Oscars for Sale - December 11, 2007

Consult almost any list of the Greatest Films Ever Made and Orson Welles's Citizen Kane will be right at the top. Surely a film held in such high regard by so many must have swept the Academy Awards, right?  But Hollywood being what it is, Kane won only one of the nine statuettes for which it was nominated (losing most of the races to the sentimental How Green Was My Valley). The only Kane victory that night was for its screenplay, co-written by Herman J. Mankiewicz and the film's star and director, Orson Welles.  Welles's Oscar is going to be auctioned today, to the delight of film collectors, but to the chagrin of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, who actually stopped another such sale in 2003.  According to the Academy's rules, an Oscar can never be sold, only returned. Over the decades, though, a few have joined such hallowed Tinseltown icons as Charles Foster Kane's sled, Dorothy Gale's ruby slippers, and the Maltese Falcon on the auction block as one-of-a-kind pieces of history.  We'll start the bidding on the Citizen Kane Oscar at fifty bucks; hey, you never know.... Suggested Sites... Sight & Sound: The Greatest Films of All Time - Kane leads the way again. New York Times: I'd Really Like to Thank My Pal at the Auction House - history of Oscars bought and sold. Wellesnet - everything anyone would want to know about the actor, director, and raconteur. The Battle Over Citizen Kane - not everyone thought so highly of it. Citizen Kane Trailer - one of the greatest movies ever made deserves one of the greatest trailers.