movie review of citizen kane

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"Rosebud." The most famous word in the history of cinema. It explains everything, and nothing. Who, for that matter, actually heard Charles Foster Kane say it before he died? The butler says, late in the film, that he did. But Kane seems to be alone when he dies, and the reflection on the shard of glass from the broken paperweight shows the nurse entering the room. Gossip has it that the screenwriter, Herman Mankiewicz, used "rosebud" as an inside joke, because as a friend of Hearst's mistress, Marion Davies, he knew "rosebud" was the old man's pet name for the most intimate part of her anatomy.

Deep Focus. Everyone knows that Orson Welles and his cinematographer, Gregg Toland , used deep focus in Kane. But what is deep focus, and were they using it for the first time? The term refers to a strategy of lighting, composition, and lens choice that allows everything in the frame, from the front to the back, to be in focus at the same time. With the lighting and lenses available in 1941, this was just becoming possible, and Toland had experimented with the technique in John Ford's The Long Voyage Home a few years earlier. In most movies, the key elements in the frame are in focus, and those closer or further away may not be. When everything is in focus, the filmmakers must give a lot more thought to how they direct the viewer's attention, first here and then there. What the French call mise-en-scene--the movement within the frame-- becomes more important.

Optical illusions. Deep focus is especially tricky because movies are two-dimensional, and so you need visual guideposts to determine the true scale of a scene. Toland used this fact as a way to fool the audience's eye on two delightful occasions in the film. One comes when Kane is signing away control of his empire in Thatcher's office. Behind him on the wall are windows that look of normal size and height. Then Kane starts to walk into the background of the shot, and we realize with surprise that the windows are huge, and their lower sills are more than six feet above the floor. As Kane stands under them, he is dwarfed--which is the intent, since he has just lost great power. Later in the film, Kane walks over to stand in front of the great fireplace in Xanadu, and we realize it, too, is much larger than it first seemed.

Visible ceilings. In almost all movies before Citizen Kane, you couldn't see the ceilings in rooms because there weren't any. That's where you'd see the lights and microphones. Welles wanted to use a lot of low-angle shots that would look up toward ceilings, and so Toland devised a strategy of cloth ceilings that looked real but were not. The microphones were hidden immediately above the ceilings, which in many shots are noticeably low.

Matte drawings. These are drawings by artists that are used to create elements that aren't really there. Often they are combined with "real" foregrounds. The opening and closing shots of Kane's great castle, Xanadu, are examples. No exterior set was ever built for the structure. Instead, artists drew it, and used lights behind it to suggest Kane's bedroom window. "Real" foreground details such as Kane's lagoon and private zoo were added.

Invisible wipes. A "wipe" is a visual effect that wipes one image off the screen while wiping another into view. Invisible wipes disguise themselves as something else on the screen that seems to be moving, so you aren't aware of the effect. They are useful in "wiping" from full-scale sets to miniature sets. For example: One of the most famous shots in Kane shows Susan Alexander's opera debut, when, as she starts to sing, the camera moves straight up to a catwalk high above the stage, and one stagehand turns to another and eloquently reviews her performance by holding his nose. Only the stage and the stagehands on the catwalk are real. The middle portion of this seemingly unbroken shot is a miniature, built in the RKO model workshop. The model is invisibly wiped in by the stage curtains, as we move up past them, and wiped out by a wooden beam right below the catwalk. Another example: In Walter Thatcher's library, the statue of Thatcher is a drawing, and as the camera pans down it wipes out the drawing as it wipes in the set of the library.

Invisible Furniture Moving. In the early scene in the Kanes's cabin in Colorado, the camera tracks back from a window to a table where Kane's mother is being asked to sign a paper. The camera tracks right through where the table would be, after which it is slipped into place before we can see it. But a hat on the table is still trembling from the move. After she signs the paper, the camera pulls up and follows her as she walks back toward the window. If you look sharply, you can see that she's walking right through where the table was a moment before.

The Neatest Flash-Forward in Kane. Between Thatcher's words "Merry Christmas" and "... a very Happy New Year," two decades pass.

From Model to Reality. As the camera swoops above the night club and through the skylight to discover Susan Alexander Kane sitting forlornly at a table, it goes from a model of the nightclub roof to a real set. The switch is concealed, the first time, by a lightning flash. The second time we go to the nightclub, it's done with a dissolve.

Crowd scenes. There aren't any in Citizen Kane. It only looks like there are. In the opening newsreel, stock footage of a political rally is intercut with a low-angle shot showing one man speaking on behalf of Kane. Sound effects make it sound like he's at a big outdoor rally. Later, Kane himself addresses a gigantic indoor rally. Kane and the other actors on the stage are real. The audience is a miniature, with flickering lights to suggest movement.

Slight Factual Discrepancies. In the opening newsreel, Xanadu is described as being "on the desert coast of Florida." But Florida does not have a desert coast, as you can plainly see during the picnic scene, where footage from an earlier RKO prehistoric adventure was back-projected behind the actors, and if you look closely, that seems to be a pterodactyl flapping its wings.

The Luce Connection. Although Citizen Kane was widely seen as an attack on William Randolph Hearst, it was also aimed at Henry R. Luce and his concept of faceless group journalism, as then practiced at his Time magazine and March of Time newsreels. The opening "News on the March" segment is a deliberate parody of the Luce newsreel, and the reason you can never see the faces of any of the journalists is that Welles and Mankiewicz were kidding the anonymity of Luce's writers and editors.

An Extra with a Future. Alan Ladd can be glimpsed in the opening newsreel sequence, and again in the closing warehouse scene.

Most Thankless Job on the Movie. It went to William Alland, who plays Mr. Thompson, the journalist assigned to track down the meaning of "Rosebud." He is always seen from behind, or in backlit profile. You can never see his face. At the movie's world premiere, Alland told the audience he would turn his back so they could recognize him more easily.

The Brothel Scene. It couldn't be filmed. In the original screenplay, after Kane hires away the staff of the Chronicle, he takes them to a brothel. The Production Code office wouldn't allow that. So the scene, slightly changed, takes place in the Inquirer newsroom, still with the dancing girls.

The Eyeless Cockatoo. Yes, you can see right through the eyeball of the shrieking cocatoo, in the scene before the big fight between Kane and Susan. It's a mistake.

The Most Evocative Shot in the Movie. There are many candidates. My choice is the shot showing an infinity of Kanes reflected in mirrors as he walks past.

The Best Speech in Kane. My favorite is delivered by Mr. Bernstein (Everett Sloane), when he is talking about the magic of memory with the inquiring reporter: "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 haven't thought of that girl."

Genuine Modesty. In the movie's credits, Welles allowed his director's credit and Toland's cinematography credit to appear on the same card--an unprecedented gesture that indicated how grateful Welles was.

False Modesty. In the unique end credits, the members of the Mercury Company are introduced and seen in brief moments from the movie. Then smaller parts are handled with a single card containing many names. The final credit down at the bottom, in small type, says simply: Kane...............Orson Welles

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Citizen kane, common sense media reviewers.

Classic should be required for any movie lover.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

No amount of money or possessions can ensure being

Charles Foster Kane is a classic case of a man sea

Two brief incidents: Kane slaps his wife; and in a

The discovery of his affair ends Kane's marria

Padres y cuidadores: establezcan límites para el l

Leading characters are drunk in two sequences. Sev

Parents need to know that Citizen Kane is a serious, grown-up film that will have little appeal for young kids. For teens (and any older kids who shows a budding interest in the art of movie-making), however, it is the must-see portrait of an early 20th century media tycoon. Made in 1941, it's thought by…

Positive Messages

No amount of money or possessions can ensure being loved or being happy. The deep hole in the heart of someone who feels unloved or unworthy can never be filled. A major theme is humility.

Positive Role Models

Charles Foster Kane is a classic case of a man searching for love and losing everything in his misguided efforts to find it. Seemingly idealistic and compassionate in his early adult life, he is eventually destroyed by self-destructive and delusional behavior that adversely affects everyone he appears to care about.

Violence & Scariness

Two brief incidents: Kane slaps his wife; and in a moment of fury he wrecks everything in the room.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

The discovery of his affair ends Kane's marriage and upends his political aspirations. No scenes of a sexual nature.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Padres y cuidadores: establezcan límites para el lenguaje en los contenidos de sus hijos con Plus. Únete ahora

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Leading characters are drunk in two sequences. Several other scenes show characters drinking alcoholic beverages. Smoking (pipe, cigar, cigarettes) appears occasionally throughout.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Citizen Kane is a serious, grown-up film that will have little appeal for young kids. For teens (and any older kids who shows a budding interest in the art of movie-making), however, it is the must-see portrait of an early 20 th century media tycoon. Made in 1941, it's thought by some to be the best movie of all time, both for its audacious techniques and for the depth of its characterization. Several scenes show principals drinking or drunk; there is pipe, cigar, and cigarette smoking throughout. Kane's implied adulterous affair has an impact on the plot, but there is no overt sexuality and no swearing or offensive language. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

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Community Reviews

• Parents say (18)
• Kids say (59)

Based on 18 parent reviews

What of the greatest movies

That deep focus and and lighting, what's the story.

As Charles Foster Kane ( Orson Welles ) dies, his last word is "Rosebud." Reporter Jerry Thompson is sent to find out who Kane really was and what Rosebud means. He meets with five different people who were important in Kane's life -- from the man who raised Kane to his second wife -- to try to understand the small mystery of Kane's last word and the larger mystery of the man who was capable of both integrity and corruption, and who seemed to have no sense of peace or happiness. Thompson delves into Kane's decision to buy a newspaper and its rise to an influential chain; his marriage to the niece of a president and his own ambition for public office; his affair with an aspiring opera singer. While the characters never reveal the meaning of "Rosebud," the viewer is permitted to solve that mystery. But the answer only proves that there are never any simple answers to the complexity of the human spirit.

