (Marjorie Main) and Pa (Percy Kilbride) Kettle receive an invitation from Elizabeth and Jonathan Parker (a returning Barbara Brown and Ray Collins) -- their married daughter's in-laws -- to accompany them on a trip to Paris after their original traveling companions cancel. Once there, the foursome get embroiled in a silly story involving a nest of spies and secret Naval plans. Ma and Pa Kettle On Vacation is a step down from the previous movies in the series, although Ma and Pa remain utterly endearing creations and Main and Kilbride are superb in bringing them to life. There are still humorous lines and sequences in the film, such as when Ma belts an Apache dancer in a nightclub because she thinks he's actually hitting his lady partner, and Ma cluelessly refers to Parisians as "Parasites!"  The supporting cast includes Sig Ruman [Thank You Mr. Moto] as a spy, and the ever-versatile Jay Novello has a very small role -- as a Frenchman no less!

Verdict: The screenplay is weak but the players are spirited. **½.

MA AND PA KETTLE BACK ON THE FARM

Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride

MA AND PA KETTLE BACK ON THE FARM (1951). Director: Edward Sedgwick.

Ma: "You're lazier than that hound dog we used to have."
Pa: "Which one?"
Ma: "The one who used to lean against the wall when she barked."

Ma and Pa Kettle (Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride) are back on the farm with their brood when Pa finds out "Mrs. Kettle" is pregnant. This of course, is his daughter-in-law Kim (Meg Randall), but Pa thinks his wife is going to deliver her sixteenth child! Once that is straightened out, the Kettles have to deal with Kim's parents. Her father, Jonathan (Ray Collins of Perry Mason) is a good sport but his wife, Elizabeth (Barbara Brown), is a termagant who wants her own way or else as far as her grandchild is concerned. Ma almost comes to blows with the woman, and does give a shove to the prune-faced nurse that is hired to look after the new arrival. Then there's the possibility that the Kettles' old property may be layered with uranium,

Bedroom hijinks with the Kettles

This third film featuring Main and Kilbride, who are absolutely wonderful, is as funny as the last one, with amusing dialogue and situations. One could argue that the flick is full of time-worn comedy devices, such as a frantic race in a car to catch a train and so on, but these things are still amusing, especially with Main and Kilbride on hand to liven things up. There's a great bit where Ma and Pa show pal Billy Reed (Emory Parnell) their own brand of arithmetic, which, incredibly, makes perfect sense as far as the Kettles are concerned. Richard Long is back as Tom Kettle, and Teddy Hart and Oliver Blake make a couple of politically incorrect but comical Indians.

Verdict: Lots of fun! ***.

PERRY MASON SCREEN TESTS

Burr (right) testing for part of Hamilton Berger 

PERRY MASON SCREEN TESTS.

A special 50th Anniversary DVD of the venerable Perry Mason series features several 1955 screen tests for the actors on the show, introduced by Barbara Hale. Raymond Burr actually tested for the part of Hamilton Berger -- with a different (uncredited) Perry Mason, who is not bad -- and there were other actors auditioned for Perry along with Burr. One test shows William Hopper (Paul Drake) playing Perry with a different Della Street. Then there's Ray Collins playing Lt. Tragg while Hopper again plays Perry. In another test Burr plays Perry while an unknown blond actress plays Della, coming off more like a "B girl" than a private secretary, way too sexy, and not exhibiting much acting ability. A more talented blond actress does a courtroom scene with first Burr as Perry and then Hopper. Judging from these tests, the producers made the right choices for these roles.

Verdict: Interesting "backstage" look at the making of Perry Mason. ***

A DOUBLE LIFE

Shelley Winters and Ronald Colman

A DOUBLE LIFE (1947). Director: George Cukor.

Anthony John (Ronald Colman) is a well-known theater actor who is divorced from, but still in love with, his ex-wife, Brita (Signe Hasso of A Reflection of Fear). They have remained friends and co-workers and decide to do their rendition of Shakespeare's Othello. Never too tightly wrapped to begin with, Anthony begins unraveling as the successful show goes on month after month, developing an intense jealousy over Brita (and a publicist named Bill played by Edmond O'Brien), that threatens to rival Othello's equally unfounded jealousy over Desdemona. Is someone going to pay the ultimate price for Anthony's madness, and who will it be? A Double Life has a famous star -- Colman won a Best Actor Oscar for his performance -- and director, but the movie is successful neither as drama nor suspense film. The characters in the script by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin are too superficial to make us actually care about anyone, and there is no real tension in the movie, Shelley Winters plays a waitress that Colman dallies with, but this very good actress is hardly given enough to work with in her two brief scenes with the star. Signe Hasso comes off better as Desdemona than Colman does in his okay but often hammy interpretation of Othello. There are people who really love this movie (they go on about it as if were along the lines of he actual Othello) and Colman's performance, but I think Colman has given better performances in much better pictures than this. Betsy Blair has a nice bit as a hopeful actress, and Ray Collins, Whit Bissell, and Joe Sawyer also have minor supporting roles. Cukor has directed better melodramas than this, including Gaslight and A Woman's Face. In the final sequence Hasso seems to be indulging in a bit of silent movie acting! I believe Colman's Oscar was given for his body of work. This bears some similarities to the earlier The Brighton Strangler, which some may actually consider the better movie..

