Citizen Kane (1941)

Citizen Kane (1941)

In co-writer/actor/director Orson Welles' (and RKO Radio Pictures') expressionistic, fictional biographical drama, it presented the rise to power (and tragic fall) of a larger-than-life newspaper tycoon/publisher - Charles Foster Kane (Welles), a character partially based upon American media baron William Randolph Hearst. It rewrote the rules of Hollywood cinema, setting Hollywood on its ear when first released. The film was co-written, directed, and starred in by 25-year old radio star Orson Welles in his first film effort and on a bare-bones budget.

The film was Welles' greatest achievement, and a landmark of cinema history - often voted the greatest film ever made. It is one of filmdom's most celebrated films with many landmark cinematic techniques. With its bravura direction, broken narrative and flashbacks, and vivid performances, it has always been considered a modern masterpiece. Every aspect of the production marked an advance in film language: the deep-focus, deeply shadowed cinematography and dramatic lighting to intensify the drama, limited close-ups when they were in style, the discontinuous narrative, the innovative use of sound and score, the low-level camera shots, and numerous quick cuts and dissolves

After the death of Kane in the opening sequence, a reporter was sent to investigate the significance of "Rosebud", the last word uttered by Kane. The narrative was derived through interviews with various associates and Kane's wife (the members of Welles' own ensemble acting group from Welles' Mercury Theater) and seen through various flashbacks. The newspaper magnate's wealth and power ultimately left him abandoned and alone in his castle-like refuge.

It received 9 Academy Awards nominations, including Best Picture (Orson Welles), Best Actor (Welles), Best Director (Welles), Best B/W Cinematography (Gregg Toland), Best Dramatic Music Score (Bernard Herrmann), Best B/W Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Best Sound Recording, and Best Film Editing (Robert Wise), with only one Oscar win - Best Original Screenplay (Herman J. Mankiewicz and Orson Welles).

• in the opening investigative prologue set at the Xanadu estate of media tycoon Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles) in Florida in the year of 1941, the elderly title character, a wealthy newspaper publisher and industry magnate, was seen on his deathbed
• as the dying, mustached Kane passed away, he was heard to utter the mysterious word "R-o-s-e-b-u-d" (the film's first line) from his giant rubbery lips, as a crystal globe/ball of a snowy scene (of a snow-covered house) fell from his hand and shattered

• in the next scene in an abrupt cut from his private sanctuary, a dramatic, news-digest segment of News on the March! [a simulation/parody of the actual "March of Time" series produced by Time, Inc.] was viewed as a film-within-a-film; it was a fact-filled, authoritative newsreel or documentary that briefly covered the chronological highlights of the public life of the deceased man, in an obituary-format