Is It Any Good?

Kids who watch this film can never know how revolutionary it was. Every one of its dozens of innovations, from the flashback structure to the use of sets with ceilings for additional authenticity, has become all but standard. No problem -- there is time enough for them to study these aspects of Citizen Kane 's brilliance if they decide to learn more about film history and criticism. For their first viewing of this brilliant work (and for purposes of a family discussion), just let them focus on the story, the dialogue, and the characters, which remain as compelling and contemporary as they were more than 50 years ago.

Like Willie Stark in All the King's Men , Kane begins as a populist and dies corrupt and alone, and we cannot help but hope for some explanation of how that happened, as Thompson does. Both Kane and Stark were based on real-life figures. Kane was based largely but not completely on William Randolph Hearst, the almost impossibly wealthy heir to the largest gold and silver mine owner in America, who became a powerful publishing magnate. Kane might also have been based on Welles himself, only 25 years old when he co-wrote, directed, and starred in this, his first film. He spent the rest of his life coming up with one excuse or another for why he never came close to that level of achievement again.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about how Kane used his newspaper to influence politics and stir up the public's interest in war in Citizen Kane . Do newspapers and other news media still do that?

Why do you think he said "Rosebud" when he died?

Have you ever visited Hearst Castle, which was the model for Citizen Cane 's Xanadu? (An overhead shot of William Randolph Hearst's estate on the California Coast at San Simeon is shown in the film as Xanadu, where Kane lives.) It's now a California State Monument and is open to the public for tours.

How do the characters in Citizen Kane demonstrate humility ? Why is this character strength so important?

Movie Details

• In theaters : September 5, 1941
• On DVD or streaming : September 25, 2001
• Cast : Agnes Moorehead , Joseph Cotten , Orson Welles
• Director : Orson Welles
• Studio : Warner Bros.
• Genre : Classic
• Character Strengths : Humility
• Run time : 119 minutes
• MPAA rating : NR
• Last updated : June 11, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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Citizen Kane Reviews

Utterly unmissable.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Jul 1, 2024

Genuinely innovative film-making.

Full Review | Jan 18, 2024

Kane innovated several filmmaking techniques. The film pioneered a genre.

Full Review | Sep 14, 2023

Everything about this movie's production and origin, the precedent-setting technical aspects, and the innovative storytelling all prove that Orson Welles was a perfectionist filmmaker far ahead of its time.

Full Review | Original Score: A+ | Jul 24, 2023

Many argue it to be the greatest film ever made.

Full Review | Jun 27, 2023

What is significant is that we owe the most audacious film in the last ten years to a young man of twenty-five who had nothing to recommend him except his ideas.

Full Review | Jun 13, 2023

...the ultimate Welles film...

Full Review | Mar 1, 2023

A monumental film in cinema history.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Aug 19, 2022

This is an adult film, technically and psychologically adult, recognizing the ultimate obscurity in which every human life moves; one of the few, the very few, films to present not an abstraction, but a man.

Full Review | Aug 9, 2022

Orson Welles, who plays Kane, produces and directs, has driven to the heart of his subject with a fierce, thrusting energy that is rare and refreshing.

Full Review | Feb 17, 2022

A distinctly out-of-the-rut production and a great piece of cinema artistry.

Perhaps the film's most resonant quality is that, through the film's story and production, Welles inspires the same investigative process about himself and his picture.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Feb 14, 2022

"Citizen Kane" forever changed the way movies were made and interpreted. It's still relevant and unique 80 years after its release. Is it the greatest movie ever? Maybe, maybe not. The most influential? Without a doubt, yes.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Jan 9, 2022

I can't think of an American-made film that stands up to multiple viewings quite like 'Kane'...it never feels like Welles and company are showing off, just showing what a movie can do.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Dec 2, 2021

Welles is the most exciting thing that's happened since sound.

Full Review | Jun 10, 2021

I particularly like the structure of the film, especially the use of the news reel footage and the newspaper headlines to move the plot forward.

Full Review | Mar 24, 2021

We aren't going to quibble about the genius business. Time will take care of that and if Welles goes down in history as one well be happy to have been among those who enjoyed the results of his great talent.

Full Review | Mar 2, 2021

The sheer brilliance and audacity of Citizen Kane... make the film the most astounding cinematic achievement of the season. It ranks with Disney's Fantasia as a milestone in motion picture technique.

Ordinary standards will not serve for Citizen Kane; extravagance of idea for serious ends is not common enough in the cinema to provide a yardstick.

Citizen Kane Is a triumph not only for Orson Welles, but for his entire company as well.

Citizen Kane Review

30 Apr 1941

119 minutes

Citizen Kane

Even people who have never seen Citizen Kane know it's the greatest film of all time. Orson Welles' debut has become an undisputed cultural benchmark — the celluloid equivalent of War And Peace, the Mona Lisa, Hamlet, Moonlight Sonata, or Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (the Beatles album, not the Bee Gees movie). But how did it achieve and maintain this exalted position as a cinematic sacred cow?

From the start, the critics were on Orson's side. The Hearst press refused to carry ads or reviews for the film, thus fatally damaging its box office potential (Kane losing something in the region of $150,000), but elsewhere the notices seemed to recognise an instant classic. “The most surprising and cinematically exciting motion picture seen in many a month... it comes close to being the most sensational film ever made in Hollywood,” gushed The New York Times. “Belongs at once among the great screen achievements,” opined the New York World-Telegram. Other journalists placed Welles in the revered company of legendary figures Charles Chaplin and D. W Griffith, saying, “This one film establishes him as the most exciting director now working.”

However, such hoopla, coupled with a relative lack of Oscars, made little difference to Welles in the years immediately following Citizen Kane. Attendant ticket sales and industry cachet would have justified the free hand Welles was given to make his debut, and placed him in a far stronger bargaining position in subsequent battles with the studios. But with neither box office dollars nor gold-plated statuettes for protection, Welles was vulnerable: follow-up picture The Magnificent Ambersons was taken away from the director and given an upbeat ending, and his bold ideas for future projects were treated with a mixture of suspicion and contempt.

But as the next generation of filmmakers ascended to positions of influence, they tipped their collective hat to Welles at every opportunity, with Alan Yentob, for example, commissioning a feature-length Arena documentary on the great man for BBC TV (which is, incidentally, the best programme of its kind ever made). A critical canon was established with Kane firmly placed in the top spot. The film was named the best ever made in Sight & Sounds 1962 poll, a position it has held with stubbornness ever since.

Perhaps this is because although it was made in 1941, it still feels remarkably modern. Indeed, that it centres on the power of media moguldom generations before Murdoch; takes on numerous genre meldings (detective story, biopic, backstage musical, film noir and a stunning newsreel parody) and rejects linear storytelling (yet still remains both clear and gripping) make it more 90s than 40s. Yet, what separates it from modern multiplex fodder is its old school magic - showmanship, intelligence and risk-taking crafted into perfectly realised, stunning cinema.

Devoid of the pretension that usually permeates critics' choices, Kane unravels with intelligence, biting wit and a real sense of playful ambiguity. The big themes - the perversion of idealism, the corrupting nature of success, the impenetrability of human beings - are carried off with the lightest touch as Kane descends from vibrant newspaper man to manipulative Svengali to bloated, distant husband. While all the cast turn in great work - Cotten is breathtaking as Kane's cohort Leland - it is Welles' own performance (often overlooked in lieu of his other talents), that really grounds the directorial razzle-dazzle with substance.

To re-visit Citizen Kane is to experience the infinite possibilities of movies being realised right before your very eyes. The sheer audacity and delight Welles takes in flouting conventions and inventing new ones is what keeps it fresh. It is that unique movie, chocker with great bits - the breakfast table marriage montage, Leland's "girl on a ferry" reminiscence, that camera ascent to the theatre rafters - that solidifies into a totally satisfying whole.

Considering all its appended academic apparatus (be sure to work "deep focus cinematography"; "revolutionary use of ceilings" and "he was only 25!" into the pub conversation) it remains a gloriously entertaining classic.

Buy now on Amazon.

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‘Citizen Kane’: Film Review

By John C. Flinn Sr.

John C. Flinn Sr.

• Fantasia 84 years ago
• Film Review: The Grapes of Wrath 85 years ago
• Gone With the Wind 85 years ago

Orson Welles . who nearly scared the country half to death with his memorable broadcast of a blitz by invaders from Mars, has uncovered for press review his initial production, of which he is co-author, star, director and producer, following an advance publicity barrage that has made it the most widely exploited entertainment of the season. When its plan for exhibition finally is set by RKO, probably as a roadshow attraction in key spots, it is certain to draw heavily at the boxoffice. Welles has found the screen as effective for his unique showmanship as radio and the theatre.

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Although the public generally will find it wholly satisfactory as living up to its unusual advance ballyhoo, the film is a job of picture producing that will make indelible impress on contemporary production. It might have been of conventional design and still qualify as a big grosser. It happens to be a first-class film of potent importance to the art of motion pictures.

One cannot help but wonder what all the shooting was about.

Swift moving world events since before the turn of the century until the present furnish the background for ‘Citizen Kane.’ Story is credited jointly to Herman J. Mankiewicz and Welles. its unfolding is unusual and original to films, inasmuch as it is related through the experiences of five separate characters, other than the main figure. It is a narrative technique not infrequently employed by novelists. Wilkie Collins told the story of ‘The Moon Stone’ after this fashion.

Thus the early, rebellious, youthful years of the powerful Kane are described by the family attorney, who neither understood nor had any deep affection for the young man. The thread is picked up by Kane’s faithful business manager, then by his second wife, by his only earnest friend and finally by his butler. Each account spans an extended period of time, providing a different point of view and varying estimate of character. Pieced together, like a jigsaw puzzle, the parts and incidents omitted by earlier narrators are supplied by others.

