The put up praise for Orson Welles ’s debut directorial effort , 1941’sCitizen Kane , has kept it in the conversation for the greatest movie of all time . In gain to pioneer some groundbreaking camera motion , George Orson Welles asterisk in the film about newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane , talk its iconic “ Rosebud . ”
More than 80 years later , Rotten Tomatoes has discovered that one critic did n’t wish it .
consort toBoing Boing , the recapitulation collector site ’s increase of the minus write - up — which was originallypublishedinThe Chicago Tribuneon May 7 , 1941 — promptedCitizen Kaneto drop curtain from a stark 100 percent on the “ Tomatometer ” to a paltry 99 percentage . Of the 116 reassessment of the motion picture , theTribunecritique is the only negative one .
“ You ’ve heard a lot about this picture and I see by the advertizement that some experts guess it ‘ the nifty picture ever made , ’ ” the review article learn . “ I do n’t . ”
It ’s not precisely a scathing commentary , with theTribuneoffering that the plastic film is “ interesting . It ’s different . In fact , it ’s bizarre enough to become a museum musical composition . But its forfeiture of simplicity to eccentricity robs it of preeminence and general amusement economic value . ”
The alteration in grade , which was first spotted by Twitter user@Caulimovirus , means thatCitizen Kaneis no longer part of the site’sexclusive100 percent positive inspection club , which includes 1957’s12 Angry Men , 1959’sRio Bravo , 1984’sThe Terminator , and 2018’sPaddington 2 .
The Tomatometer is sometimes misunderstood by people to mean that high - order plastic film are extremely lauded by all referee . Instead , any positive recapitulation — even if it ’s only gently burbly — counts . A movie with a 100 per centum incontrovertible valuation might have in mind everyone liked a movie ; a movie with an 80 percent positive military rating might imply a luck of critic make love it .
On the site’slistof the 100 best - reviewed movies , which use a slenderly different algorithmic rule to describe for the number of reviews , 1934’sIt bump One Nightis at the top , followed by 2018’sBlack Panther;Citizen Kaneis in third place .
So who was the lone dissenting voice at theTribune?We may never know . At the clip , picture reviewer were n’t restrain in very high regard , and some newspapers did n’t rile with bylines or simply assigned whoever was available . In the casing ofCitizen Kane , the review is credit to “ Mae Tinée , ” a wordplay on “ matinee . ”
[ h / tBoing Boing ]
