Rating: 
Summary: my review of RKO 281
Review: This is a wonderful movie that had to be made. Citizen Kane is widely regarded the greatest film ever made and this is the story of how close it came to never being released. Liev Schriber (sp.) gives a masterful perfomance as the legendary filmaker Orson Welles, and James Cromwell is brilliant as media tycoon William Randolph Hearst whom Citizen Kane was based upon. John Malcovich and Roy Schieder also give great perfomances as the film's writer and producer. The dialogue is wonderful, the name of the writer escapes me for the moment. And so is the musical score which has some of the music from Bernard Hermann's score of Citizen Kane. If you have never seen Citizen Kane I suggest you do so and if you liked it, see RKO 281 next, and see how the world of cinema was forever changed by a rogue 25 year old fledgling director.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining, if superficial treatment of famous story
Review: Trying to recount anything from the larger-than-life annals of Orson Welles is a chore in and of itself. One must applaud HBO producers for going to bat with the fascinating story of "RKO 281-The Battle Over Citizen Kane." The subject matter, secret for many years but revealed publicly by a recent PBS documentary, is not exactly the stuff of classic cinema. In addition, movies about movies must always wade through mountains of vanity and self obsession. "RKO 281-The Battle Over Citizen Kane" has both characteristics in spades.Made in 1941, "Citizen Kane" is generally considered to be one of the greatest films ever made. Director/writer/actor Orson Welles was a 25-year old prodigy at the time, wooed by Hollywood producers and given carte blanche to make his first film. After dinner at the infamous home of publishing giant William Randolph Hearst, Welles decides to make a expose drama about the man's life. "RKO 281" covers this process in a simplistic fashion, finding drama only the the battles between Welles and screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz. Hearst catches wind of the production, gets a sneak preview of the film, and attempts to use his undeniable power to buy the product and have it destroyed. He almost succeeds. Like most HBO dramas, "RKO 281" suffers from sub-par production qualities but is boosted by fine casts giving excellent performances. Liev Schreiber does a good job in the intimidating role of Orson Welles. The character changes little during the course of the film, and rarely do we get a glimpse of what truly makes the man tick. The true highlight of "RKO 281" are the handful of terrific supporting performances, including the always intense John Malkovich as Mankiewicz, James Cromwell as Hearst and Roy Scheider as the long-suffering RKO producer. Without this trio of true heavyweights, "RKO 281" could have been insufferable. If "RKO 281" was going to be a great film (it's not), it needed to focus specifically on one protagonist of this complex drama - say Welles or even Mankiewicz, and told the story entirely from their point of view. Instead, events play out in episodic fashion, and little is revealed that has not already been made public. The story is always entertaining, but the movie is little more than a good magazine story. Multiple obsessions fueled the making of the historic "Citizen Kane." "RKO 281" only scratches the surface of these obsessions.
| 
