Issue Date: April 22, 2007
An offbeat look at a new release
"Citizen Kane:" A peek a "Xanadu" through the eyes of the Hearst Castle director
"Citizen Kane" is part of the new Essential Classic Dramas collection on DVD from Warner Home Video.
|
The Plot
Orson Welles directed and starred in this 1941 masterpiece about Charles Kane, an egomaniac newspaper magnate whose power ends up destroying him before he dies, alone, in his gloomy Xanadu estate. The story parallels the real life of William Randolph Hearst, who ran a media empire in the early 1900s and built an estate in San Simeon, Calif., known today as the Hearst Castle.
Our Insider
Hoyt Fields is the museum director of Hearst Castle, one of the nation's largest historic house museums. In its heyday, "the ranch" (as its owner liked to call it) was a gathering place for business tycoons, political figures and Hollywood's elite. There are 61 guest bedrooms. Today, the Hearst Castle is owned by California State Parks and open to the public for tours.
OVERVIEW "After all these years of never having seen this movie, it was good for me to watch it and be able to pick out the myths. It was interesting to see that Mr. Hearst was a sensationalist in his newspaper writing and his life, and Orson Welles was a sensationalist in this movie."
FACT VS. FICTION "In the beginning, the narrator says that Xanadu had 'a collection of everything ... enough for 10 museums. The loot of the world.' Mr. Hearst was a prolific collector of antiques. But it was not looted. You should see the records for all of these antiques. We have just over 20,000 artifacts here. In the movie, Kane had the 'biggest private zoo since Noah.' And Mr. Hearst had the world's largest private zoo at the time. You drive through a 2,000-acre reserve for the roaming animals."
VISITING THE RANCH "Welles had never been to the ranch, even though he was part of the movie colony. But Herman J. Mankiewicz (co-author, with Welles, of the screenplay) had been a guest. There was some talk that Mankiewicz was asked to leave, or not invited back, because of his excessive drinking. Hearst wouldn't tolerate it."
-- Melanie D.G. Kaplan
|