When completed the authors’ conception of Kane is a man who had every material advantage in life, but who lacked a feeling of human sympathy and tolerance. It is a story of spiritual failure. While the case is well drawn and relentlessly expounded, the over-emphasis of harshness and selfishness militates against complete audience enjoyment. So intent is the effort to prove Kane a frustrate that no allowance is made to picture him as a human being. On this account he is not wholly real. Neither he nor his associates is blessed with the slightest sense of humor. There aren’t half a dozen snickers in the film.

Welles portrays the chief character with surprising success, considering that the picture marks his debut as a film actor. His associates are selected from his Mercury Theatre’s actors, few of whom have had previous screen experience. It would seem that their marquee obscurity might react unfavorably among prospective customers. The contrary is more likely, because whatever else ‘Citizen Kane’ may be, it is a refreshing cinematic novelty, and the general excellence of its acting is not the least of its assets. Outstanding performances are given by Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore, Everett Sloane, George Coulouris, Ruth Warrick, Ray Collins, Paul Stewart and Fortunio Bonanova.

Technically the film benefits by Gregg Toland’s fine photography and Vernon L. Walker’s special effects, which include new uses of montage. Musical score by Bernard Herrman is dramatic. The professional polish which brightens the production indicates that the RKO studio is capable of the highest standard of output.

‘Citizen Kane’ is a triumph for Orson Welles, who overnight, so to speak, joins the top ranks of boxoffice film personalities.

1941: Best Original Screenplay.

• Production: RKO/Mercury. Director Orson Welles; Producer Orson Welles; Screenplay Herman J. Mankiewicz, Orson Welles, [Joseph Cotten, John Houseman]; Camera Gregg Toland; Editor Robert Wise, [Mark Robson]; Music Bernard Herrmann; Art Director Van Nest Polglase, Perry Ferguson. Previewed at Broadway theatre, N.Y., April 9, '41.
• Crew: (B&W) Available on VHS, DVD. Original review text from 1941. Running time: 120 MIN.
• With: Kane - Orson Welles Kane (Age 8) - Buddy Swan Kane III - Sonny Bupp Kane's Father - Harry Shannon Jedeiah Leland - Joseph Cotten Susan Alexander - Dorothy Comingore Mr. Bernstein - Everett Sloane James W. Gettys - Ray Collins Walter Parks Thatcher - George Coulouris Mrs. Kane (Mother) - Agnes Moorehead Raymond - Paul Stewart Emily Norton - Ruth Warrick Herbert Carter - Erskine Sanford Thompson - William Alland Miss Anderson - Georgia Backus Mr. Rawlston - Philip Van Zandt Headwaiter- Gus Schilling Matiste - Fortunio Bonanova

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Citizen Kane (United States, 1941)

When it comes to Citizen Kane , one question eclipses all others: Is it the best film ever made?

For years, I have avoided writing a review of this movie, intimidated perhaps by its immense reputation. Having missed the 1991 fiftieth anniversary revival, I had only seen Citizen Kane on the small screen, and it didn't seem right somehow to discuss a picture of this magnitude without viewing it at least once in the manner originally envisioned. Well, some five years after I started writing reviews, the opportunity arose at a small film festival. This review is the result of that screening.

Citizen Kane has been lauded as the greatest motion picture to come out of America during the black-and-white era (or any era, for that matter). It also represents the pinnacle of Orson Welles' film making career. For, although Welles lived for more than forty years following the release of Kane , he never succeeded in recapturing the brilliance or fulfilling the promise of his first feature. Some maintain that his cut of The Magnificent Ambersons was more powerful, but the studio took the film away from him, slashing more than 40 minutes of footage. And, while Welles' Shakespeare movies and A Touch of Evil contain elements of brilliance, they are not on the same level as Kane . It has been argued, most forcefully in Thomas Lennon and Michael Epstein's 1996 documentary, The Battle Over Citizen Kane , that Kane not only started Welles' directorial career, but nearly ended it.

The movie opens with an unforgettable image of a distant, fog-shrouded castle on a hill. It's a classic gothic shot, and goes a long way towards establishing Citizen Kane 's mood. We quickly learn that this place, called Xanadu, is the dwelling of America's Kubla Khan, Charles Foster Kane (Welles), a one-time newspaper magnate who could have become President if not for an ill-advised extramarital affair. Xanadu, in the words of the faux newsreel that gives a brief history of Kane's life, is the "costliest monument of a man to himself." Any resemblance to The Ranch, William Randolph Hearst's real-life San Simeon abode, is not coincidental.

Within moments of the film's eerie, visually-stunning opening, Kane is dead, uttering the word "Rosebud" as he hunches over. His death, like his life, is a big news event, and the paper he owned, the New York Inquirer , is desperate to unearth the meaning of his cryptic last word. Is it a woman he bedded? A horse he bet on? A beloved pet? Some long-lost, unrequited love? The truth, which isn't revealed until the closing scene, represents one of the all-time greatest motion picture ironies, and leads us to believe that, on some level, Kane regretted not having led a simple, quiet life.

After showing Kane's death, Citizen Kane presents a ten-minute "newsreel" that details the man's larger-than-life accomplishments. Then, as a reporter (William Alland) from the Inquirer digs into Kane's past to learn the meaning of Rosebud, the mogul's history is unraveled through a series of extended flashbacks that represent the sometimes-overlapping, non- chronological accounts of five eyewitnesses. As the story unfolds, we see Kane, aided by his closest friend, Jedediah Leland (Joseph Cotton), build a nationwide newspaper empire out of one small paper with a circulation of less than 30,000. To do so, he displays equal parts ruthlessness and generosity, willing to lose 1,000,000 dollars a year to win the circulation wars. His New York Inquirer specializes in bold, splashy headlines that don't necessarily represent the truth. By the time he marries Emily Norton (Ruth Warrick), the President's niece, Kane is one of the most powerful men in America -- a public giant with designs on the White House.

Eventually, Kane moves into the political arena, but his bid for the governor's office crashes and burns when his rival, Boss Jim Gettys (Ray Collins), exposes Kane's affair with Susan Alexander (Dorothy Comingore). Following this failure, Kane divorces his first wife, marries Susan, then goes into seclusion in his unfinished palace of Xanadu. As the years pass, he becomes progressively more bitter and less approachable, until Susan, weary of Xanadu's isolation, leaves him. Alone and unloved, Kane awaits the inescapable hand of death.

The script for Citizen Kane , written by Herman J. Mankiewicz (with an assist from Welles), is a thinly-disguised fictional biography of publishing king William Randolph Hearst, who was 76 years old when the movie came out in 1941. And, while Hearst was offended by Welles' characterization of him, he was supposedly more angered by Kane 's unflattering portrayal of his beloved mistress, Marion Davies (who is represented in the film by Susan Alexander). To add insult to injury, "Rosebud" was allegedly Hearst's pet name for Marion's private parts.

Kane is not, however, all Hearst. There's more than a little Welles in the character, and, when one examines the direction the film maker's life took after Kane, the similarities become more obvious. After peaking with Kane , Welles began an slow-but-inevitable descent into isolation, eventually dying of a heart attack in 1985. Like Kane, he was a vital, passionate figure in youth, but a sad, pathetic one at the end. (Who can forget the Paul Masson commercials?) In retrospect, Kane can be viewed as being as much a representation of Welles as of Hearst.

Back in 1941, Hearst exerted his considerable power and influence to destroy Citizen Kane before it opened. He failed, but, even though Kane saw the light of day, Welles' young career (he was only 25 at the time) did not escape unscathed. A smear campaign in Hearts' papers branded him as a communist. Kane , nominated for nine Oscars, emerged with only one (best screenplay), and "boos" could be heard whenever the film was mentioned during the ceremony. And, before Welles had completed post-production, RKO wrested control of his next picture, The Magnificent Ambersons , from him.

As a film, Citizen Kane is a powerful dramatic tale about the uses and abuses of wealth and power. It's a classic American tragedy about a man of great passion, vision, and greed, who pushes himself until he brings ruins to himself and all around him. Of course, the production aspect that makes Citizen Kane so memorable is Greg Toland's landmark cinematography. In fact, it's impossible to have a serious discussion about this film without mentioning this element.

The movie is a visual masterpiece, a kaleidoscope of daring angles and breathtaking images that had never been attempted before, and has never been equaled since. Toland perfected a deep-focus technique that allowed him to photograph backgrounds with as much clarity as foregrounds (note the scene where Kane's parents discuss his future while, as seen through the window, the child plays outside in the snow). There's also an extremely effective low-angle shot late in the film where Kane trashes Susan's room. The cinematography documentary, Visions of Light , devoted an entire section to Citizen Kane . If any other film has come close to the nearly-perfect artistry of this one, I haven't seen it. Anyone foolishly wondering how black-and-white images could be superior to color needs only to watch the first few frames of Citizen Kane to understand. Not only is it impossible to envision this picture in color, the very thought is blasphemous.

There's no doubt that Citizen Kane was far ahead of its time. Uncompromising, unsentimental drama of this sort was not in vogue during an era that was better known for titles like The Wizard of Oz , Gone with the Wind , and How Green Was My Valley (which beat out Kane for best picture). In challenging Hearst, Welles forced a clash of egos that had wide-ranging repercussions. Yet, out of the conflict, Citizen Kane emerged stronger than ever. Would the film be as compelling if we didn't know how close it came to never being released? Or if we didn't recognize the parallels between the life of the main character and that of the director?

All of this brings me back to the question that I opened the review with: Is Citizen Kane the best movie ever made? Many critics would argue "yes" without pause, but my enthusiasm is more restrained. While I acknowledge that Kane is a seminal masterpiece, I don't think it's the greatest motion picture of all time. Even so, there's no denying the debt that the movie industry owes to Welles and his debut feature. Motion picture archives and collections across the world would be poorer without copies of this film, which will forever be recognized as a defining example of American cinema.

