1960: How did Orson Welles make CITIZEN KANE? | Monitor | Classic Movie Interviews | BBC Archive

"Sheer ignorance - you know, there's no confidence to equal it." - Orson Welles.
Orson Welles speaks with Huw Wheldon about his career in film, with particular focus on Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons. He explains how a young man with no prior filmmaking experience was able to create such a groundbreaking masterpiece at his first attempt, why RKO Pictures gave him complete creative control of the project, and the most important lesson he learned from the greatest cinematographer of the time, Gregg Toland. Was the character of Kane based on the newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, or was the film actually autobiographical? Does Welles regret that his greatest success came to him so early in life? Why do Hollywood studios keep locking him out of editing suites?
Originally broadcast 13 March, 1960.*
*At 15:07, the beginning of Huw Wheldon's question was missing, so a fade transition has been inserted.
Incidentally, viewers in Britain can currently watch a selection of classic RKO films - including Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons - on iPlayer: www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/group/p...
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[@chrisjohnston4445]

When Orson talks about his "sheer ignorance" and "not knowing that these things were impossible", it reminded me of the old joke: "Theoretically, a bumblebee can't fly... but nobody told the bumblebee!"

[@branislavvukic7752]

This reminded me of joke we have here in Balkan: Police comes to the Gypsy fella accusing him for stealing the rail-tracks for scrap- metal, he denies telling the police officer that children were playing there and they must have take it with them. The officer said:"C'mon man that rail-track weights 300 kilos!!!", and Gypsy answers: "Like child knows what is 300 kilos!!!!"

[@tracethisspace]

"The storyteller's first duty is always to the story." Love this.

[@Arjmm]

Tolstoy said it's to the truth.

[@garrison6863]

The contract Welles had on his first film is utterly incredible. And the fact he had Toland on his first film is just as amazing.

[@glamourdazeshorts]

I could listen to Orson all day

[@MitchClement-il6iq]

Great story teller.

[@ross.vazquez]

Completely agree. Almost hypnotic

[@davidrobinson2776]

Welles not only produced the greatest film of all time, he gave us the greatest acting performance of all time in the space of only 10 minutes in The Third Man. He had so much presence, so much charisma and despite not being a conventionally handsome man, the camera loved him. If someone told Welles something was impossible, he'd prove them wrong. That's genius.

[@andrewharty3874]

We'll said sir

[@jphillips7083]

"Anything you say about Hollywood is true good or bad there is no statement too extreme which does not apply." (100%)

[@lisaburns4131]

What an interview , great man and great mind, plus a great voice.

[@arriuscalpurniuspiso]

His voice was musical, passionate, with a beautiful tone

[@geeblanco]

Yeah his greatness is without question but the fact he stole his voice from Pinky and the Brain rather soiled his legacy imho.

[@mybigfartsreallystin]

​@@geeblancoHow cute...a trollbot... ...not really...gky... XD

[@SevenFields108]

There's not enough thumbs-ups in the world to do this justice! 👍👍👍👍👍🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

[@retrothingz]

Text book perfect interview ..on both sides. Thanks for the upload.

[@kipperbill]

Infectious Laughter!

[@JM-uk9yb]

He’s a genius

[@rigsby1454]

What a brilliant man

[@stevemccormack9948]

Orson Welles, a sharp mind right to the last.

[@VintageSongstress]

Such a voice! Such class! I absolutely adore this man.

[@dthorne4602]

17 minutes in, tells the true story of an artist and the fear of selling out

[@jonathaneffemey944]

Thanks so much for posting.

[@jphillips7083]

I could smell his cigar when he fired it up!

[@emgee81]

18:37 Interesting to note that Agnes Moorehead was mentioned here. A very fine actress, born in 1900 in Clinton, Massachusetts (35 miles outside of Boston) who appeared in many a great production on radio, TV and in film. She won a Primetime Emmy Award and two Golden Globe Awards, in addition to being nominated for four Academy Awards. However, I think she will always be most fondly remembered on screen for wonderfully playing the part of Endora (Samantha's Mother) in the TV series Bewitched. She died in 1974 in Rochester, Minnesota. Bewitched is one of my favourite programmes of all time and I'm 41! My mother was born in 1965 and she was named Samantha after the character played by the lovely Elizabeth Montgomery - so I think maybe I might be a little bit biased? LOL :D

[@Brucie27]

well sir it is 2023 almost 2024 and we learn about you in film class as one of the youngest directors to make one of the greatest movies of all time. id like to think. theres no more hate on that you were amazing. i learned about you in Hs and college.

