American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1941)

PHOTOGRAPHY OF THE MONTH CITIZEN KANE Mercury Production; RKO-Radio Release. Director of Photography: Gregg Toland, A.S.C. Special Effects: Vernon L. Walker, A.S.C. The easiest way to review this, the long-awaited Orson Welles production, would be with the simple statement that anyone who has the slightest interest in the advancement of motion pictures must see it. Without doubt, "Citizen Kane" is the most significant film of this year, and probably of the last ten or twenty. In this reviewer's opinion it takes unquestionable rank among the small handful of films which have imperishably left their mark on the technique of cinematographic story-telling — films among which "The Birth of a Nation," "Intolerance," "The Last Laugh," "Variety," "The Jazz Singer," and now "Citizen Kane" are oustanding mileposts in cinema history. It is the first production in which dialog, sound, music and true motion picture technique are welded together to form a genuinely complete unity. From the photographic viewpoint, the achievement of Director of Photography Toland is revolutionary. Gregg Toland has brought many great pictures to the screen, but inevitably he will be best remembered as the man who put "Citizen Kane" on celluloid. His technique is utterly new and daring, yet based on soundly familiar phototechnical principles. Moreover, nothing that he does — sensational though it may be — is done for its own sake, but because it makes the picture's primary task of story-telling more effective or more simple. For example, consider the revolutionary way in which Toland has maintained a tremendous depth of field. It is based on the familiar photographic principle that as you stop down a lens, you obtain greater depth, and that this depth increases as the focal length of the lens decreases. Accordingly, he has (as explained in his article in the February issue of this magazine) made extensive use of 24mm. lenses, stopped down to apertures of f:8, f : 11 and even f:16, utilizing, too, such modern technical refinements as coated lenses, Super-XX negative and arc lighting, without which "Citizen Kane" could probably never have been made. The result on the screen is in itself little short of revolutionary : the conventional narrow plane of acceptable focus is eliminated, and in its place is a picture closely approximating what the eye sees — virtually unlimited depth of field, ranging often from a big-head close-up at one side of the frame, perhaps only inches from the lens, to background action twenty, thirty, fifty or even a hundred feet away, all critically sharp. The result is realism in a new dimension: we forgel we arc looking at a picture, and feel the living, breathing presence of the characters. But there is more to this technique than merely obtaining depth for its own sake. It also simplifies the visual presentation of the action. Repeatedly action is shown this way, in a single shot, which with conventional treatment would have required either a succession of cuts from foreground-action to background or middle-ground action and back and forth, or a time — and footage-wasting dolly or boom shot. Because of this technique, "Citizen Kane" has fewer direct cuts than could otherwise be possible, and each shot tells more of the story — and tells it more vividly — than could be possible with conventional technique. In the same way, Toland's use of the moving camera is generally masterful. With perhaps one or two exceptions, when camera-movement is employed, it is executed so perfectly, integrated so completely into the dramatic action of the scene, that we are unconscious of it. As a matter of fact, but one or two exceptions come to mind. First is in the opening shot, in which the camera's movement past the gates of the Kane estate, through the grounds, up to the castle and finally into the bedroom of the dying magnate, seems a trifle long and indecisive. The other is in the approach to the night-club where Kane's second ex-wife is singing. This, moving up on a miniature set, to and through an electric sign bearing her name, and down and through a skylight to show the woman at her table, is a bit too conventional to match well with the rest of the production ; and it certainly should not have been repeated the second time, as it was. The use of camera-angles — especially extremely low ones, with the camera shooting up at the players — is another forceful part of "Citizen Kane's" cameratechnique. Yet you are seldom conscious of camera-angles per se, they are so intelligently and effectively used. Toland's lighting is masterful — and fully as unconventional as the rest of the film. It is not the usual "movie lighting" at all. Under the circumstances, it could not be. With a very few exceptions, the sets are all equipped with extremely low ceilings, and they are for the most part incredibly deep. Such sets could not be lighted conventionally. They had to be illuminated almost exclusively from lamps placed on the stage-floor, and due to the depth of the sets and the high illumination-levels necessitated by the reduced lens-apertures used, extremely extensive use was made of arc lamps, both floodlighting and projecting units, for only arcs have the intensity and the penetrating power for such a job. It is not too much to say that "Citizen Kane" could not have been made without mod ern arc lighting. This style of lighting lends a definite note of reality to the production, one which could not have been obtained ha: more conventional lightings been possible. Yet with a single exception, • under these handicaps Toland's sourcelighting technique is flawless. His personal lightings, too, are excellent— and often unconventional. Frequently he makes highly effective use of shadows. This is perhaps most noticeable in his treatment of the star, Orson Welles. Repeatedly there will be scenes in which Welles appears with one, two. or three of the supporting players. It i.Welles' scene, dramatically, yet the supporting players may be most favorably lit, while Welles' face is in deep shadow. This is perhaps most noticeable in thsequence in which Welles' wife and his political rival force a show-down ir the apartment of his blonde protege. Throughout the sequence, AVelles' is almost constantly in the shadow — yet because of that lighting, he dominates the action. Too much cannot be said, either, of the skill of Art Director Perry Ferguson who designed the production's 110 setAfter viewing "Citizen Kane," you car. hardly believe that so many sets, so many of them large and varied, could possibly have been built for the $60,000 understood to have been spent. But analyzing it, you see repeated instances where the skill of Ferguson and Toland complemented each other, making actually small, inexpensive sets and set-piece.give the effect of huge, costly sets. An excellent example of this is in the grand salon of Kane's castle, 'Xanadu,' it which a massive fireplace on one side, a massive staircase on the other, and a couple of massive pieces of furniture — a huge table and a chair — give the impression of a vast room. Too many Art Directors have forgotten the possibilities of this kind of suggestion — if they ever knew them — and, faced with a similar problem, would have attempted to build the room completely, a course which would not only consume a huge slice of the set-budget, but would also force ;• less effective presentation on the screen. In this connection, too, the contribution of recording engineers Bailev Fesler and James G. Stewart must be mentioned. Their work was excellent throughout, and in this sequence they added strongly to the visual impression by introducing artificial reverberation into their recording, suggesting the impression heai-d in a huge, bare room. Infinitely more can be and should b< said about "Citizen Kane's" other aspects, but space does not permit Tribute should, however, be paid to Orson Welles' brilliant direction, so completely coordinated with Toland's contributions, and to the uncommonly convincing portrayals of the "Mercury Play L'L'L' Ma v. l'Ml American Cinematographfr