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The Criterion Collection

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Orson Welles

Citizen Kane

In the most dazzling debut feature in cinema history, twenty-five-year-old writer-producer-director-star Orson Welles synthesized the possibilities of sound-era filmmaking into what could be called the first truly modern movie. In telling the story of the meteoric rise and precipitous fall of a William Randolph Hearst–like newspaper magnate named Charles Foster Kane, Welles not only created the definitive portrait of American megalomania, he also unleashed a torrent of stylistic innovations—from the jigsaw-puzzle narrative structure to the stunning deep-focus camera work of Gregg Toland—that have ensured that Citizen Kane remains fresh and galvanizing for every new generation of moviegoers to encounter it.

In the first manufacturing run of Citizen Kane, there was an issue with Blu-ray disc 1 of all of our editions. Corrected stock is available as of January 19, and if you made a purchase prior to this date, see the Current post below for more information on how to exchange your Blu-ray disc 1.

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• United States
• 119 minutes
• Black & White
• Spine #1104

4K UHD + Blu-Ray Special Edition Features

• New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and three Blu-rays with the film and special features
• Three audio commentaries, featuring Orson Welles scholars James Naremore and Jonathan Rosenbaum, filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich, and film critic Roger Ebert
• The Complete “Citizen Kane” (1991), a rarely seen feature-length BBC documentary
• New interviews with critic Farran Smith Nehme and film scholar Racquel J. Gates
• Two video essays, by film scholar Robert L. Carringer and filmmakers David Cairns and Randall William Cook
• New program by film scholars and effects experts Craig Barron and Ben Burtt
• Interviews from 1990 with editor Robert Wise; actor Ruth Warrick; optical-effects designer Linwood Dunn; Bogdanovich; filmmakers Martin Scorsese, Henry Jaglom, Martin Ritt, and Frank Marshall; and cinematographers Allen Daviau, Gary Graver, and Vilmos Zsigmond
• New documentary featuring archival interviews with Welles
• Interviews with actor Joseph Cotten from 1966 and 1975
• The Hearts of Age, a brief silent film made by Welles as a student in 1934
• Television programs from 1979 and 1988 featuring appearances by Welles and Mercury Theatre producer John Houseman
• Program featuring a 1996 interview with actor William Alland on his collaborations with Welles
• Selection of The Mercury Theatre on the Air radio plays featuring many of the actors from Citizen Kane
• Production stills
• Newsreel footage
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• PLUS: Deluxe packaging, including a book with an essay by film critic Bilge Ebiri

New Cover by Mike McQuade

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Trailer for Citizen Kane

Citizen Kane: The Once and Future Kane

Modern in conception but postmodern in effect, the film hailed by many as the greatest ever made has been the subject of cinephilic passion and intense critical analysis since its release in 1941.

By Bilge Ebiri

Designing Citizen Kane , Down to the Letter

How to encapsulate the spirit of the most celebrated film of all time in a single image? The artist behind our Citizen Kane edition reflects on his winding path to the minimalistic final product.

By Mike McQuade

How to Get Your Citizen Kane Blu⁠-⁠ray Disc 1 Replaced

We discovered this weekend that there is a problem with Blu-ray disc 1 in all of our Citizen Kane editions that affects the contrast in the feature film. We’ll be making replacements available to all of our customers!

Wendell B. Harris Jr.’s Top 10

The director of the award-winning indie classic Chameleon Street sings Orson Welles’s praises, pays tribute to Paul Robeson and Lorraine Hansberry, and reflects on his longtime dream of remaking Nightmare Alley.

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Childe Orson

The noise and the nonsense that have attended the release of “Citizen Kane” may for the time being befog the merit of this extraordinary film. Too many people may have too ready an inclination to seek out some fancied key in it, after the silly flurry in our press, and to read into the biography of its leading character extraneous resemblances to persons in actual life. There is a special kind of pleasure to be found in such research, and the success of the most commonplace movie often lies in the simple fact that it suggests one’s neighbors, or the scandalous people who took the house on the corner one year, or the handsome bootlegger who used to call every week. “Citizen Kane” can hardly suggest the ways and habits of neighbors, at least to most householders, but it may remind some of revelations in Sunday supplements. To others, I suppose, it will all seem more like Mars—just Mr. Orson Welles and his Mars again.

Since movies hitherto have commenced with a cast list and a vast directory of credits, we are promptly jolted out of our seats when “Citizen Kane” ignores this convention and slides at once into its story. For introduction, there is only a stylized and atmospheric hint of background, of shut high gates and formidable fencing, and this formal difference seems revolutionary enough to establish Mr. Welles’ independence of the conventions. This independence, like fresh air, sweeps on and on throughout the movie, and in spite of bringing to mind, by elaborately fashioned decoration, a picture as old in movie history as “Caligari”, the irregularity of the opening sets a seal of original craftsmanship on what follows. Something new has come to the movie world at last.

Mr. Welles is not merely being smart, clever, or different. By the elliptical method he employs, he can trace a man’s life from childhood to death, presenting essential details in such brief flashes that we follow a complex narrative simply and clearly and find an involved and specialized character fully depicted, an important man revealed to us. With a few breakfast scenes, the progress of a marriage is shown as specifically as though we had read the wife’s diary. By a look and a gesture, electricians high above a stage describe the sad squawks an opera singer is giving below them. The use of an imaginary “March of Time” provides an outline which allows us to escape long exposition. Scenes in the great man’s Xanadu never drag, never oppress one with useless trimmings, yet we get an immediate comprehension of the unique, absurd establishment, with its echoes and its art collection, and the one gag allowed (“Don’t talk so loud. We’re not at home”) becomes just a reasonable statement.

Sometimes I thought there was too much shadow, that the film seemed to be performed in the dark. Mr. Welles likes a gloom. He blots out the faces of speakers and voices come from a limbo when it is what is being said and not how people look that is important. Only once or twice, at times like these, does the film seem mannered. For the most part we are too absorbed in the story and its characters to observe any tricks, too swiftly carried on by its intense, athletic scenes.

Dorothy Comingore, George Coulouris, and Joseph Cotten are on the list of the fine players, but clearly it is Orson Welles himself, as Mr. Kane, the great millionaire publisher, the owner of Xanadu, the frustrated politician, the bejowled autocrat, the colossus of an earlier American era, who is the centre and focus of all the interest of the film. By a novelist’s device, we learn of this man through the comments of the few who have been close to him, the second wife’s being the most sensational—that second wife whom he drives into the grotesque mortification of an operatic career for which she has no talent. The total impression, though, is not of something entirely monstrous. Mr. Kane does not come out of all this a melodrama villain. I think it is a triumph of the film, and proof of its solid value and of the sense of its director and all concerned, that a human touch is not lost. Sympathy for the preposterous Mr. Kane survives. Indeed, there is something about him which seems admirable. I can imagine that various rich gentlemen who own newspapers may find the characterization only right and proper, and claim that their sensitivity, like Mr. Kane’s, has been misunderstood by their intimates, and others may recognize many a Mr. Kane among their competitors.

With every picture now, Marlene Dietrich grows more and more a comic. I mean it in the most delightful and flattering sense, for the lady is very droll indeed, and charming also, in “The Flame of New Orleans.” René Clair has the direction of her here—the business of revealing her as a wicked siren of a century back, out to mulet the rich boys of the bayous. Both the director and the star clearly have a fine time of it. Her polite rendition of a drawing-room ditty about a maiden’s blush is one of the bright movie tidbits of this spring. The story is one of those brittle, tricky items, candidly ridiculous, but its control proves that M. Clair has managed to salvage his own talent and leave the mark of his skill upon his first Hollywood film. Men, though naturally kept busy in the film, are rather kept in the background. We find Roland Young anxiously scurrying about as an eligible bachelor, and Bruce Cabot is here, too, as an eligible sailor. The sailor manages, I noted, to revivify that spark we used to recognize in the Marlene of the heartbreak days. Now the spark serves merely as part of the holiday fireworks.

Even Gale Sondergaard (formidable female that she is), Basil Rathbone, Hugh Herbert, Brod Crawford, and Bela Lugosi don’t manage to make a good mystery out of “The Black Cat.” The shade of Edgar Allan Poe, chancing in on the picture, would probably be the only spectator to remain startled or surprised by the plot after the first few minutes. Quickly the film shows itself to be the usual kind of thing about an old house with secret passages, sliding panels, disappearing figures, reaching hands, and the like. Greedy relatives and insane menials scheme and maneuver. There are murders and a goodly number of Hugh Herbert squeals, and cats and kittens. ♦

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Production notes and credits

Academy award nominations (* denotes win).

What is Citizen Kane about?

Who is the protagonist of citizen kane based on, why is citizen kane such an important film, what is the significance of “rosebud” in citizen kane.

Citizen Kane

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• The New York Times - Who Wrote ‘Citizen Kane’? It’s No Mystery
• Senses of Cinema - Citizen Kane: Biography and the Unfinished Sentence
• Library of Congress - "Citizen Kane"
• Filmsite - Citizen Kane (1941)
• American Film Institute - Citizen Kane
• LiveAbout - Citizen Kane' Synopsis and Plot Summary
• History Today - Citizen Kane (1941)
• Turner Classic Movies - Citizen Kane
• Internet Archive - "Citizen Kane"
• Citizen Kane - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)
• Table Of Contents

The plot of Citizen Kane centres on the rise and fall of publishing magnate Charles Foster Kane. Following Kane’s death at the start of the film, a reporter interviews those who knew Kane in an attempt to better understand his life and the meaning of “Rosebud,” his last word. Flashback episodes of Kane’s life are shown in correspondence with the interviews.

Where does Citizen Kane take place?

