Citizen Kane [PG]

Publishing tycoon, Charles Foster Kane, lies on his deathbed with just one word on his lips before leaving this earth: “rosebud”. A group of intrepid reporters become determined to discover the meaning behind this word, hoping that it will reveal who Kane really was. Their research takes them on a journey of true discovery as they interview people closely associated with Kane and get perceptions of his character from all different angles. Throughout the research it becomes sadly clear that Kane, for a man as influential as he was, was incomplete and “rosebud” might just be something that he longed to acquire…or recover. 

Cinematic history reveres Citizen Kane as the ultimate “must see” movie and it continues to pop up in modern day movies and television. The Simpsons sampled it in the episode where Marge gets a job at the nuclear power plant, it was mentioned in Friends: “yeah it’s really boring, but it’s a really big deal”, and it is a driving plot point in Ed Wood. And for all this, it is also the rather large debut for Orson Welles who directed the movie, produced it, had a hand in writing it, and of course starred in it, all at the ripe age of 24. Bluntly, I can agree with the summary from Friends. In order to appreciate Citizen Kane, you do have to persevere because all the elements come together to create this really moving final scene where the true meaning behind “rosebud” is revealed to the audience. For me, it’s that scene that makes the movie and establishes it as the cinematic giant that it was in the 40s and remains to be to this day. 

Publishing tycoon, Charles Foster Kane, lies on his deathbed with just one word on his lips before leaving this earth: “rosebud”. A group of intrepid reporters become determined to discover the meaning behind this word, hoping that it will reveal who Kane really was. Their research takes them on a journey of true discovery as they interview people closely associated with Kane and get perceptions of his character from all different angles. Throughout the research it becomes sadly clear that Kane, for a man as influential as he was, was incomplete and “rosebud” might just be something that he longed to acquire…or recover. 

The writing is rather sensational. Welles and Mankiewicz do not hold back with the thrilling and empowering weapon that is dialogue. The film is driven on pretty much nothing but dialogue: it creates and heightens the film’s drama, romance, and comedy, as well as providing a memorable and empowering scene when married with Welles’s phenomenal speech-making voice. 

Greg Toland’s remarkable cinematography does threaten Mankiewicz’s writing and Welles’s performance when it comes to taking the cake. Toland developed a technique for deep-focus photography that he applied throughout this film and turned quite a lot of heads doing so. Basically in every scene, everything was in focus: there was no one item of central focus to speak of the audience could focus on anything at anytime. Even by today’s advances in the art form, Toland’s cinematography remains striking and memorable. 

It would be ungallant as to not draw some quick attention to Orson Welles’s performance as the man himself. Armed with that powerful and striking face and that rich and I-will-NOT-be-denied voice, Welles delivers a remarkable performance and I think (and this is based on depictions in film and cinematic reputational gossip) that the role was a rather reflective one for him because he did have a reputation for being both a beloved genius and a hated one…even feared. 

Featuring a principal cast that were all relatively new to the movies including Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore, Agnes Moorehead, Ruth Warrick, Ray Collins, Erskine Sanford, Everett Sloane, William Alland, Paul Stewart, and George Coulouris, Citizen Kane is really a remarkable piece of cinematic history filled with drama, romance, gossip, and comedy. You do have to persevere with it, but believe me it’s all worth it in the end.