To turn this on its head, I struggle to see Mankiewicz’s overwhelming authorial stamp in CK based on the 4-5 films I have seen of his. What Welles does to this film could be compared and contrasted to "directors" of other Mankiewicz's scripts. I could sense the narrative devices passing through Welles's filter at many places. And how the melodrama of other Mankiewicz's scripts isn't carried over by Welles both as director and performer. Overwhelmingly so, that it's hard not to call it a "Welles film".Quote:
Coming back, I struggle what it is abt Kane that seemed exclusively and heavily Welles' contribution.
The final draft wasn't dud at all. But I have read effusive praise for the "rewritten" script. I read this in interviews given by Heston.Quote:
Apparentlty he took up Touch of Evil with the intention of elevating a dud of a script. It wasn't that great for me. I know you have nice things to say about that film (I remember the screenshot of the flashlight you asked in a kweezz once). That was such a throwaway moment and (for me) becomes memorable only when embedded in a 'good' script. Else it hardly sticks and worse, feels gimmicky.
Oh, not for specific "parallels".Quote:
What exactly is it that you appreciated about Kane that seemed defnly like Welles' input (as opposed to Mankewicz's) that you inferred after trial.
Notwithstanding the fact that you and I are most likely looking for completely different things in a film, I am interesting in this precise example of your reassessment of Kane after watching Trial.
But in general, the tonal and formal treatment he gave to one of the most unfilmable books. Adaptations aren't easy, especially not of Kafka! Welles himself considers it to be his best film. Not since Griffith's silent era generation incl. the German expressionist films, Dreyer and Eisenstein, I have encountered a post-war post-Silent filmmaker with visual sense so strong that you could even mute the sound/dialogues and still watch the film. You try articulating the sequences that you like, and yet, they don't come half as close to what's on the frame.