Friday, March 19, 2004

Citizen Kane vs. Maltese Falcon

There's an interesting discussion going on between certain bloggers about which is the better movie: "Citizen Kane" or "The Maltese Falcon." Among the participants are The Forager, David Fiore, and Sean Collins. Each one of those links goes to one part of the conversation, but it goes on in other blog entries, comments and elsewhere.
Personally, I just enjoy reading it and, as I haven't seen The Maltese Falcon in years, I don't have much to add. I've often thought Citizen Kane is the best movie of all time. Lately though, I've been rethinking it. It certainly created many new ideas in cinema, but being groundbreaking doesn't make a great film. I do love the story and I think Joseph Cotten is tremendous in it. I also think Orson Welles is perfect as Kane. Both of them are bigger than life.
At the moment, if I had to say what the greatest film of all time was right now, I might say "Seven Samurai." Tomorrow I'd probably say different. Maybe "Night of the Hunter."
Anyway, it's an interesting conversation, check it out.

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