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Friday 5 December 2008

Notebook

There was little applause in theatres, and small audiences. The tiny crowd for the Chicago opening had been especially dismaying to Del Rio. "Kane" had a good first week in New York, but then, as everywhere, it fell off fast. This was at theatres in big cities, in the full flush of publicity and great reviews. As the picture made its way around the country, Hearst's boycott was more effective. But even in the smart cities, where it had the best chance, "Kane" did not do well. On its more general release, RKO shifted their emphasis. Beyond stressing Welles's work on all fronts, they cast the movie as a dark romance - "What made this cutie walk out on $60,000,000? A girl who never made more than $15 a week - wed to the world's wealthiest man! But neither she - nor any woman - could endure his kind of love!"

David Thomson, "Rosebud: The Story of Orson Welles".

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