Verdict: See a performance of Othello instead. **.

ATHENA

Jane Powell, Steve Reeves and Edmund Purdom

ATHENA (1954). Director: Richard Thorpe.

Athena Mulvain (Jane Powell) and sister Minerva (Debbie Reynolds) -- two of several siblings -- belong to a family of health nuts, vegetarians, numerologists, and body builders run by Grandpa (Louis Calhern) and Grandma (Evelyn Varden). Grandpa is seventy-eight but can swing around the parallel bars with ease. Athena and Minerva find themselves falling for men who don't quite believe in the same things they do, with the former setting her cap for Adam Shaw (Edmund Purdom), a lawyer running for Congress; and Minerva becoming involved with boyish crooner Johnny Nyle (Vic Damone). Both women already have highly muscular boyfriends, Ed (Steve Reeves) and Bill (Richard Sabre), both of whom compete in the Mr. Universe contest at the end of the movie; and Adam has a sophisticated fiancee named Beth (Linda Christian). Will true love win out in the end, or will Adam and Johnny find themselves in some crushing body blocks? Athena is a very silly and kitschy musical with some pleasant songs by Martin and Blane, the best of which is "Love Can Change the Stars," well-warbled by Powell. Powell also does a creditable job with an aria from Donizetti's "Daughter of the Regiment." Obviously wealthy, the Mulvain family come off at first as free-spirited non-conformists who are at one with the earth and all that, but in one of the better scenes Adam tells Grandpa that they are actually intolerant of (indeed obnoxious toward) others who don't think as they do. Athena is typical of so many movies in which supposedly nice people simply decide they want someone for themselves and don't give a damn for the fact that they are already involved with someone else. The actors in this are all good, but Louis Calhern, as he often did, gives the best performance, and there are notable turns from Kathleen Freeman as Adam's secretary and Ray Collins as a political associate.  Calhern and Collins appeared together in Invitation. Steve Reeves is so handsome it's a wonder he ever bothered with the beard that he wore for most of his career. He was a real-life Mr. America and Mr. Universe, and his American career could have been developed, but he didn't want to slim  down the muscles for the role in Samson and Delilah that was eventually given to Victor Mature. Reeves became a name after the Italian Hercules became a surprise hit, and he was reportedly offered the role of James Bond in Dr. No but turned it down. In all but two films, Reeve's excellent voice was dubbed. NOTE: The body builders of the fifties and sixties were a different breed from what you see today, typified by Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose musculature is so overdone that he resembles something that was mutated in an H-bomb explosion. Steve Reeves had a great physique but he was in no way grotesque.

Verdict: The script is rather annoying, but there are some pleasant moments and performances. **1/2.

CAN'T HELP SINGING

Deanna Durbin and some spectacular scenery

CAN'T HELP SINGING (1944). Director: Frank Ryan.

When Caroline (Deanna Durbin),  a senator's daughter, learns that he disapproves of the man she loves and hopes to marry -- the opportunistic Lt. Robert Latham (David Bruce) -- she runs off into the wild west after him. Along the way she runs into some colorful characters, as well as a new romantic interest in the form of Lawlor (Robert Paige). Can't Help Singing has some pleasant tunes by composer Jerome Kern (especially the title tune), and Durbin and Paige [Fired Wife] make a very good team. Durbin, whose voice seemed to get even better as she got older, also became a bit double-chinned and puffy, but was still attractive. The handsome production boasts beautiful photography [Elwood Bredell and W. Howard Greene], and some good performances from the leads, along with Ray Collins [Hideout] as Durbin's father; Akim  Tamiroff (out west!) and Olin Howlin/Howland as two likable scoundrels; Bruce as the lieutenant; and Jay Novello [Atlantis, the Lost Continent] as a "sucker."

Verdict: One of the better Deanna Durbin musicals. ***.

HIDEOUT

HIDEOUT (1949). Director: Philip Ford.

