Ford
The Man and the Machine

The structure is securely placed on a foundation of Welles. Citizen Kane figures from first to last, The Magnificent Ambersons throughout. This is to serve up isolated sequences exhibiting major stages of the machine as peered at through a convincing and very workable idea. The film is turned upon itself, as it were, and among the Wellesian trademarks and devices is one used to abridge the passing of time and show some raw genius of early manufacture and invention.

Along this sort of assembly line, Marnie adds a nuance to a lady identified with the pursuit of the automobile. Corporate infighting harks to The Lion in Winter. Political naïveté fetches Rope. The final maneuver clears up a postwar dilemma by utilizing It’s a Wonderful Life.

How the Ford Foundation got that way.