hitchcock is the master. everyone bows down to him.
Interesting comparions, Isaac. I doubt if Welles was trying to intentionally copy Rebecca, but it would be interesting to know if this film in any way contributed to how he did the beginning and ending scenes. Perhaps it was coincidental.
Gentleman’s agreement, perhaps. Welles nabbed those two scenes,then several years later Hitchcock borrowed freely from Touch of Evil while making Psycho. Same actress, even.
Double
I’m kind of doubting there’s any real “borrowing” going on, but you never know.
Is there any information available as to when REBECCA was released versus CITIZEN KANE being in production? Did Welles even see REBECCA?
Rebecca was 1940, Kane was ’41.
Kane was released in ’41, so it must have been in production (or at least pre-production) when Rebecca was released in ’40.
Rebecca was 1940, Kane was ’41.
Yeah, KANE was 41, REBECCA was 40.
Per assorted online sources, REBECCA was released in the US on April 14, 1940. KANE went into production in May of 1940. It seems plausible to guess that Welles could have seen it.
All the same, I’m not convinced that there’s much influence here. The openings are so different, entrance to the house aside.
I’d guess if Welles took any influence it would have been from Renoir, or Transatlantic, probably more technical stuff than anything else.
However, I must say when I first saw Rebecca (which was after Citizen Kane) I did draw comparisons between the two, so, maybe there was some influence.
Isaac, that’s a very interesting observation, which I hadn’t really noticed before. Those opening shots of Kane, the slow dissolves as we get closer and closer to the mansion itself, are extremely gothic and seem to be from a horror movie or haunted house movie. The use of painted backdrops and miniatures is often thought to be inspired by silent films, I guess German expressionist film in particular. The rich are treated more mercifully in Rebecca, with Olivier turning out to be a decent guy.
There’s a shower scene in Val Lewton’s “The Seventh Victim” (1940) directed by Mark Robson that supposedly strongly influenced Hitchcock’s “Psycho” (1960) shower scene. I emphasize ‘supposedly’. Although the girl is not killed in The Seventh Victim there are some similarities in the way it is shot, especially the silhouette on the shower curtain. Nothing compares with what Hitchcock did with his shower scene though, influenced or not.
Of course, Hitchcock got his start in the German film industry of the post-expressionist period, which would explain his Gothic leanings.
‘Citizen Kane’ uses some of the same techniques – in the tradition of German expressionists – that Hitchcock used in ‘Rebecca’.
What techniques, Sara?
Greg Toland was 2nd unit Cinematographer on Rebecca. He next was Cinematographer on Kane. There are many visual similarities.
Hollywood conventions + Jungian syncronicity.
Orson Welles´ primary influence while preparing Citizen Kane was John Ford, especially his Western Stagecoach (1939) that he used in order to learn about shot composition and framing Like it was mentioned before might Renoir have been another huge influence, and also Shakespeare´s plays in which he participated in England. Rebecca could be added to those influences, though I think that it came rather through suggestions cinematographer Gregg Toland made on the set, since Welles gave him a lot of freedom because of his own lack of experience. It´s almost impossible that a fictional film can be created without influences by previous works, though knowing where those influences came from doesn´t necessarily lead us to a better understanding of the subsequent film. Whatever Citizen Kane took from Rebecca or other films can only be understood in it´s own microcosm, and the mystery of Rosebud can only be solved due to the devices the film Citizen Kane gives us.
this is interesting… but Citizen Kane is a far superior film. Rebecca is pretty good.
Isaac walker
I have seen barely a mention of the “coincidental” similarities between “Rebecca – 1940” and “Citizen Kane – 1941” as regards the film’s opening and closing scenes.
OPENING
In both Rebeca and Citizen Kane the somber opening scene is a mist / fog night view of a silhouetted mansion as seen through a camera’s view approaching through a closed gate / fence line.
CLOSING
In both Rebeca and Citizen Kane the somber closing scene is of the same mansions (described above) in flames as the fires consume a personal item of the main characters (Pillowcase with embroidered initials of Rebecca, and a sled with the name “Rosebud”, for Rebecca and Citizen Kane, respectively) “The End” appears.
Can anyone provide a more in-depth explanation for this back-to-back duplication in major movies without any notice and commentary by the critics of that time, especially since both were major Academy Award contenders?