How did Citizen Kane help Noël Coward and David Lean make In Which We Serve?

Ian Christie tells how David Lean, directing his first film, was struggling with Noël Coward's script for In Which We Serve, because Coward did not know how to write for the screen. Lean sent Coward to see Citizen Kane, and Coward came back understanding how to structure the film: fragment the narrative, spread the telling across several characters and mix up the chronology. Christie says Powell and Pressburger were also impressed, with an almost direct reference in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp.

• Christie says the episode is well documented in Lean's biography.

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on In Our Time (2026-11-02). Read the whole episode summary →

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