Based on flashbacks of discrete episodes in Kane’s life, Citizen Kane mostly takes place in three different settings: Colorado during Kane’s childhood, New York at the height of his success as a media magnate, and finally Florida as Kane nears his demise.

The protagonist of Citizen Kane is said to have been based on real-life magnate William Randolph Hearst . Hearst was an American newspaper publisher who built up the nation’s largest newspaper chain and whose methods significantly influenced the practice of American journalism. He fought the production of Citizen Kane from the start and reportedly barred mention of it in his newspapers.

On a technical level, Citizen Kane is important for the innovative lighting and focusing methods of its cinematographer, Gregg Toland , and the dramatic editing style of Robert Wise . It was Orson Welles ’s debut as a film director, and it has been hailed by many critics as one of the greatest movies of all time.

“Rosebud” is the last word spoken by Citizen Kane ’s protagonist, Charles Kane, on his deathbed at the beginning of the film. The meaning of the word remains a mystery for much of the film, until “Rosebud” is eventually revealed to be the name of Kane’s beloved sled from his childhood. Critics have suggested that the word alludes to the last time Kane was truly happy.

Citizen Kane , American film drama, released in 1941, that was directed , produced, and cowritten by Orson Welles , who also starred in the lead role. Citizen Kane is acclaimed by many critics as the greatest movie ever made. As a landmark work in the history of cinema, it ranks among the few films ever produced for which a remake, in the opinion of most critics, is all but unthinkable. Deemed “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant” to America’s film heritage , it was among the first films selected in 1989 for inclusion in the Library of Congress ’s National Film Registry .

(Read Martin Scorsese’s Britannica essay on film preservation.)

Welles’s much-analyzed drama centres on the rise and fall of a publishing magnate, Charles Foster Kane, who closely resembles William Randolph Hearst . (Hearst fought the film’s production from the start, and, when he was unsuccessful in his efforts to ban the film outright, he reportedly barred mention of it in his newspapers.) The mystery in the film surrounding the word “Rosebud,” which, it is revealed, is the name of the beloved sled of Kane’s childhood, made that word famous around the world and gave it a cultural significance well beyond the realm of cinema.

Welles was only 25 years old when he produced the film, and the movie’s groundbreaking techniques under his direction—primarily the innovative lighting and focusing methods of cinematographer Gregg Toland and the dramatic editing style of Robert Wise —continue to influence filmmakers today. The film also benefited from an equally acclaimed supporting cast, many of whom worked on Welles’s famed radio show Mercury Theatre on the Air as well.

• Studio: RKO Radio Pictures
• Director: Orson Welles
• Writers: Herman J. Mankiewicz and Orson Welles
• Music: Bernard Hermann
• Running time: 119 minutes
• Orson Welles (Charles Foster Kane)
• Joseph Cotten (Jedediah Leland)
• Dorothy Comingore (Susan Alexander Kane)
• Agnes Moorehead (Mary Kane)
• Ruth Warrick (Emily Kane)
• Ray Collins (James W. Gettys)
• Everett Sloane (Mr. Bernstein)
• Lead actor (Orson Welles)
• Screenplay*
• Cinematography (black and white)
• Art direction (black and white)

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The Rise (and Inevitable Fall) of Citizen Kane As the Greatest Movie Ever Made

As a child cinephile, largely guided by his father, there was only one movie that David Fincher was allowed to think of as worthy of the title “the greatest ever made.” “When we talked about stupid things like ‘Are the Beatles the best band in the world?’ [my dad] would say, ‘Well, here are certain perspectives on that.’ But when it got down to ‘What’s the greatest movie ever made?’ it was without pause Citizen Kane ,” Fincher recalled to Vulture’s Mark Harris earlier this year. One could have favorites, but Citizen Kane was always number one.

Maybe it’s hard to imagine now, but for many years, Kane ’s dominance wasn’t a matter of personal preference. It was practically a piece of data — like the name of the president, or the location of Florida. Miles and miles of words have been written about why Orson Welles’s masterpiece was so widely acclaimed — why it was (and is) such a monumental film. And miles and miles of words have been written, of course, about whether it deserves that acclaim — not to mention who, exactly, is responsible for its greatness. But how did Citizen Kane become so firmly established at the top of the canon in the first place? Who put it there?

Unlike a lot of other classics whose greatness was recognized belatedly, Citizen Kane actually came roaring out of the gate. It was one of the most heavily anticipated pictures of 1941 — partly because young Orson Welles was already a phenomenon of radio and stage, a wunderkind who had made the cover of Time magazine at the age of 23 and whose Hollywood debut had been greatly publicized, and partly because William Randolph Hearst’s media empire began waging a war against Kane once it became clear that the ostensibly fictional character of Charles Foster Kane bore more than a passing resemblance to Hearst himself.

The film’s advance notoriety was both a blessing and a curse. By the time Kane began screening for the press, its theatrical fate was in jeopardy. RKO had already moved its release date several times, and efforts were underway by the other studios — many of whose chiefs had close ties to Hearst — to buy and destroy the print before it could be seen. Oddly, all these efforts may have helped build additional hype around Kane . For journalists and critics writing about the movie (at least, for non-Hearst publications), there was some urgency in making sure that readers knew that the film was, you know, good. The poster’s tagline “It’s Terrific!” seems quaint now, but back in 1941, it was probably answering the question on everyone’s lips: “So, how is it?”

But Kane wasn’t a financial success. Despite the accolades — it won Best Picture from the New York Film Critics Circle and National Board of Review, and was nominated for nine Oscars, going on to win Best Screenplay — the movie didn’t make its money back, primarily because the major studios barred it from their theaters. Back then, the Hollywood majors actually owned most of the screens in the country, a fact which had helped power the rise of the studio system. (There is an elegant and touching irony in this: The studios’ control of theaters allowed them to effectively sabotage Citizen Kane at the box office. Seven years later, after a landmark anti-trust case brought about by the U.S. government, they were forced to relinquish their theatrical holdings. This helped precipitate the gradual decline of the studio system and the eventual rise of the Film Brat Generation … led by directors who worshipped Citizen Kane and Orson Welles and who would ultimately transform the industry.)

Back in 1941, the 25-year-old Welles made an ideal target for the right-leaning Hearst organization — an uppity, leftist kid who had scandalized ordinary Americans with his notorious War of the Worlds broadcast, who had staged an all-Black version of Macbeth , an anti-fascist modern-dress version of Julius Caesar , who was at that moment trying to get a production of Richard Wright’s Native Son off the ground. They even tried to get him arrested: Welles recounted that during a lecture tour in Buffalo, New York, he was warned at dinner one night not to go back to his hotel, as there was a 14-year-old girl and a couple of Hearst photographers waiting in his room for him. Welles’s co-writer Herman J. Mankiewicz — whose perceived betrayal in helping to make Citizen Kane was seemingly greater, since he had been friends with both Hearst and his mistress Marion Davies (in Fincher’s film, he writes the script as a kind of score-settling confessional) — did come in for his share of harassment, too but the vast majority of it was directed at Welles, who was more recognizable, and easier to hate.

Following that initial theatrical run, Kane didn’t seem to get the extended life other acclaimed studio pictures enjoyed. 1942’s Casablanca was re-released in 1949, for example, while 1939’s Gone With the Wind was re-released in 1942, 1947, and 1952. RKO didn’t even bother to re-release Kane when Hearst died in 1951, noting that they didn’t want to lose any more money on the film.

But what America dismissed, Europe embraced. After World War II, Kane began to make its way across the formerly war-torn corners of the continent. It opened in France in June of 1946, in Italy in November of 1948, in Austria in September of 1949. Along the way, it became a phenomenon. Francois Truffaut (whose pseudo-autobiographical Day for Night features a scene of the protagonist as a child stealing the lobby-cards for Kane ) talks of Welles’s picture as a rite of passage for himself and others: “The appearance of Citizen Kane was an extraordinary event for cinemaphiles of our generation,” he wrote in 1959. “This film, I believe, consecrated a great many of us to vocation of cineaste. It was shown regularly for five or six years, and we went to see it at each showing — first at Marbeuf, it went on to L’Artistic, then to Reflets, to Studio Raspail, to Studio Parnasse, and finally to Cine-Opera which became the Vendome, where it is shown again today,” Truffaut recalled, counting off the cinemas where he and others had seen the movie as if they were stops on a pilgrimage.

“Thanks in large measure to film writers in France, the film world began to see Citizen Kane as a masterpiece, just as it had done when the motion picture debuted in 1941,” writes Harlan Lebo, in his excellent book Citizen Kane: A Filmmaker’s Journey . It’s interesting that the debates around Kane so often center on who deserves credit for its screenplay — a controversy that Fincher’s latest, Mank , has reignited — since these foreign cineastes were generally responding to something other than Kane ’s sparkling, brilliant script. (Indeed, Truffaut noted how poorly it had been subtitled in French.) They were responding to the visual style, to the inventiveness of Gregg Toland’s cinematography, and to Welles’s experiments with sound, much of which was inspired by his background in radio. For Andre Bazin, who would go on to co-found Cahiers du Cinema in 1951 and become the spiritual father of the New Wave, Kane represented, in Welles and Toland’s use of deep focus and long takes, a new understanding of realism in the cinema. “ Citizen Kane is part of a general movement, of a vast stirring of the geological bed of cinema, confirming that everywhere up to a point there had been a revolution in the language of the screen,” he wrote in the early 1950s.

