Five Movie Props I'd Like to Own (Volume I)

1. Larry Talbot's Cane from The Wolf Man. My interest in this prop isn't because I'm a huge fan of the movie. Don't get me wrong...I like The Wolf Man, but it wouldn't rank among my top 5 Universal horror classics. However, Larry's wolf-head silver cane--which ultimately becomes the weapon used to kill him--is just so cool. The actual prop was made of cast rubber and painted silver. Bob Burns, who has amassed a treasure trove of movie props, owns the original. Universal make-up artist and prop master Ellis Berman gave him the cane in 1948 when Bob was 13. You can buy replicas of it now.

2. Charles Foster Kane's Snow Globe from Citizen Kane. Yes, the Rosebud sled is the most famous prop from the movie, but let's be honest, I don't know where I'd store a sled. The globe, with its little snow-covered house, figures into one of the film's most iconic scenes as it falls from Kane's hand to the floor and smashes. You can buy a replica of it, too, for under $40.

3. The Portrait from Laura. Who wouldn't want the famous painting of Gene Tierney hanging over their fireplace? Actually, it's not technically a painting. Director Otto Preminger didn't think portraits photographed well, so he had a photo of Gene Tierney "smeared with oil paint to soften the outlines." The "portrait" was used in two other films as well: On the Riviera (1951) (in which you can see it in color) and Woman's World (1954)--which doesn't even star Gene Tierney.

4. The Maltese Falcon sculpture. It may be the second most famous prop in movie history (topped only by the ruby slippers). A Las Vegas hotel magnate bought the original Falcon at auction in 2013 for $4.1 million. That put it way out of my price range! However, Vanity Fair later published an interesting article about other supposedly real Falcons used in the movie, too. It's all very mysterious. I'd like one, but, heck, even a solid resin knockoff on Amazon runs around $119. That's not what my dreams are made of.

5. The Hourglass from The Wizard of Oz. Naturally, I thought about the ruby slippers and I even considered the big crystal globe in which the Witch spies on Dorothy. In the end, though, I opted for the hourglass because it scared the crap out of me as a kid when the Witch turned it over and told Dorothy: "Do you see that? That's how much longer you've got to be alive. And it isn't long, my pretty. It isn't long."

How Sight & Sound Fueled the "Greatest Film" Debate

These days, it has become standard practice for film organizations and film-related magazines to publish their picks for the greatest films of all time. A representative sample includes the American Film Institute (which has published two lists since 1998), Time magazine, IMDb, Total Film, and AMC. There was a time, though, when the "greatest film" debate was limited to friends discussing the topic over coffee. That changed in 1952 when the British magazine Sight & Sound published its first poll of the "greatest films of all time."

Sight & Sound was first published in 1932 and became an official publication of the British Film Institute in 1934. Although well-respected among film scholars and fans, the magazine didn't gain international fame until 1952. That year, it asked an international group of critics, programmers, academics and distributors to each compile a list of the best movies ever made. The results were tabulated and the following Top 10 "Greatest Films of All Time" list was published:

1. Bicycle Thieves 

Vittorio De Sica's Bicycle Thieves.

2. City Lights 
2. The Gold Rush 
4. Battleship Potemkin 
5. Intolerance 
5. Louisiana Story 
7. Greed 
7. Le Jour se leve 
7. The Passion of Joan of Arc 
10. Brief Encounter 
10. La Règle du jeu (aka The Rules of the Game) 
10. Le Million 

This first list reflects a strong European influence with six films made by French, Italian, and Russian directors (and I'm not counting Greed, which the Austrian-born Von Stroheim made in the U.S.). Although there are five American films, it's interesting to note the complete absence of Hollywood "talkies" (although Citizen Kane and The Grapes of Wrath just missed out on the tenth spot).

The most unusual choice is Robert Flaherty's documentary-like Louisiana Story (1948), which chronicles the life of a young Cajun boy. Although well-reviewed and Oscar-nominated for Best Original Story, the film is mostly forgotten today (with Flaherty's fame resting with Nanook of the North).

Surprisingly, the list also includes other then-recent films Bicycle Thieves (1945) and Brief Encounter (1945). The oldest film earning a spot was D.W. Griffith's Intolerance (1916).

Sight & Sound would not conduct another poll until 1962, thus establishing the practice of a revised "Greatest Films" list every ten years. This edition crowned a new #1 with Orson Welles' Citizen Kane claiming the top spot. It would remain there for the next 50 years!

1. Citizen Kane 
2. L'avventura (aka The Adventure)
3. La Règle du jeu (aka The Rules of the Game)
4. Greed 
4. Ugetsu 
6. Battleship Potemkin 
7. Bicycle Thieves
7. Ivan the Terrible 
9. La Terra Trema 
10. L'Atalante 

Despite the presence of Welles, international filmmakers dominated the 1962 and 1972 lists which featured the works of Michelangelo Antonioni, Ingmar Bergman, Jean Vigo, and Federico Fellini as well as holdovers Sergei Eisenstein and Jean Renoir.

Classic Hollywood had its best showing in 1982 when filmmakers Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford, and Gene Kelly & Stanley Donen joined Orson Welles and Buster Keaton.

