Film legend Leonard Maltin shares three secrets of CITIZEN KANE for #AFIMOVIECLUB

by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent

If you’ve attended the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, you’ll know that The Maltin Modern Masters Award in honor of legendary author/critic Leonard Maltin is a coveted prize in Hollywood. Leonard Maltin has dedicated his life to researching not only the cinema classics, but also the contemporary Best Pictures, actors, directors, and screenwriters as they emerge in the New Hollywood. That said, it is fitting that Orson Welles’ debut film and undisputed masterpiece, CITIZEN KANE, is introduced by this film scholar for #AFIMOVIECLUB.

In this video introduction to AFI’s number one film of all time, Maltin offers three important reveals about this towering work among the greatest of all time produced by the studios. But let him tell you more, and here are all the details so that you can enjoy this controversial (at the time) motion picture from RKO Pictures that literally haunted and overshadowed the rest of Welles’ entire life and career. Because he chose to tangle with a giant, that being William Randolph Hearst who is eerily similar to Charles Foster Kane… whose pet name for love-interest Marion Davies was alleged to be… “Rosebud” (and not because of her face, ps, down lower!).

WHAT:     Leonard Maltin announces today’s AFI Movie Club selection: CITIZEN KANE. The film is ranked #1 on both AFI’s original and 10th anniversary lists of the greatest American movies ever made. The pivotal opening line of the film, “Rosebud,” that Charles Foster Kane utters in his last moments, appears at #17 on the American Film Institute’s list of all-time greatest movie quotes. Orson Welles – the director, producer, co-writer and star of CITIZEN KANE – received the third AFI Life Achievement Award in 1975.

DID YOU KNOW? Orson Welles invented and perfected the “deep focus shot” with cinematographer Gregg Toland. The distinctive shot gives clarity to both foreground and background elements, thereby providing the illusion of depth. Watch this exclusive AFI Archive video in which filmmakers including Steven Spielberg, Debbie Reynolds and Martin Scorsese talk about CITIZEN KANE

WHERE:     AFI.com/MovieClub

Your AFI Movie Club

AFI Movie Club is a newly launched program to raise the nation’s spirits by bringing artists and audiences together – even while we are apart. AFI shines a spotlight on an iconic movie, with special guests announcing select AFI Movies of the Day in short videos posted on AFI.com and social media platforms. Audiences can “gather” at AFI.com/MovieClub to find out how to watch the featured movie with the use of their preexisting streaming service credentials. The film selections are supported by fun facts, family discussion points and exclusive material from the AFI Archive to enrich the viewing experience. Audiences can continue the conversation online using the hashtag #AFIMovieClub. Learn more at AFI.com and follow us on social media at Facebook.com/AmericanFilmInstitute, also YouTube.com/AFI, Twitter.com/AmericanFilm and Instagram.com/AmericanFilmInstitute.   

“Rosebudddd…”

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