Still, it took some time for Kane to become a consensus favorite. In early 1952, a referendum of around 100 filmmakers was held in Brussels to determine the best movies of all time. There was barely any mention of Kane there, either on the final list or among the runners-up. (Of the few ballots made available from that voting, it only appears on one, that of the future director of Lawrence of Arabia and Bridge on the River Kwai , David Lean.) Inspired by that Brussels referendum, a few months later Sight & Sound magazine conducted its first international poll of 85 critics to determine the greatest movies ever made. Kane fared a bit better on that list — it didn’t crack the top ten, though it was a runner-up. Looking at some of the ballots that Sight & Sound made available at the time, the film’s main support comes from British critics (some of that probably because they were also overrepresented in the voting pool, since Sight & Sound is a British publication).

May 1956 finally saw the first major re-release of Kane across theaters in the U.S. But perhaps more importantly, it also began airing on television that year. RKO had been among the first studios whose catalog was sold to TV, and suddenly, Citizen Kane , after lying dormant though much of the 1940s and early 1950s, was ubiquitous on a mass medium. That was when a lot of the filmmakers and critics who would go on to define modern American cinema experienced Welles’s work for the first time. (Among them was a young Martin Scorsese, who recalled seeing Kane — on his list of the ten greatest of all time — on WOR-TV’s “Million Dollar Movie” as a kid.)

But it’s not just that Kane was suddenly available. It was also the right movie at the right time. Maybe it had been ahead of the curve back in 1941, but now, the curve had arrived. Synthesizing the stylistic hallmarks of the preceding half century of cinema that came before it, morphing from horror film to mock-documentary to drama to musical to comedy to tragedy, Citizen Kane was a film school condensed into 119 minutes. Welles often credited its achievement to his own inexperience and ignorance: He was able to flout cinematic convention and clichés because he didn’t know any better, and he was able to create such remarkable images because he was willing to let his veteran cinematographer Gregg Toland go to town with the camera and the lighting. For all the silly talk of Welles as a credit-hog, he never passed up a chance over the years to cite Toland’s enormous contributions to Kane , a fact which he had immortalized onscreen by sharing his own director card with the cinematographer during the closing credits.

Despite its limited budget, Kane also had a certain all-American brashness and extravagance, without the old-fashioned epic indulgence of a Gone With the Wind or the jingoistic qualities of some wartime pictures. It looked forward even as it looked backward — an ideal film for a generation seeking to forget the war while also feeling somewhat conflicted about the economic boom that had begun in earnest in the early 1950s. Kane had freshness and cynicism in equal measure. Kane and Mankiewicz’s tale of the rise and rise of a businessman who came from nothing, built a massive empire, then lost his soul indulges in the charm and myth of power and money while also showing their downside. It’s a movie about spiritual corruption that lets you nevertheless enjoy the journey towards spiritual corruption. “It is a demonstration of the force of power and an attack on the force of power,” Truffaut had written. Is it any wonder then that directors who adored Kane went on to make such films as The Godfather , Barry Lyndon , Scarface , and Goodfellas ?

Sight & Sound ’s 1962 poll is generally regarded as the first official indication of Kan e’s emergence as the greatest movie of all time, where it just edged out L’Avventura and Rules of the Game to overtake the No. 1 spot. There had been yet another Brussels poll of filmmakers a few years earlier — in 1958, at the Brussels World’s Fair. There, Kane came in ninth place, one of only three sound films to place in the Top 12. It would go on to dominate the Sight & Sound poll in 1972, 1982, 1992, and 2002. (Along the way, it would top lots of other surveys as well.) Looking at the polls and individual ballots over the years, you can see Kane ’s influence growing, as it’s increasingly featured on the lists of international critics — starting with the British, then moving on to other continental critics as well as American ones, then expanding even further abroad. Sometimes, it’s the only Hollywood movie featured on a critic’s ballot. Kane may have risen to the fore thanks to television, but it grew its lead because in many ways it came to represent both the pinnacle of the American studio system — the most dominant film industry on the planet — as well as one auteur’s rebuke of it.

In some senses, the debate over who actually wrote Citizen Kane slips in between these two extremes. In her 1971 essay, “Raising Kane,” Pauline Kael made the case for Kane not as a brazen, important directorial statement but the high-point of a rich 1930s tradition of tough-minded, satirical newspaper pictures, some of which Mankiewicz, himself a former newspaper man, had worked on. “Raising Kane” is a phenomenal work of criticism: Kael does a remarkable job reclaiming those 1930s pictures and their writers, and her analysis of Kane as a movie is brilliant. But when it comes down to assessing who contributed what to the film, she’s not on very solid journalistic ground. (For a more definitive look at the creation of Kane , I highly recommend historian Robert Carringer’s meticulously researched 1984 book The Making of Citizen Kane .) Welles took Kael’s perceived attack hard, but in truth, the director wasn’t her real target; she actually quite liked some of Welles’s later efforts. Kael’s real quarry were auteurist critics like Andrew Sarris, with whom she tussled throughout the 1960s and ’70s. By bringing the focus back to Mankiewicz, and suggesting that he was primarily responsible both for the script and for what made Kane so special, Kael perhaps hoped to do away with the idea of the all-powerful auteur once and for all. (Of course, auteurism never actually claimed this, but that’s a heated conversation for another time.)

Oddly enough, Kael’s salvos also helped Citizen Kane maintain its status as the greatest movie ever made, establishing it as the fulcrum on which debates about the nature of cinema as an art form continued to turn, several decades after its release. Also helping was the notion that Welles’s career was a long, self-destructive slide down after Citizen Kane , an idea that Fincher has seemed to buy into in some of his recent interviews . It’s important to remember that Welles was never a “has been” — he remained a major, recognizable actor for pretty much his whole life. He was a regular presence on radio, and later, on TV. And the films he released over the years, whatever their issues, weren’t exactly disasters. Look no further than the movie he released immediately after Kane : 1942’s The Magnificent Ambersons , a lyrical, melancholy adaptation of Booth Tarkington’s novel about the fall of a great American family that was also widely acclaimed and nominated for Best Picture. Ambersons was famously taken out of Welles’s hands and given a ridiculous happy ending; the lost footage from the director’s original cut remains the Holy Grail of film archeology. Despite all that, it’s a near-masterpiece, and even placed on the Sight & Sound lists in 1972 and 1982, at ninth and eighth place respectively. Additionally, many of us consider later Welles titles like The Trial (1962) and F for Fake (1973) to be equal to, or greater than, Kane . (Hell, Sarris himself never put Citizen Kane on any of his Sight & Sound lists; he preferred Ambersons .)

By the time the 1962 poll was conducted, Welles had not only won the Palme d’Or at Cannes with his 1951 adaptation of Othello , he had made 1955’s Mr. Arkadin/Confidential Report — a Kane -like thriller about the search for a mysterious businessman, told via flashbacks from the people who knew him — and had attempted a Hollywood comeback with the deranged noir Touch of Evil in 1958. Welles’s post- Kane efforts were brilliant, sometimes astoundingly so … but they were decidedly imperfect. To put it another way: They weren’t Citizen Kane , which with each passing year seemed like a kind of Camelot, an Edenic moment when young Orson Welles briefly had final cut and the full faith and credit of RKO Pictures, at the height of the American studio system. Thus, the more films Welles made, the more the legend of Citizen Kane grew. And the further Hollywood itself moved away from the heydays of the studio system, the more Citizen Kane seemed to shine like a distant city on a long-ago hill.

Then, as it must to all movies, death came to Citizen Kane ’s top spot on the Sight & Sound list. In the poll’s 2012 iteration, Welles’s film fell … all the way to second place, behind Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo , which now claims the top spot. It’s understandable. The poll has grown over the years, becoming more international and more diverse, and more titles are now available to us than have ever been before in the history of humankind. The masterful Vertigo , savaged by critics upon its release in 1958, had slowly clawed its way up the list over the years. It was a runner-up in 1972, eighth place in 1982, fourth in 1992, and second in 2002, just five points behind Kane . Along the way, restorations and re-releases in the 1980s and ’90s had helped Vertigo ’s cause, as had its ubiquity in academia, where its psychosexual layers and scopophilic indulgences fueled thousands of term papers (one of them, mine). It’ll be interesting to see if Vertigo survives atop the list, or if it will be dethroned in 2022 by something else. Tokyo Story and The Rules of the Game have been hovering in the top five for decades, 2001: A Space Odyssey has been slowly creeping up the list, and, let’s not forget, Citizen Kane is still there, too. But one thing seems sure. The idea of a consensus pick, and for that matter the need for any kind of consensus, is a thing of the past. Citizen Kane , the ultimate canon title, has itself become proof that canons are there to be exploded.

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‘Watchmen: Chapter 1’ Review: The ‘Citizen Kane’ of Superhero Comics Is Now an Adequate Animated Movie

It may be hard to believe, but there was a time when people said Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ “Watchmen” would be impossible to film. After all, it was the “Citizen Kane” of superhero comics, a marriage of inventive storytelling, critical commentary and visual ingenuity that capitalized on the unique artistic possibilities of its medium. Not to mention that it would be expensive as hell to make and, if adapted faithfully, rated “R” — a doubly dicy proposition in the Hollywood studio system.

But that was then and this is now. Zack Snyder brought “Watchmen” to the big screen 15 years ago with a well-intentioned but overblown adaptation that was respectful to the material until it wasn’t, altering a single, load-bearing plot point that made the whole story collapse. After decades of anticipation, that movie came and went, more or less failing to make the impact on superhero cinema the way its source material did on comics. An HBO series set after the events of the original tale, executive produced by Damon Lindelof and released in 2019, was widely acclaimed but — to be fair — was not a direct adaptation of Moore and Gibbons’ material, so it had different hurdles to overcome.

The latest attempt to adapt their work, “Watchmen: Chapter 1,” is a CG-animated two-part motion picture, faithfully recreating many of the panels from the comic and much of its narration and dialogue. The filmmakers seem to be daring the audience to find any fault with “Watchmen: Chapter 1,” because any problems with an adaptation this literal could only be problems with the comics themselves. Unfortunately that’s not the case. It’s an admirable and relatively successful retelling of the story, but it struggles with the visualizations and it sidesteps the biggest problems with translating “Watchmen” to a new medium, instead of overcoming them.