• some of the major aspects of the rich and powerful Kane's legacy were presented in four segments in the newsreel:
  • Information about Xanadu and its grandeur
  • Kane's career (personal, political, and financial) - interwoven
  • Thatcher's confrontation with Kane for the first time in the snow
  • Chronological Account of Kane's life
• Kane's palatial mansion at Xanadu was the "world's largest private pleasure ground," consisting of a tremendous castle filled with museum-grade and priceless works of art, paintings, pictures, and statues, and even a private zoo; after his death, there were conflicting opinions about him from newspapers around the world; as a newspaper tycoon and publisher of the New York Inquirer, at one time, his business empire included over 37 newspapers, two syndicates, and a radio network
• however, Kane had very humble beginnings; around 1870, once gold was discovered on his mother's property, Walter Parks Thatcher (George Coulouris) recalled his journey to Mrs. Kane's boarding house in Colorado to see about setting up a trustee-guardianship and raising the young boy Kane with a first-rate education; Kane was twice married, and twice divorced; his second wife was one-time opera singing Susan Alexander, for whom he built Chicago's Municipal Opera House; his political aspirations ended due to a love scandal, and he died alone abandoned at Xanadu
• the viewing of the News on the March newsreel film abruptly ended in a smoky projection room, where shafts of light came from the projection booth; the newsreel producer-editor Rawlston (Philip Van Zandt) was unsatisfied; he spoke to the assembled group of reporters, urging them to investigate the enigmatic meaning of Kane's last word: ("You've got to tell us who he was"); cinema newsreel reporter Jerry Thompson (William Alland) was sent out to discover the meaning of Kane's last word: "Rosebud," possibly a simple secret to Kane's mysterious, complex life
• over a two week period, Thompson gathered information from four of Kane's associates and from some posthumous memoirs of Kane's ex-guardian. In a series of interlocked, semi-overlapping flashbacks and tightly-woven, personal vignettes, each of Kane's closest associates gave a different, slightly prejudiced, contradictory and inconsistent account of the Kane they knew, revealing different facets of a single personality:
  • Kane's legal guardian - Wall Street financier and bank manager Walter Parks Thatcher (through written memoirs)
  • deferential personal manager/business partner Bernstein (Everett Sloane)
  • Kane's best friend Jedediah Leland (Joseph Cotten), in a retirement home
  • Kane's ex-wife Susan Alexander (Dorothy Comingore), his second wife
  • Raymond, the butler
• each of the five sources from which the dogged reporter received his information served to introduce six separate, non-chronological sections for the remainder of the film
• first, a dolly shot/dissolve entered into the skylight of cabaret dancer Susan Alexander's El Rancho nightclub in Atlantic City, NJ - it was the most impressive camera technique in the film; however, Susan - the alcoholic owner of the club rebuked Thompson and refused to talk to him; from a waiter, he learned that Susan had never heard of "Rosebud" [Note: Thompson spoke to Susan Kane a second time later in the film.]
• next, Thompson entered the library-archives of the late banker Walter Parks Thatcher to look at his written memoirs in a reading room; in a flashback (with deep-focus) to the year 1871, the young Kane played in the snow (with his sled - "Rosebud") outside in Colorado as his future guardian Walter P. Thatcher visited and talked to his mother Mary (Agnes Moorehead) inside, about setting up a trust and guardianship for the young lad's future; she had become unexpectedly wealthy when seemingly worthless mining stock certificates given her by a poor prospector/boarder in lieu of payment made her the sole owner of one of the world's great gold mines, the Colorado Lode; the banking firm of Thatcher and Company was appointed to manage all her financial interests, to administer her estate, and to act as trustees of the fortune and guardian of her son; as young Charles was taken away, his abandoned sled was left on a snowbank - it was gradually covered by a cold snowfall - a preserved (and buried) symbol of vanished innocence, loss and purity
• years later, after turning 25 and gaining full control over his trust fund, Kane entered the newspaper business and took control of the New York Inquirer, and stated to Thatcher:
  • " I think it would be fun to run a newspaper"
• Kane used his paper to attack trusts, Thatcher and others among America's financial elite, using tactics of yellow journalism; extravagant spending led to Kane explaining to his accountant Thatcher:
  • "You're right, I did lose a million dollars last year. I expect to lose a million dollars this year. I expect to lose a million dollars next year. You know, Mr. Thatcher, at the rate of a million dollars a year, I'll have to close this place in 60 years"
• during this time period, Kane married Emily Norton (Ruth Warrick), the niece of the President of the United States; after the crash of 1929 and mismanagement, the paper went bankrupt, and Kane sold his controlling interest of his newspaper empire to Thatcher
• the next section was Thompson's interview with Kane's personal business manager Mr. Bernstein, his estranged best friend, seated in his New York City office; when asked about the word "Rosebud," Bernstein instead recalled his memory of a girl with a white dress and a parasol:
  • "A fellow will remember a lot of things you wouldn't think he'd remember. You take me. One day, back in 1896, I was crossing over to Jersey on the ferry. And as we pulled out, there was another ferry pulling in. And on it there was a girl waiting to get off. A white dress she had on. She was carrying a white parasol. I only saw her for one second. She didn't see me at all. But I'll bet a month hasn't gone by since that I hadn't thought of that girl"
• in a flashback, Bernstein remembered the first day that Kane took over the Inquirer with his college friend Jedediah Leland (Joseph Cotten); he described how Kane's objective was to take on the Chronicle with his Inquirer; he intended to turn his paper into a tabloid with fabricated, large-print, front-page headlines to increase readership: ("If the headline is big enough, it makes the news big enough"); he redesigned the front page to include his "Declaration of Principles" as a bold and boxed item; at first he succeeded and increased circulation figures from 26,000 to 495,000; in a clever transition shot, a picture of the competing Chronicle's staff picture hanging on the wall in the other paper's office suddenly came to life; over a period of six years, he bought off and hired the Chronicle's renowned staff; as a result, circulation figures for the Inquirer had soared to 684,000
• a major celebratory party was held in the city room of the Inquirer, with everyone seated at a long table with champagne bottles, ice sculptures, and marching band members, while tribute was given to Kane with a rousing, intricately-edited song and dance number - The Charlie Kane Song - it was performed like a stage show; the young bachelor Charlie joined the chorus girls in the dance routine
• with his successes and fame, Kane often traveled on treasure-hunting trips to Europe to acquire statues and other art objects and paintings; at this time, he also became engaged to Emily Monroe Norton; and then Bernstein concluded his thoughts about Kane ("Miss Emily Norton was no Rosebud...It ended. And there was Susan. That ended too..."); Bernstein speculated about Kane's final word - after his tragic decline: "Maybe that was something he lost. Mr. Kane was a man who lost almost everything he had"; Bernstein's final words expressed his realism about old age and death: "Old age, it's the only disease, Mr. Thompson, that you don't look forward to being cured of."
• next, Thompson met with Jedediah Leland, a college friend (and later drama critic) Kane had hired to work for him; Leland was a convalescent resident of the Huntington Memorial Hospital retirement center in Manhattan; Leland appeared senile, bitter, and frail
• Leland recalled Emily Kane, Kane's first wife, and commented on their disintegrating marriage after a short honeymoon period, over a period of nine years; Kane's rapidly deteriorating and failing marriage to her was visually captured in a memorable breakfast montage with Kane (told by six progressive intervals); it began with their adoring, talkative, newly-wed days and ended with their stony silence as an irreconciliable couple almost a decade later - the growing distance between them at their table emphasized their marriage's failure
• Leland then moved on to discuss Kane's second marriage to aspiring singer Susan Alexander, employed as a sales-girl in a sheet music store; he described how Kane met the 22 year-old amateur singer on a New York City street corner; the camera captured their growing attraction for each other in a series of close-ups and shot/counter-shots after she invited him into her apartment
• in another scene with Leland, an earlier flashback, Kane sought to be elected as governor of New York in the 1916 elections; he delivered a memorable political speech in vast Madison Square Garden in front of a gigantic poster of himself - on the eve of the gubernatorial election.during his political campaign; his opponent was political boss Jim Gettys (Ray Collins); Kane's future political hopes were dashed when Gettys discovered the affair; he forced Susan to write a letter to Emily, with an admission that ultimately smeared and exposed Kane's relationship and extra-marital affair with her; during a face-to-face confrontational scene, Kane refused to give up the race, in effect self-obsessively renouncing his own family and ultimately forfeiting the election; Kane decided to remain and stay with Susan and face a public scandal rather than return home with Emily
• after Kane's defeat due to his "love nest" with the 'singer' being revealed, Leland expressed his disillusionment and disgust with Kane's arrogance in assuming that the people would vote for him despite the scandal; shortly later, Susan became his second wife [Note: Emily and his son conveniently died in a car crash.] Kane attempted to use his wealth and influence to make his newlywed wife a success; he promoted her as a successful opera singer, although he actually forced her into a humiliating career as a truly untalented opera singer; he built her a 3ドル million opera house in Chicago
• during her debut in Salammbo as an opera singer on the Chicago stage of the new opera house, after the curtain rose, a memorable boom shot moved upwards to two stage hands who made personal comments about Susan's disastrous performance; Susan's career had become a test not only of her own singing or talent, but of Kane's own power and deluded judgment; in the dark city room offices of the Chicago Daily Inquirer following the performance, Kane fired the drunken Jedediah Leland and then spitefully finished the negative review of his wife's performance; it was the inevitable end of Leland's friendship with Kane; Leland's final thoughts with Thompson were about Kane's lonely last years at Xanadu - a monumental 'Coliseum'
• in the next segment, Thompson made a return visit to Atlantic City, to speak to a drunken Susan at the cheap El Rancho nightclub; she admitted: "Everything was his idea, except my leaving him"; a lengthy flashback told of her forced singing lessons, her disastrous debut, her failed operatic career, and their final claustrophobic days together at Xanadu; Kane finally allowed her to abandon her singing career after she attempted suicide following her NY performance
• in the next stage of his life, Kane built her a private castle-mansion in Florida named Xanadu, into which they both retreated and isolated themselves; there were impressive images of Xanadu's huge fireplace and Susan hunched over a crossword puzzle; he often wandered and stumbled through the echoing halls of the cavernous, eerie grandiosity of the monumental Xanadu; Kane was surrounded by dutiful servants and a vast collection of thousands of art treasures from around the world; after Susan packed her bags and departed, she left him alone in the claustrophobic castle, walking away from him through a succession of doorways

