Citizen Kane Became The Rabble-Rouser
After much hard work that made Orson glued to the stage, Welles thought of creating Citizen Kane , which is arguably the best art-movies ever came out of Hollywood. However, unlike all of his theater work and impressive writings, Citizen Kane received a considerable backlash.
The movie included the life of one of America’s renowned newspaper tycoon, William Randolph Hearst. The plot revolved around a benevolent young man who later becomes an obsessed media mogul who wants to keep all power in his hand.
Alan Arkin and Martin Balsam to the left and right of Orson Welles in a scene from the film ‘Catch-22’, 1970. (Photo by Paramount/Getty Images)
Further, William made many efforts to block the showing of the film, he even ordered all the newspapers, owned by him, to refrain from its advertisement, promotions or even mentioning of Citizen Kane.
Some speculations, even state that Hearst agreed to pay the production cost, only if the studio decided to demolish every single copy of the film. However, oppression failed to defeat the artist and the film survived and flourished.