Citizen Kane

Director:
Orson Welles

Writers:
Herman J. Mankiewicz and Orson Welles

Cast:
Orson Welles as Charles Foster Kane
Dorothy Comingore as Susan Alexander Kane
Joseph Cotten as Jedediah Leland
Everett Sloane as Mr. Bernstein
William Alland as Jerry Thompson

Released: 1941
Studio: RKO
Box Office: $1,585,634

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 100%
IMDB Score: 8.6

Date Seen: August 20, 2009
Format: DVD

Citizen Kane by many critics and other people in the film industry as the best movie ever made. Although I am no expert on the matter, I have to respectfully disagree. There is no denying the technical aspect of the production, I just never got drawn in to the story.

It’s about the life and death of newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane. At the beginning of the movie Kane dies and utters his last word, “Rosebud.” An eager reporter tries to find the meaning of this last word. There starts a series of flashbacks told from the perspective of the people closest to Kane. He started out poor, but from the sale of some family land that a gold mine had been discovered on, he came into a great wealth. He then decides to spend part of his fortune on a struggling newspaper. He turns the paper around a goes on to own several papers across the country, becoming the country’s most powerful newsman. Kane is loosely based on real life newsman, William Randolph Hearst. Hearst tried to stop the release of the film, and did not allow any of the media outlets he owned cover the movie.

The movie was shot with what is called “deep focus.” Which means what is in the background and foreground are in focus simultaneously. The makeup was also revolutionary for the time, as Orson Welles portrayed Kane from a young man all the way to an elderly man. Even though the film was made in 1941, I would have to say that the makeup rivals that of 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Even though Citizen Kane is possibly the most technologically advanced film of its time, the story seem to drag and honestly just wasn’t very interesting to me. So therefore, I have to say that it was just an above average film.

Citizen Kane is listed as number 1 in AFI’s 100 Greatest Films.

Favorite Performance:
Orson Welles as Charles Foster Kane

Favorite Quote:
Female reporter: If you could’ve found out what Rosebud meant, I bet that would’ve explained everything.
Thompson: No, I don’t think so; no. Mr. Kane was a man who got everything he wanted and then lost it. Maybe Rosebud was something he couldn’t get, or something he lost. Anyway, it wouldn’t have explained anything… I don’t think any word can explain a man’s life. No, I guess Rosebud is just a… piece in a jigsaw puzzle… a missing piece.

Grade:
B

Recommendation:
Couldn’t tell you not to watch it.