The Citizen Kane book by Herman J. Kael, Pauline; We...

In 1971, her valid point got lost in the controversy over her sloppy mistakes. He points the way and makes decisions, but he's not the 'author' in the way a writer is the author of a novel. Citizen Kane Book Paperback Januby Pauline Kael (Author) 12 ratings 4.0 on Goodreads 237 ratings See all formats and editions Paperback 7.92 5 Used from 7.91 Mass Market Paperback 14.98 3 Used from 14. Kael countered that the director (if he's a good one) gathers talented people and listens to what they have to say. The auteur theory had been altered into a view of film-making that maintained that the director had all the ideas and told everybody what to do. It was something that needed to heard in 1971.

How can a reader offer another interpretation, when Kael is maintaining (falsely) that what she's saying is not her interpretation but fact? It's unfortunate, because Kael's thesis is plausible. (NB: this is not a quote, but an example of the approach.) It makes for an entertaining blend of history, biography, and criticism, but Kael presents her speculation as fact. It goes like this: The scene is based on an incident in Hearst's life, which Mankiewicz modified because he was a cynical screenwriter feeding popular taste, and which Welles shot the way he did because of a suggestion from Gregg Toland. Another problem: Kael's approach throughout the essay is to disassemble the film and source each piece. Pauline Kael discusses Citizen Kane in great detail, from the inception of the story through the critical analysis since its release. We can only consider this a confession of error. She never replied, and she never wrote another long researched essay on a classic film. The critics cast considerable doubt on Kael's accuracy in this and other statements. Film buffs coming to it now should know that back in the '70s, it was attacked by partisans of Orson Welles faulting Pauline Kael's blanket statement that he did not write one word of the screenplay. Over the years, though, I've developed mixed feelings about it.

I've revisited it countless times since it was published in 1971.

'Raising Kane' is one of the most enjoyable pieces of nonfiction I've ever read.

The Citizen Kane book by Herman J. Kael, Pauline; We...