RKO 281 (1999)

	Also Known As: The Battle over Citizen Kane, Citizen Welles
	Year of first release: 1999
	Director: Benjamin Ross
	Actors: Liev Schreiber (X-men Origins: Wolverine, Scream 1-3), James Cromwell (Babe, I Robot), Melanie Griffith, John Malkovich (Red, Con Air), Roy Scheider (Jaws)
	Country: GB, USA
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 26.08.2013, DVD, Home cinema
Synopsis: The story behind the making of Citizen Kane and the struggle between Orson Welles (Schreiber) and the publishing magnate Hearst (Cromwell) that inspired the main character in the movie.
Review: I had the opportunity to get this DVD for free not long after watching the classic Citizen Kane (1941) and the associated documentary The Battle over Citizen Kane (1996) from which RKO 281 is inspired. Actually the documentary described so well the story behind the movie, the lifes of Hearst, Welles and Kane (all sharing common points) that I couldn't easily tell what is part of recorded history in RKO 281, and what is fiction. I was surprized that it is a TV-movie, i.e. was never released in cinemas in the USA but was in several countries in Europe at least. RKO 281 is the codename of the movie while it was in production at the studios of the R.K.O. Pictures company, dissapeared since 1959. The story was known to me already, so no originality there, but the main strength of the movie is the talented cast: Schreiber and his deep voice perfect as Welles, great classic actors Cromwell and Scheider, and very good second roles Malkovich and Griffith. They do bring a lot to the movie. Another strength is the transition scenes between the elements of recorded history: dialogs between the characters that had to be invented but that are necessary to link all the pieces of the story. One of those creations is the secret meeting between the head of all Hollowood studios (Warner, Disney, ...) to decide the fate of Citizen Kane. The scene is short but it gives a good idea of their relationship with one another. At the end, the fate of the Citizen Kane is cleverly shown in parallel to the one of Hearst, as if the movie had anticipated the decline of the giant. The future of Welles is told in a more positive tone than what it actually became.
Rating: 6 /10