[@TheJonathanNewton]

Of course. What did the haters ever achieve themselves?

[@JuanMiPibernus]

Hate to tell you this, but Orson is THE quintessential hater, but he was also extremely talented

[@AaronPatelzick]

Incredible interview.

[@flipflopsguy8868]

"Yes, Always" ! - Orson Welles

[@TheJPCatholic]

I’ve been waiting for this entire interview, very happy to see it in good quality. Very underrated director and film.

[@pfzt]

Very underrated director and film? wut? You forgot the /s my friend ;)

[@CrackSmonka]

Yeah, that exactly the word to define Orson Welles: 'underrated'. He directed arguably the best film ever, but he's 'underrated'. Yeah.

[@rickarra1833]

I love the way he uses his voice to suck you into his story

[@martinwatters2729]

I love ORSON such a breath of fresh air held in check because he was so on track and remained in the same. GENIUS,

[@MitchClement-il6iq]

And met some the greatest people in history.

[@brikfiend]

A legend interviewing a legend , perfect .

[@chriskelvin248]

Fascinating interview with a fascinating man. It also struck me how similar "the Queen's english" and "American broadcast english" sounded at that point in time. Only 62 years ago and already the trajectories are headed in quite different directions. Today's American broadcast english is liberal with contractions and slang, whereas if the "dialect" of then were spoken now, with its use of non-rhotic R's and more rigorous vocabulary and sentence structures, it would be perceived as comedy.

[@dan4x4]

As an english person i noticed this too - very similar

[@SuperEgo19]

Hearing Orson use the term cryptofascist is quite surprising for 1960. He was always ahead of the curve.

[@christopherpardell4418]

Erudition was far more prevalent in the world before 1960. Welles was certainly one of the most intelligent people you might run across, but people who could enthrall others with insight, education, and complex perspectives were one of the things education and affluence often produced. Philosophy was taught in school, as well as the rich tapestry of classical mythology, with all its deeper psychological and political ramifications explored.

[@garryferrington811]

We've lost a great deal.

[@spacemissing]

Superior interview of a superior talent.

[@kmetcalfe]

This is a great interview. Thank you for posting it.

[@dannywoody5497]

Absolutely love Orson Welles. What a deep in interest & human being. Way too much of an artist to be treated fairly

[@hassanshayegannik155]

The greatest!

[@photosbydoyle]

he's only 45 years old here.

[@dthorne4602]

Reminds me of the way Shatner looks in his old age

[@rigsby1454]

haha yes I know what you mean. Same cadence in the voice. Never thought of that!

[@MegaFount]

Everything Welles made has value and unique features. My favorites: Mr. Arkadin, The Trial, and Touch of Evil.

[@bijuviswanath2637]

Great filmmaker

[@RetrofIex]

Orson Welles may have been the most articulate speaker ever

[@TheRausing1]

I’m 25 and a filmmaker and have made four or five absolutely awful short films. The fact he wrote, produced and directed Citizen Kane at 25 makes me feel a little sad I have to admit.

[@TheStockwell]

You won't feel so bad if you watch his first experimental film, "The Hearts of Age," or Kubrick's "Fear and Desire." 😸

[@fredbreadbun6277]

'Do you think,' said he, 'I have not just cause to weep, when I consider that Alexander at my age had conquered so many nations, and I have all this time done nothing that is memorable? '”- Caesar looking at a statue of Alexander the Great.

[@fritsbos1527]

When you cant remember if you did 4 OR 5 movies mabe IT is saying SOMETHING about your motivation

[@maxresdefault_]

He spent a good chunk of his early life working in theatre. Kane was his first movie but he went in with years of experience directing live performances.

[@arricammarques1955]

Be true to yourself, mate. Orson set the bar rather high.

[@rameybutler-hm7nx]

Orson welles would be criticised and shunned by modern media. He would be hated. Im glad this showman, came at the time he did because without him i would have never explored other films and books.

[@garryferrington811]

You may be right. He was such a maverick.

[@spikemufc]

It is obvious how disappointed he was for not being able to complete "The Magnificent Ambersons". He regretted it until the rest of his life

[@findingnino]

The head of RKO was a genius!