1. Citizen Kane 
2. La Règle du jeu (aka The Rules of the Game)
3. Seven Samurai 
3. Singin' in the Rain 
5. 8½ 
6. Battleship Potemkin 
7. L'avventura 
7. The Magnificent Ambersons 
7. Vertigo
10. The General
10. The Searchers 

Over the next 40 years, Sight & Sound continued to publish a new "Greatest Films" list every decade and even added a "Directors' Top Ten Poll" in 1992. Still, the plethora of other lists began to dilute the interest surrounding each new poll. That changed in 2012 when the Sight & Sound poll made headlines after Vertigo finally knocked Citizen Kane from the top spot. The 2012 list (which is naturally the latest one) consisted of:

1. Vertigo 
2. Citizen Kane 
3. Tokyo Story 
4. La Règle du jeu (aka The Rules of the Game)
5. Sunrise
6. 2001: A Space Odyssey
7. The Searchers
8. Man with a Movie Camera
9. The Passion of Joan of Arc
10. 8½


It's interesting to note that Jean Renoir's 1939 masterpiece La Règle du jeu is the only film to appear on every poll from 1952 to 2012. Starting in 1962, it has never ranked lower than #4--which is pretty amazing.

I know a lot of people who scoff at "greatest" lists, which--like the Academy Awards--represent the opinions of a relatively small group of people. Personally, I enjoy them if only because they encourage debate (for the record, I'm good with Vertigo in the top spot since it's my 2nd favorite film).

And, as "Greatest Film" lists go, the Sight & Sound one remains the most revered. In a 2002 article on the latest Sight & Sound poll, Roger Ebert wrote: "Because it is world-wide and reaches out to voters who are presumably experts, it is by far the most respected of the countless polls of great movies--the only one most serious movie people take seriously."

“Citizen Kane” Ultimate Collector’s Edition on Blu-ray and DVD

This month, fans of Orson Welles’ renowned classic, Citizen Kane (1941), can celebrate the film’s 70th anniversary with the release of Warner Bros.’ Ultimate Collector’s Edition, available today, Sept. 13th, on Blu-ray and DVD. The three-disc set arrives in a sharply packaged design with numerous extras and features.

Citizen Kane is the story of newspaper tycoon Charles Foster Kane (Welles). Sent away as a young boy, Kane is signed over his fortune at the age of 25 and buys a small newspaper publication, converting it into a tabloid with searing headlines to capture readers’ attention and a flourishing circulation. In time, he has a family, a home, and political aspirations. Though he succeeds as a businessman and a public figure, Kane’s indulgence and his inability to recognize or nurture personal relationships fundamentally leads to a descent as outrageous as his newspaper headlines. Alone in his vast estate, Xanadu, Kane lies on his deathbed and speaks the word that’s apparently a mystery to all who knew him: “Rosebud.”

At the time of its initial theatrical release, Citizen Kane performed poorly at the box office, typically accredited to Hollywood’s fear of an adverse reaction, as Kane is patently based on newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst. Hearst threatened both Welles and Hollywood in general should the film see the light of day, and he refused to run stories or advertisements of Citizen Kane in any of his newspapers. Those in the film industry were reputedly unhappy with Welles, as he’d evidently antagonized the noted businessman. The movie was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including awards for Picture, Director, Actor (Welles), Art Direction, Editing, Cinematography, Score, Sound Recording, and Original Screenplay, with only Herman Mankiewicz and Welles winning in the writing category. Reportedly, Citizen Kane was booed when its nominations were read during that year’s ceremony.

The American Film Institute (AFI) has twice voted Citizen Kane as #1 in its list of the 100 greatest films. Regardless of what viewers may think of the movie in terms of drama, its technical achievements are unquestioned. One of its most popular aspects visually is the accomplished deep focus photography, in which items or characters prominently displayed in the forefront are as clearly visible as ones in the far background. Welles considered cinematographer Gregg Toland’s efforts so significant that Toland shared a title card with the director.

Welles was part of a radio troupe he co-founded with John Houseman, the Mercury Theatre, most notable for its legendary broadcast of H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds. Members of the Mercury Theatre had roles in Citizen Kane and continued with careers in film and TV, including Joseph Cotten as Kane’s friend, Jedediah; Agnes Moorehead as Kane’s mother; Everett Sloane as Mr. Bernstein, another of Kane’s friends and employees; and Ray Collins as Gettys, the incumbent governor and political opponent to Kane. Ruth Warrick also got her start in Hollywood with this film, portraying Kane’s first wife, as did famed composer Bernard Herrmann and Robert Wise, who was editor on Citizen Kane but would step behind the camera for films such as The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), The Haunting (1963) and The Andromeda Strain (1971).

The Ultimate Collector’s Edition from Warner Bros. is highlighted by a beautiful restoration of Citizen Kane, enhancing the already elegant deep focus and an impressive soundtrack in HD mono. In addition to the main attraction, the first disc contains interviews with Wise and Warrick, deleted scenes (presented as sketches or photos), commentaries by Peter Bogdanovich and Roger Ebert, storyboards, call sheets, a trailer, and featurettes. The second and third discs include, respectively, an informative documentary and a well made HBO film, RKO 281. The documentary is a presentation of the PBS series, American Experience, entitled “The Battle Over Citizen Kane” and recounts the lives of Orson Welles and William Randolph Hearst before and after they intersect. The HBO movie is essentially a dramatized version of these events (the title taken from the production number assigned to Citizen Kane), with Liev Schreiber portraying Welles and James Cromwell as Hearst. The box set also features a glossy 48-page booklet with photos and details of the movie, a reproduction of the 1941 souvenir program, lobby cards, and recreations of production memos. The entire set is offered in separate Blu-ray and DVD packages (only the first disc is Blu-ray in the former option), and the movie is conjointly available in digital formats, On Demand and as a download.

For further details or to purchase the collector’s edition from the Warner Bros. website, click here. For On Demand, check your cable or satellite provider, and the digital download is available at various online retailers (iTunes, Amazon, etc.).

Warner Bros. provided a copy of the Blu-ray edition for review at Classic Film & TV Cafe. Photos courtesy of Warner Bros.