City attorney George Browning (Lloyd Bridges) doesn't know that his girlfriend, Betty (Lorna Gray appearing as "Adrian Booth"), is actually in a gang headed by Arthur Burdett (Ray Collins). After stealing the famous Kaymeer diamonds, Burdett left Chicago for the small town of Hilltop, Illinois, where he masquerades as a dead alumnus of the local college. When a crooked gem expert is murdered by some of Burdett's disgruntled associates, George, hoping to become mayor, decides to investigate. Meanwhile, his new secretary, the highly efficient Edie (Sheila Ryan), mightily disapproves of her rival, Betty. Then Burdett decides that certain people who know too much have to be taken care of ... Hideout is a snappy and very entertaining "B" movie with some good performances and an unpredictable screenplay [John K. Butler]. Ray Collins [The Magnificent Ambersons] is terrific as the slimy and sinister, deceptively pleasant Burdett, and Gray and Ryan [Gold Raiders] are both on the money, with Bridges exhibiting both his competence and his winning personality as George. Chick Chandler has a smaller role as Burdett's associate and driver and is fine. Jeff Corey [Seconds] and Alan Carney make an impression as thugs.

Verdict: Snappy Republic crime movie. ***.

LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN

Gene Tierney

LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN (1945). Director: John M. Stahl.

"Nothing ever happens to Ellen."

Author Richard Harland (Cornel Wilde) meets a beautiful woman on a train, Ellen (Gene Tierney), who's reading one of his novels but doesn't recognize him despite his book jacket picture. (That should have been his first clue.) The two turn out to have the same destination, the home of a mutual friend named Glen (Ray Collins). Ray is also hosting Ellen's adopted sister [actually her cousin], Ruth (Jeanne Crain), and their mother, Mrs. Berent (Mary Philips). Although Ellen is engaged to Russell Quinton (Vincent Price), she and Richard quickly fall in love, and get married. At first Ellen does everything she can to ingratiate herself with Richard's crippled younger brother, Danny (Darryl Hickman), but when she decides that she wants to be alone with Richard, her actions become much darker, to put it mildly ... Wilde is fine, Tierney just short of excellent, Price is okay, and Crain isn't always up to her more dramatic moments, but Leave Her to Heaven is quite absorbing. If there's any problem with the movie it's that the final courtroom segments drag and are a little too unrealistic [Price, the rejected fiance, is the prosecutor, and keeps badgering witness after witness without anyone objecting], but there's a very well-done drowning murder sequence halfway through the movie. Another memorable sequence has Ellen scattering her father's ashes in the mountains on horseback. Alfred Newman has contributed a strong score as well. Stahl also directed the 1932 Back Street and many others.

Verdict: The Bad Seed's older sister [although it was made earlier]. ***.

INVITATION (1952)

INVITATION (1952). Director: Gottfried Reinhardt.

"I'm going to be a spinster, father, all of my life -- but there's an awful lot to be said for it."

Ellen Pierce (Dorothy McGuire) is happy in her marriage to Dan (Van Johnson), but she's disturbed by bitchy comments made by Dan's old girlfriend, Maud (Ruth Roman), as well as a medical condition that often saps her energy. Dan and Ellen's father (Louis Calhern), as well as her doctor (Ray Collins), share a secret that would devastate Ellen if she knew, and which Maud is apparently determined she find out. Although like most movies of this nature you have to take Invitation with a grain of salt, it does present an interesting situation and is well-acted. All of the principal actors underplay effectively (although at times they may underplay too much), which may be attributed to director Reinhardt. This makes Maud seem like less of a caricature, although Roman's good performance might have been more fun if she played it in venomous mode, spitting out her lines; McGuire and Johnson are both fine, and Calhern is as excellent as ever. A difficult scene when Ellen's father makes a certain proposition to Dan is extremely well-played by both actors. Bronislau Kaper's overly brassy score is a disappointment and somewhat weakens the picture.

Verdict: Intriguing soap opera/drama. ***.

THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS

THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS (1942). Writer/director: Orson Welles.