• in the concluding segment, reporter Thompson visited Kane's castle, Xanadu, and talked briefly to Kane's sinister butler/ major domo Raymond (Paul Stewart) who worked for Kane for eleven years; he described Susan's departure, when Kane went into a rage and angrily destroyed furniture; he recalled how Kane picked up in his hand the clear, snow crystal paperweight that Susan had left behind, viewed the self-enclosed, peaceful world in silence, and murmured "Rosebud"; then, he walked stiffly out of her room past the guests and servants and in front of an endlessly-reflecting full-size mirrored corridor
• Thompson was with other newsreel people who had gathered at the estate; as they talked together, they walked through the enormous warehouse stacked with crates, furniture, and other possessions; it was a panoramic view of Kane's basement warehouse showing its many discarded mementos; Thompson summarized his search for meaning:
  • "Mister 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"
• in the basement beneath Xanadu, butler Raymond was heard commanding: "Throw that junk"; the final fadeout scene focused in on the incineration of a sled in the furnace -- (revealing the meaning of "Rosebud" as young Kane's childhood playtoy) - as the smoke rose toward the sky
• the end credits sequence included clips from the film highlighting or underscoring the footage, with each actor's name (from the Mercury Company) - ending with the film's actual last line of dialogue from Walter Thatcher:
  • "I think it would be fun to run a newspaper"
• the ending was accompanied by a reprise of the sounds of the jaunty, march version of The Charlie Kane Song; after the clips, the remainder of the cast was listed on a single card (white letters on black), with Orson Welles' credit listed last as simply "Kane"