Citizen Kane is considered one of the greatest films of all time, yet it almost didn't get released to the public. Politics can be so ruthless, and Hollywood knows the game very well.
Movies about the making of classic films always provide fascinating insights. Directed by David Fincher, the Netflix film Mank is about the screenwriter who wrote Citizen Kane, Herman Mankiewicz, and has earned several award nominations.
Mank focuses mainly on one perspective of the making of Citizen Kane, but it seems to assume the audience knows some history of the film and its key players. Notably, there was a feud between the movie's star and director, Orson Welles, and renowned newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst.
From legendary filmmaking brothers Ridley and Tony Scott, who served as Executive Producers, RKO 281 is a 1999 HBO docudrama about the same subject. The movie title refers to RKO Pictures' production number for Citizen Kane. Unlike Mank, RKO 281 gives a far broader overview of what transpired in the struggle to make and release Citizen Kane. In RKO 281, Herman "Mank" Mankiewicz is played by John Malkovich. Liev Schreiber played Orson Welles, and Roy Scheider, James Cromwell, Melanie Griffith round out the fine cast.
I don't think Mank is for everyone mainly because, to understand it fully, the movie requires some background knowledge on the events surrounding Citizen Kane and Hollywood during the 1940s. If you were a little confused by Mank, or even if you weren't, I highly recommend watching RKO 281 to better appreciate the classic film that almost didn't see the light of day.
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