How good are the real old school movies like Citizen Kane?.

[bojangles1987]

Movies from that time period are still plenty good. I found Citizen Kane enjoyable when I saw it for the first time.

[Danny Gunz]

Isn't the film generally considered to be one of the top 10 of all time?. I know that's a matter of a opinion but it does seem to be included in a lot of those kind of lists. Is it sophisticated thing to do to rate the film so highly.

I suppose i should actually watch it myself, but my God it looks atrocious.

Take those top 10 lists with a grain of salt. Critics always vote for the pre approved 'cinema classics'. Looking at those lists apparently no movie made after 1975 holds a candle to the top 10.... which is obviously not true.

Usually they are some variation of Vertigo, Citizen Kane, 8 1/2, Tokyo Story, Ras****n, The Searches, 2001, and some others. I have watched most of those movies out of curiosity and most of them just are boring movies imo.

The argument is always made that those movies were revolutionary for their time.... which may be true but doesn't make them the best ever

[sweetpea87]

Citizen Kane was groundbreaking, revolutionary cinematography. Crap film though. Did not care for it. I just thought that the story was lacking.

That's not because it's old though. There are some amazing films that are contemporaries of Welles' opus.

King Kong predated it, as did the timeless Wizard of Oz. Gone with the wind? Casablanca? Even older films like Nosferatu and Metropolis still hold up as magnificent works of art.

I just don't think that Citizen Kane is all that.

I thought the same thing. I am a big fan of many old, black and white films, but I never really cared for Citizen Kane.

[HarvardBlue]

I actually like Citizen Kane. The story is a little corny but the movie was very innovative for its time.

The Third Man is a better movie IMO. Orson Welles played one of the best movie villains of all time.

[BattleAxePurist]

On the waterfront is a really good old time movie

[SkillspayBills]

CK is completely overrated but there are plenty of older movies that will continuously last until the end of time, Casablanca, Treasure of Sierra Madre, Wizard of OZ.

I was in a movie class for 2 years in High School, wish I never took that ****. I can't just watch a movie for entertainment anymore I have to analyze visuals and parse through the dialogue. I hate it lol.

[MaD RoBoT]

Citizen Kane is known for its technical achievements, try to watch it with Ebert's commentary on and he will explain each scene and it's importance

i think it's a great film but not my fave of that era (B&W), it'll be 12 Angry Men

[_original_]

It's a very good film, but even better if you're a film student or have aspirations for directing and such. It's was a groundbreaking film at the time and still a very strong film today. The problem is that people don't have an attention span anymore and obviously times and technology have changed the way we view films. Anyhow, I personally prefer 12 Angry Men, Casablanca, and Lawrence of Arabia in terms of old films.

[talip bin osman]

I usually strip a film (as to avoid judging earlier era films against a modern viewer) to it's barest essentials down to a point when everything remains are the story, the characterisations, and its use of cinema both as an artform (symbolism, eye candy) and techniques (cinematography, camerawork).

that said, kane's use of cinema is brilliant, though at the expense of the story and characterisations which tend to be flat...

some cinephiles put a lot of weight on a film's use of cinema (technically and aesthetically) thats why kane and films like battleship potemkin (montage pioneer) figure relatively high in rankings...

[gustaav]

not as good as wahlberg in pain & gain