“Watchmen,” for those who have never read it or seen the previous movie, takes place in an alternate version of 1985 where superheroes really existed, but were neither “super” nor “heroic.” They all went into the vigilante business for their own personal, typically suspect reasons, and they most certainly did not save the world. The only “hero” with actual super powers, Doctor Manhattan (Michael Cerveris), altered the course of the Vietnam War, leaving Nixon in power for nearly two decades. Earth is now on the brink of doomsday and it’s mostly our saviors’ fault.

The plot kicks in when a superhero named The Comedian (Rick D. Wasserman) gets thrown out a window. Rorschach (Titus Welliver) suspects someone is hunting down the old “masks,” and reconnects with his former allies to warn them. Nite-Owl (Matthew Rhys) has given up on crime-fighting and, by extension, himself. Ozymandias (Troy Baker) has sold out completely, running a corporation built on his old superhero brand. Silk Spectre (Katee Sackhoff), who only became a superhero to please her mother, lives with Doctor Manhattan, whose powers have alienated him from their relationship and the entire human experience.

Despite its title, “Watchmen: Chapter 1” doesn’t cover the first chapter of the comics, it covers the first half of the mini-series. Moore and Gibbons’ work was originally serialized and the movie plays that way, repeatedly building to important moments and revelations and then fading out and picking back up again. Any faithful adaptation was bound to feel a little episodic, and any criticism of that approach would of course be missing the point: It’s the first half of a serialized story. Them’s the breaks.

The problem that “Watchmen: Chapter 1” falls prey to is, unfortunately, in every shot. The CG-animation style used to recreate the artwork captures the lines and framing but not the atmosphere. The colors are bright, the lighting is crisp and all of the effort that went into grounding this tale in relative realism has been thrown — like the Comedian himself — out the window. The story is told but the storytelling always feels off. It doesn’t help that character animations aren’t always convincing either — early scenes show pedestrians walking with all the stiffness of an early Hanna-Barbera cartoon.

Efforts to capture specific panels from the comics are noble to a point, but the biggest problem with adapting “Watchmen” into a new medium isn’t the imagery or even the story. The problem is that Moore and Gibbons’ work was specifically designed as a comic, and comics aren’t just storyboards. There’s a chapter where Doctor Manhattan, having exiled himself to Mars, reveals his non-linear understanding of time. All of his memories co-exist with his present, just like they all co-exist on the page, the shared physical space standing in for a shared chronology.

“Watchmen: Chapter 1,” like Snyder’s adaptation, captures the narrative progression of Doctor Manhattan’s non-linear memories. But since cinema takes place over a finite amount of time — as opposed to a finite amount of space — it emphasizes the “progression” and only gives us the gist of the “non-linear.” We understand what happens, the basic concepts come across, but the mediums have fundamental dissimilarities and “Watchmen” was designed to maximize the potential of only one of them. When we said the comics couldn’t be filmed, this was what we really meant; getting the gist of it isn’t the same as “getting it.”

Despite the fundamental problems with any “Watchmen” adaptation, and the serviceable but not entirely effective visual aesthetic, “Chapter 1” does a respectable job of retelling this story. The score by Tim Kelly revives much of the atmosphere that the animation lost, with moody drones that fittingly evoke the work of Vangelis. The acting is also largely excellent and frequently brings texture and insight to the dialogue. Welliver in particular highlights different dimensions of Rorschach, whose growling monologues have a violent but pitiful quality to them. When he muses, “All the whores and politicians will up and shout ‘Save us!’ and I’ll look down and whisper, ‘No,’” it doesn’t sound like he’s making a grim prediction — it sounds like he’s describing a pathetic power fantasy. Even real-life superheroes have to pretend they’re more important than they are. That’s why some of them put on costumes in the first place.

“Watchmen: Chapter 1” comes from director Brandon Vietti, whose excellent TV series “Young Justice” is one of the gold standards for animated superhero storytelling. What he has undertaken is a difficult, possibly thankless task and the fact that it works at all — let alone rather well — is a testament to his talent. But one can’t help but wonder what the point is, beyond making as straightforward and complete a cinematic adaptation as possible. If it’s this exact in its translation, it’s arguably redundant, since the comic already tells the same story in a more distinct and challenging way. If it was to accomplish any loftier goal, I guess we’ll have to wait for “Chapter 2” to find out.

“Watchmen: Chapter 1” is now streaming on-demand. Physical copies go on sale Aug. 27.

The post ‘Watchmen: Chapter 1’ Review: The ‘Citizen Kane’ of Superhero Comics Is Now an Adequate Animated Movie appeared first on TheWrap .