Orson Welles' follow-up to Citizen Kane was based on Booth Tarkington's brilliant novel, which was not only a trenchant small-town family drama but a look at the changes wrought in American society after the turn of the century and its effects on several citizens. Welles' film was cut by the studio, stripped down to bare basics, but still emerges as a creditable movie with some fine performances. Tim Holt probably never did anything better than his performance as spoiled young George Minafer, whom the whole town is hoping will eventually get his comeuppance. Eugene (Joseph Cotten) had been in love with George's mother, Isabel (Delores Costello,) but she married another man. Now she is a widow, and Eugene is a widower with a grown daughter, Lucy (Anne Baxter). A complication is that George's Aunt Fanny (Agnes Moorehead) has always been carrying a torch for Eugene. "Just being an aunt isn't really the great career it may seem to be," she tells George. A bigger complication is that George is vehemently opposed to any romantic union between his mother and Eugene. [George and Fanny have a number of scenes together which Welles almost always films in long takes.] Eugene is also planning on manufacturing motor cars, which upsets the more genteel members of the Minafer family. As the film progresses there are dramatic developments and the fortunes of the Minafers take a turn for the worse, leading to a situation wherein George has to really prove what kind of person he is. The cast, including Ray Collins [Lt. Tragg on Perry Mason] as Uncle Jack, is excellent, although I fear that Agnes Moorehead is perhaps a bit more odd and semi-hysterical than she needed to be as the desperate and lonely Fanny [she received a supporting Oscar nomination, however]. The movie is handsomely produced and looks great [the art direction and Stanley Cortez' cinematography were also nominated].

Verdict: Nearly a masterpiece. ***1/2.

PERRY MASON SEASON 2

PERRY MASON SEASON 2 (1958).

"It's incompetent, irrelevant, and immaterial."

Perry Mason continued as a solid series for its second season [For season one click here]. One change in the opening was that Perry's secretary Della Street (Barbara Hale) and his P.I. Paul Drake (William Hopper) were not seated in court at the same table with D.A. Hamilton Burger (William Talman) and Lt. Arthur Tragg (Ray Collins), which was the case in the first season opener. Despite a few merely mediocre episodes, the quality of the writing -- and acting-- remained high. Raymond Burr gave a particularly good performance in "The Spanish Cross," which also featured a superb Arthur Space and Josephine Hutchinson and emerged as one of the very best Mason episodes ever. Other excellent episodes include: "The Purple Woman" with a fine turn by Robert H. Harris [this episode has one of the most loathsome murder victims ever]; "The Shattered Dream" with Osa Massen and a huge diamond; "The Borrowed Brunette" with a terrific Paula Raymond; "The Glittering Goldfish" with Cecil Kellaway, as usual, stealing the show; "The Foot-Loose Doll" with a very young James Kirkwoood [who later became a playwright and novelist] and Robert Bray; "The Lost Last Act" with a notable Jerome Cowan and David Lewis; and "The Howling Dog" with Ann Rutherford and Gregory Walcott. With the exception of maybe five episodes, the rest of the bunch are all at least B+. Perry faced other D.A.s in out of town courtrooms in a couple of episodes, and some stories had him roaming about a bit more than usual.

Verdict: Definitely not "incompetent, irrelevant, and immaterial." ***1/2.

PERRY MASON SEASON 1

PERRY MASON Season 1. CBS TV series. 1957. Based on the novels/character by Erle Stanley Gardner.

Erle Stanley Gardner's famous fictional lawyer Perry Mason had already appeared in a few theatrical films in the thirties and forties when CBS cast Raymond Burr -- who is excellent in the part -- for their new television series beginning in 1957. The terrific casting continued with Barbara Hale as Mason's efficient secretary Della Street, and William Hopper as private eye Paul Drake, not to mention William Talman as prosecutor/nemesis Hamilton Burger and Ray Collins as Lt. Tragg. [These last two appeared in most but not every episode.] Many different actors played judges in the first season, but the ones we saw the most were the wonderful Morris Ankrum and Pierre Watkin from the Superman serials. The series had possibly the best and sexiest theme music of any TV show, as well as plenty of solid scripts. Some of Mason's tricks could have gotten him disbarred. You may remember the guilty party jumping up in the witness stand -- during preliminary hearings always, not trials -- and declaring their guilt, but this hardly happens on every episode. Indeed most of the killers did eventually confess, but they didn't always do so in the courtroom. Guest stars in the first season included Kipp Hamilton, Jeanette Nolan, Marie Windsor, Alix Talton, Ann Doran, Fay Wray, Joan Weldon, Hilary Brooke, Marian Seldes, Arthur Shields, and many others well-known from various fifties and sixties movies. The episodes never dipped below a "B" in quality, and many were "A," such as The Case of the Fiery Fingers [with wonderful performances from Lenore Shanewise and Mary La Roche], Substitute Face, Lazy Lover, and many others. Possibly the best episode was The Case of the Black-Eyed Blonde, with extra-special performances from Phyllis Coates and Whitney Blake. In The Case of the Terrified Typist Mason actually loses but there's a very interesting technicality ... In The Case of the Crimson Kiss Mason presents some interesting evidence to catch the real killer. UPDATE 1/19: Other especially notable episodes include Sleepwalker's Niece; Drowning Duck; Runaway Corpse: Screaming Woman; and Fugitive Nurse.

