Barnes & Noble

Mining the controversy behind a certified masterpiece, RKO 281 is a film about the greatest film ever made -- namely, Citizen Kane. With visual gusto and verbal economy, it lushly dramatizes the story of 25-year-old theater wunderkind Orson Welles, whose stunning film debut incurs the wrath of media mogul William Randolph Hearst -- the inspiration for Citizen Kane's complex and corrupt title character. Hearst's furious campaign against the film nearly convinced the moguls to burn the negative before its release. Scream veteran Liev Schreiber plays Welles as a bullying genius, at turns cruel to his party-prowling screenplay writer Herman Mankiewicz (John Malkovich) and condescending to his sympathetic RKO studio boss George Schaefer (Roy Scheider). Director Benjamin Ross, inspired by the American Experience documentary "The Battle Over Citizen Kane," frames the story as a battle of colossal egos -- Welles, the artist, versus Hearst (James Cromwell), a bitter patrician on the brink of bankruptcy. He doesn't stray much into Citizen Kane itself or the political atmosphere of the time, and keeps the ride taut. That, and the wonderful performances by Melanie Griffith as Marion Davies (Hearst's mistress) and Brenda Blethyn as gossip crone Louella Parsons, make it a ride well worth taking.

Barnes & Noble

Mining the controversy behind a certified masterpiece, RKO 281 is a film about the greatest film ever made -- namely, Citizen Kane. With visual gusto and verbal economy, it lushly dramatizes the story of 25-year-old theater wunderkind Orson Welles, whose stunning film debut incurs the wrath of media mogul William Randolph Hearst -- the inspiration for Citizen Kane's complex and corrupt title character. Hearst's furious campaign against the film nearly convinced the moguls to burn the negative before its release. Scream veteran Liev Schreiber plays Welles as a bullying genius, at turns cruel to his party-prowling screenplay writer Herman Mankiewicz (John Malkovich) and condescending to his sympathetic RKO studio boss George Schaefer (Roy Scheider). Director Benjamin Ross, inspired by the American Experience documentary "The Battle Over Citizen Kane," frames the story as a battle of colossal egos -- Welles, the artist, versus Hearst (James Cromwell), a bitter patrician on the brink of bankruptcy. He doesn't stray much into Citizen Kane itself or the political atmosphere of the time, and keeps the ride taut. That, and the wonderful performances by Melanie Griffith as Marion Davies (Hearst's mistress) and Brenda Blethyn as gossip crone Louella Parsons, make it a ride well worth taking. Greg Fagan

All Movie Guide

When RKO Pictures began work on production number 281, no one could have imagined that they were making perhaps the greatest American film of all time. But the moment Orson Welles (played by Liev Schreiber) announced that he intended to make a film based on the life of tyranical multi-millionaire publisher William Randolph Hearst (James Cromwell), they knew that they had trouble on their hands. Welles, the enfant terrible of American theater and a household name thanks to his infamous radio adaptation of H.G. Wells's "The War Of The Worlds, was signed to direct films for RKO, and he was given an unusually free hand to make whatever sort of film he wanted. But what Welles didn't count on was the power of Hearst to keep his film from being seen. RKO 281 is based on the true story of the making of Citizen Kane and the war of words between Welles and Hearst. It also stars Melanie Griffith as Hearst's mistress Marion Davies, John Malkovich as screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz, Brenda Blethyn as Hearst's movie columnist Louella Parsons, and Roy Scheider as George Schaefer. Mark Deming

Product Details

• UPC: 026359157622
• Source: HBO HOME VIDEO
• Region Code: 1
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby Digital, monaural
• Language: English, Español
• Subtitles: English, Français, Español
• Time: 1:27:00
• Sales Rank: 11,002

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