[@yossarianmnichols9641]

Nowadays the stars have their own production company and they get their own financing and there is no more studio dictatorship.

[@chisciccise]

The one element missing: Orson Welles.

[@garryferrington811]

Quite a few movies go through corporate executive committees. You don't have the old studios, you have corporations which couldn't care less about the movies themselves.

[@edwardmulholland7912]

Welles was an incredible artist, “Citizen Kane” is an incredible movie. The powers that be never forgave him. But Orson kept on going, but the establishment never stopped punishing him for daring to call out powerful people/families. Stanley Kubrick was a fan - but Kubrick was a better chess player than Welles - until “Eyes Wide Shut”, apparently. Both men were critical of the elites, that’s a no no. The sheeple should never have access to the truth.

[@danzambrana]

Kubrick finessed the execs in the making of 2001. He was a genius as well.

[@edwardmulholland7912]

@@James-ks7lv No, get back in your box.

[@TopOfThePopsFan]

Did he do the voice-over for Carlsburg lager - 'probably the best lager in the world'.

[@stephenbarrette610]

He might have done. He certainty did a lot of commercial voice overs. I remember hearing a ‘tape’ back in the 1980’s when I was working at the BBC of Orsen having an argument with a producer / f-wit about ‘Peas in July. A quick Google and the KZbin copy of part of it just appears by magic. Gosh anything I can think of, seems to appear… when I type it into the ‘Google’ - just kidding, worked in IT for the last 40 years. kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZoCUkHSvgLiJbpo

[@Setare.hezarshab]

❤❤❤

[@alev4287]

Spell Kane Cain and you got the real idea behind the story. All these movies have double meanings behind them.

[@gvran71]

First bust on Hollywood Mount Rushmore.

[@jasonenosart]

This kind of picture will never be made until a deal like this is given again... And we got that with Nolan's Oppenheimer

[@NUCLEARDASH]

HA!

[@stevejohnston2715]

Orson was an incredible liar, truth-teller and gentleman...what an interesting, contradictory character.

[@CartersRemasters]

So much noise on that image, I'm all for not messing much with the orignal film, but c'mon, you can clean it up a bit

[@garryferrington811]

Small television screens then, which is why you have these really extreme, discomforting closeups.

[@christiansmith-of7dt]

Dar Pan Sus 3 legs one arm

[@lizriveratoro8729]

Hearst hate the citizen Kane movie cause was about diversity and cultural differences and since Orson didn't have a clue about how it would've worked in the cinema industry. But did knew a lot of culture and diversity in races. But clearly shows that the Charles Kane was identical and identifiable to William Ran Hearst. 😂😂 Hearst was a coward because of Rosebud joke at the end. When everyone knew that Mollie and Marion knew the horns and screw up Hearst was. 😂

[@SandraSmith-vb5pf]

MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE 💭🚨💉💲💲💲💲💲💲

[@lighth7h-im3gd]

nerd

[@joemarshall4226]

Orson still has his affected mid Atlantic accent here. By the 70s, he lost it.

[@blurredlenzpictures3251]

Don't worry Orson, your grandkids and every other fan of film is aware you were very good!

[@martinwatters2729]

No wonder HEMINGWAY and ORSON where great friends in real life . ONE had no fear the other was chased by demon's. ORSON had no fear HEMINGWAY lived it and wrote about courage also placed him self in it.But ORSON truely feared nothing.

[@petersokol1603]

He didn’t it was written by someone else…he had no hand in the script….it was filmed by somebody else who knew what they were doing…all he did was act and puff up like a bird….he was not a cinematic genius……most of his films sucked…and he ate and drank himself to death with other peoples money.

[@bobtaylor170]

Welles' secretary said he wrote it, dictating it to her. And he always gave great credit to Gregg Toland.

[@LeeH688]

So Scorsese is wrong about Orson Welles and you are right I see.

[@petersokol1603]

@@LeeH688 in what I said…absolutely…..I suggest you watch Mank.

[@NUCLEARDASH]

@@petersokol1603 and i sugest you to do your research. Mank is just a movie, one the worst from fincher by the way, gotta read some books

[@garryferrington811]

Conspiracy theories are always so much fun.

[@kipperbill]

Infectious Laughter!

[@CliffBronson1212]

❤❤❤