Verdict: Perry Makes It Happen! ***1/2.

THE BIG STREET

THE BIG STREET (1942). Director: Irving Reis.

"Love just gives you one room, two chins, and three kids!"

A simple-minded busboy named Little Pinks (Henry Fonda) develops an infatuation for a gold-digging singer named Gloria (Lucille Ball) and basically becomes her dog and slave after she loses the ability to walk. At one point he agrees to push her by wheelchair from Manhattan to Florida (although they manage to hitch a lot of rides in the back of trucks)! This absorbing (if at times draggy) comedy-drama is certainly not for all tastes, and some may find that the mix of Damon Runyan characters such as Nicely Nicely (who later turned up in Guys and Dolls) with a study of unrequited love doesn't always jell, and in truth the Runyanisms often come close to crowding out the main story. Still for those who are game The Big Street is often very funny and just as often quite touching. Although he's hardly perfect casting, Fonda manages to do a nice job as Pinks, and Lucy gives one of her best performances – a really lovely job – as Gloria, managing to be both bitchy and sympathetic at one and the same time. A lot of great character actors shore up the proceedings, especially Agnes Moorehead as a neighbor and friend of Little Pinks. Louise Beavers and Ray Collins are also especially memorable. For those who simply find the movie to be too far-fetched, think of it as a Damon Runyan fable, sort of his lighter take on Of Human Bondage. The movie is not just a study of pathetic devotion and love, but of friendship, as we see how all of Little Pink's pals – even if they think he's crazy and masochistic to do so much for the ungrateful Gloria – pull together for him because they love him and realize how much he loves Gloria. A very unusual movie, and a real tearjerker as well.

Verdict: Grab those hankies and love Lucy!***1/2.

CITIZEN KANE

CITIZEN KANE (1941). Director: Orson Welles.

Wrested away from his parents at a young age against his will, Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles) spends the rest of his life trying to retain complete control of every aspect of, and every person in, his life. Employing flashbacks, first person narratives, and inventive camera work, Citizen Kane examines the life of the great Kane upon the event of his death at his castle Xanadu, where he mutters the word "Rosebud" (a reminder of the time when he felt fully loved and content). Sixty-seven years after its original release Welles' fascinating masterpiece seems, if possible, even greater. Welles offers a terrific performance as he goes from young newspaper magnate to aged tycoon, but he is matched by a fine cast that includes Joseph Cotten as his friend and associate Jed Leland, Dorothy Comingore as his second wife and hopeless opera singer Susan, Everett Sloane as the assistant he always calls Mr. Bernstein, Ray Collins as Kane's political opponent Jim Gettys, and others.

The film has a rich visual look due to the art direction by Van Nest Polglase and the cinematography of Gregg Toland. William Alland, who plays the reporter asking questions about Kane (and who later became a producer) is always seen in shadow. The marriage-by-breakfast sequences that show Kane's first marriage disintegrating at the breakfast table is just one of many memorably creative aspects of the picture. Bernard Herrmann's score is, as usual, excellent. [It should be noted that -- while Modest Musorgsky wrote an opera entitled Salammbo -- the Salammbo (or at least the aria from it) heard in Citizen Kane was actually composed by Herrmann. Too bad he didn't do the whole opera (Herrmann did compose a fine operatic version of Wuthering Heights, however.)]

There are some imperfect aspects to Citizen Kane. The whole business with the boy being sent away by his mother (Agnes Moorehead) to become the ward of the prickly old lawyer, Thatcher (George Coulouris), supposedly to get him away from his drunk, physically abusive father (Harry Shannon), seems contrived. The newly-rich Mrs. Kane could have paid off the father and taken the boy with her to live somewhere else. Yet later Leland tells us that Kane remained close to the mother who sent him away -- but why would he (we never again see the two together)? It's also interesting that while we hear in passing how Kane's first wife (Ruth Warren) and child are killed in an automobile accident, we are never shown Kane's reaction to the death of his son, certainly a pivotal moment in any man's life. Yet perhaps that's the point: that the self-absorbed Kane would not have been all that affected by the tragedy, as we see earlier that he doesn't take into account the effect that a disclosure of his affair with Susan might have on the child. Still, when you consider how great this film is, these are mere quibbles. Written by Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz and edited by Robert Wise.

Verdict: A certified masterpiece on virtually every level. ****.