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(1941), is probably the world's most famous and highly-rated film, with its many remarkable scenes and performances, cinematic and narrative techniques and experimental innovations (in photography, editing, and sound). Its director, star, and producer were all the same genius individual - Orson Welles (in his film debut at age 25!), who collaborated with Herman J. Mankiewicz on the script (and also with an uncredited John Houseman), and with Gregg Toland as his talented cinematographer. [The amount of each person's contributions to the screenplay has been the subject of great debate over many decades.] Toland's camera work on Karl Freund's expressionistic horror film exerted a profound influence on this film. , and it was retold in HBO's cable-TV film (the film's title refers to the project numbering for the film by the studio, before the film was formally titled). New York Susan Alexander suffers humiliating failure as opera singer, attempts suicide, separates from Kane) No breakdown in Davies' unmarried relationship with Hearst) There were many similarities between Polish mistress/wife Ganna Walska of Chicago heir Harold Fowler McCormick (her fourth husband) who bought expensive voice lessons for her (although she was only mediocre in talent), promoted her lackluster career, and lavishly supported her for the lead role in the production of at the Chicago Opera in 1920. [Footnote: In early March of 2012, California's Hearst Castle hosted a screening of Orson Welles' Citizen Kane (1941) , 71 years after its original release. It was part of the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival. One of Hollywood's most famous behind-the-scenes battles occurred over the making of the film, when William Randolph Hearst banned coverage of the film in his newspapers, and tried to curtail its success. He accused the film of wrongly portraying him as a ruthless, publishing tycoon who died alone in the castle. Steve Hearst, VP of the Hearst Corporation, who allowed the screening, believed that it would highlight the fictional elements in the movie, and "correct the record." Proceeds from the screening raised money for upkeep of the estate's extensive art collection.] Welles' film was the recipient of nine Oscar nominations with only one win - Best Original Screenplay (Mankiewicz and Welles). The other eight nominations included Best Picture (Orson Welles, producer), Best Actor and Best Director (Welles), Best B/W Cinematography (Toland), Best Art Direction (Perry Ferguson and Van Nest Polglase), Best Sound Recording (John Aalberg), Best Dramatic Picture Score (Bernard Herrmann with his first brilliant musical score), and Best Film Editing (Robert Wise). With his four Academy Awards nominations, Welles became the first individual to receive simultaneous nominations in those four categories. The less-lauded John Ford picture How Green Was My Valley (1941) won the Best Picture honor. There were at least two reasons for the film not winning Best Picture or any other major awards - (1) the predictable backlash from the Hearst media empire for Welles' passion project that had already been derided with a 'smear' campaign, and (2) the intense dislike for the cocky, acknowledged genius and 25 year-old director and producer Orson Welles who was considered a Hollywood outsider. Many of the performers from Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre group made their screen debuts in the film, among them Joseph Cotten (Kane's oldest and best friend, and his newspaper's drama critic), Dorothy Comingore (Kane's second wife), Ruth Warrick (Kane's first wife), Ray Collins (Kane's political opponent), Agnes Moorehead (Kane's mother), Everett Sloane (Kane's devoted and loyal employee and business manager), Erskine Sanford (the newspaper's editor-in-chief), Paul Stewart (Kane's butler), George Couloris (Kane's legal guardian and bank manager), and William Alland (the chief investigative reporter). More importantly, the innovative, bold film is an acknowledged milestone in the development of cinematic technique, although it 'shared' some of its techniques from Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940) and other earlier films. It uses film as an art form to energetically communicate and display a non-static view of life. Its components brought together the following aspects: use of a subjective camera unconventional lighting, including chiaroscuro, backlighting and high-contrast lighting, prefiguring the darkness and low-key lighting of future film noirs inventive use of shadows and strange camera angles, following in the tradition of German Expressionists deep-focus shots with incredible depth-of field and focus from extreme foreground to extreme background (also found in Toland's earlier work in Dead End (1937), John Ford's The Long Voyage Home (1940 ), and Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940) ) that emphasize mise-en-scene; also in-camera matte shots low-angled shots revealing ceilings in sets (a technique possibly borrowed from John Ford's Stagecoach (1939) which Welles screened numerous times) sparse use of revealing facial close-ups elaborate camera movements over-lapping, talk-over dialogue (exhibited earlier in Howard Hawks' His Girl Friday (1940) ) and layered sound the sound technique termed "lightning-mix" in which a complex montage sequence is linked by related sounds a cast of characters that ages throughout the film flashbacks, flashforwards and non-linear story-telling (used in earlier films, including another rags-to-riches tale starring Spencer Tracy titled The Power and the Glory (1933) with a screenplay by Preston Sturges, and RKO's A Man to Remember (1938) from director Garson Kanin and screenwriter Dalton Trumbo) the frequent use of transitionary dissolves or curtain wipes, as in the scene in which the camera ascended in the opera house into the rafters to show the workmen's disapproval of Mrs. Kane's operatic performance ; also the famous 'breakfast' montage scene illustrating the disintegration of Kane's marriage in a brief time long, uninterrupted shots or lengthy takes of sequences Its complex and pessimistic theme of a spiritually-failed man is told from several, unreliable perspectives and points-of-view (also metaphorically communicated by the jigsaw puzzle) by several different characters (the associates and friends of the deceased) - providing a sometimes contradictory, non-sequential, and enigmatic portrait. The film tells the thought-provoking, tragic epic story of a 'rags-to-riches' child who inherited a fortune, was taken away from his humble surroundings and his father and mother, was raised by a banker, and became a fabulously wealthy, arrogant, and energetic newspaperman. He made his reputation as the generous, idealistic champion of the underprivileged, and set his egotistical mind on a political career, until those political dreams were shattered after the revelation of an ill-advised 'love-nest' affair with a singer. Kane's life was corrupted and ultimately self-destructed by a lust to fulfill the American dream of success, fame, wealth, power and immortality. After two failed marriages and a transformation into a morose, grotesque, and tyrannical monster, his final days were spent alone, morose, and unhappy before his death in a reclusive refuge of his own making - an ominous castle filled with innumerable possessions to compensate for his life's emptiness. The discovery and revelation of the mystery of the life of the multi-millionaire publishing tycoon is determined through a reporter's search for the meaning of his single, cryptic dying word: "Rosebud" - in part, the film's plot enabling device - or McGuffin (MacGuffin). However, no-one was present to hear him utter the elusive last word. The reporter looks for clues to the word's identity by researching the newspaper publisher's life, through interviews with several of Kane's former friends and colleagues. Was it a favorite pet or nickname of a lost love? Or the name of a racehorse? At film's end, the identity of "Rosebud" is revealed, but only to the film audience. [One source, Gore Vidal - a close friend of Hearst, wildly claimed in 1989 in a short memoir in the New York Review of Books that "Rosebud" was a euphemism for the most intimate part of his long-time mistress Marion Davies' female anatomy.] And finally, the film's title has often been copied or mirrored, as a template for the titles of other biopics or documentaries about a figure often striving for socio-political recognition, as in the following films: Citizen Saint (1947) about modern miracle worker Mother Frances Cabrini Damn Citizen (1958) about a Louisiana state politician Citizen Tania (1989) - about heiress Patty Hearst's abduction by the Symbionese Liberation Army the HBO made-for-TV Citizen Cohn (1992) - about Senator Joseph McCarthy's loathsome lawyer Roy Cohn (James Woods) of the late 40s and 50s in the HUAC Citizen Langlois (1995, Fr.) about pioneering film archivist Henri Langlois of the Cinematheque Francaise - with some footage from the 1941 film Oliver Stone's epic biography Nixon (1995) could have been titled Citizen Nixon -- it's a modern-day 'Citizen Kane' story about another tragic figure, filmed in a disjointed, non-linear or non-chronological fashion (with unexpected flashbacks) and the use of newsreel footage as Welles did, and including an argument between Nixon and his wife at the dinner table - resembling the famed breakfast table scene in Citizen Kane ; the famous 18 1/2 minute gap would serve as the enigmatic 'Rosebud' director Alexander Payne's debut film and political satire Citizen Ruth (1996) about Ruth Stoops (Laura Dern) - a pregnant woman caught as a pawn in the middle of the abortion rights issue Citizen James (2000) about a young Bronx filmmaker (writer/director/star Doug E. Doug) the TV series Citizen Baines (2001) about an ex-politician (James Cromwell) dealing with three grown daughters the documentary Citizen King (2004) - about Martin Luther King, Jr. originally made for PBS' American Experience series The intriguing opening (a bookend to the film's closing prologue) is filled with hypnotic lap dissolves and camera movements from one sinister, mysterious image to the next, searching closer and closer and moving in. [The film's investigative opening, with the camera approaching closer and closer, may have been influenced by the beginning of Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca (1940) . Both films open and close on a matted image of a mansion in the distance.] The film's first sight is a "No Trespassing" sign hanging on a giant gate in the night's foggy mist, illuminated by the moonlight. The camera pans up the chain-link mesh gate that dissolves and changes into images of great iron flowers or oak leaves on the heavy gate. On the crest of the gate is a single, silhouetted, wrought-iron "K" initial [for Kane]. The prohibitive gate surrounds a distant, forbidding-looking castle with towers. The fairy-tale castle is situated on a man-made mountain - it is obviously the estate of a wealthy man. [The exterior of the castle resembles the one in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) .] In a succession of views, the subjective and curious camera, acting omnisciently as it approaches toward the castle, violates the "No Trespassing" sign by entering the neglected grounds. In the private world of the castle grounds, zoo pens have been designed for exotic animals. Spider monkeys sit above a sign on one of the cages marked 'Bengal Tiger.' The prows of two empty gondolas are tied to a wooden wharf on a private lake, and the castle is reflected in the water. A statue of the Egyptian cat god stands before a bridge with a raised drawbridge/portcullis over a moat. A deserted green from the large golf course is marked with a sign needing repair (No. 16, 365 yards, Par 4). In the distance, a single, postage stamp-sized window of the castle is lit, always seen at approximately the same place in each frame. Palm trees surround a crumbling gate on the abandoned, cluttered grounds. The castle appears in a closer, medium shot. During an even closer shot of the window, the light within the window suddenly goes out. From an angle inside the turret room facing out of the enormous window, a silhouetted figure can be seen lying stiffly on a bed in the low-lit room. The scene shifts to swirling snowflakes that fill the entire screen - here's another mysterious object that demands probing. The flakes surround a snow-covered house with snowmen around it, and in a quick pull-back, we realize it is actually a wintery scene inside a crystal glass globe or ball-paperweight in the grasping hand of an old man. [ First Appearance of Glass Ball in Film ] Symbolically, the individual's hand is holding the past's memories - a recollection of childhood life in a log cabin. [Psychoanalytically, the glass ball represents the mother's womb. Later in the film, it also is learned that the globe, associated with Susan, represents his first and only innocent love.] The film's famous, first murmured, echoed word is heard uttered by huge, mustached rubbery lips that fill the screen: R-o-s-e-b-u-d! [In reality, no one would have heard Kane's last utterance - in this scene, he is alone when he dies, although later in the film, Raymond the butler states that he heard the last word - a statement not completely reliable. It has been speculated that everything in the film was the dying man's dream -- and the burning of Rosebud in the film's climax was Kane's last conscious thought before death.] An old man has pronounced his last dying word as the snowstorm globe is released from his grip and rolls from his relaxed hand. The glass ball bounces down two carpeted steps and shatters into tiny pieces on the marble floor. [The film's flashbacks reveal that the shattering of the glass ball is indicative of broken love.] A door opens and a white-uniformed nurse appears on screen, refracted and distorted through a curve of a sliver of shattered glass fragment from the broken globe. In a dark silhouette, she folds his arms over his chest, and then covers him with a sheet. The next view is again the lit window viewed from inside. A dissolve fades to darkness. In an abrupt cut from his private sanctuary, a row of flags is a backdrop for a dramatic, news-digest segment of News on the March ! [a simulation/parody of the actual "March of Time" series produced by Time, Inc. and its founder Henry Luce beginning in the mid-30s]. The biopic film-in-a-film is a fact-filled, authoritative newsreel or documentary that briefly covers the chronological highlights of the public life of the deceased man. The faux newsreel provides a detailed, beautifully-edited, narrative-style outline and synopsis of Kane's public life, appearing authentically scratched, grainy and archival in some segments. The structure of the narrative in the newsreel is as follows: 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 The test screening of the first episode of the series is titled on the first panel, soon followed by the words of a portentous, paternalistic, self-important narrator: Obituary: Xanadu's Landlord An explanatory title card with the words of Coleridge's poem is imposed over views of Xanadu (actually a series of shots of San Simeon). Kane and his Xanadu is compared to the legendary Kubla Khan: In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure dome decree - - Narrator of Newsreel: Legendary was the Xanadu where Kubla Khan decreed his stately pleasure dome. Today, almost as legendary is Florida's Xanadu, world's largest private [views of people lounge around Xanadu and its pool] pleasure ground. Here, on the deserts of the Gulf Coast [the camera views the coastline], a private mountain was commissioned and successfully built. [Workmen are shown building the tremendous castle] One hundred thousand trees, twenty thousand tons of marble are the ingredients of Xanadu's mountain. Contents of Xanadu's palace: [crates with statues and other objects are brought into Xanadu] paintings, pictures, statues, the very stones of many another palace - a collection of everything so big it can never be catalogued or appraised, enough for ten museums - the loot of the world. [views of endless numbers of crates arriving] Xanadu's livestock: [views of horses, giraffes, rare birds, a large octopus, an elephant, donkeys, etc.] the fowl of the air, the fish of the sea, the beast of the field and jungle. Two of each, the biggest private zoo since Noah. Like the pharaohs, Xanadu's landlord leaves many stones to mark his grave. Since the pyramids, Xanadu is the costliest monument a man has built to himself. Another explanatory title card: In Xanadu last week was held 1941's biggest strangest funeral. Kane's coffin emerges from Xanadu as it is borne by coffin-bearers. Narrator: Here in Xanadu last week, Xanadu's landlord was laid to rest, a potent figure of our century, America's Kubla Khan - Charles Foster Kane. The newspaper headline of the New York Daily Inquirer appears with a picture of Kane: CHARLES FOSTER KANE DIES AFTER LIFETIME OF SERVICE Entire Nation Mourns Great Publisher as Outstanding American The paper is removed and other headlines, set in different type and styles from around the nation and world, and with conflicting opinions about Kane, are revealed, announcing his death: The Daily Chronicle : [note the negative headlines from the Inquirer 's main business competitor] C. F. Kane Dies at Xanadu Estate Editor's Stormy Career Comes to an End Death of Publisher Finds Few Who Will Mourn for Him The Chicago Globe : DEATH CALLS PUBLISHER CHARLES KANE Policies Swayed World Stormy Career Ends for "U.S. Fascist No. 1" The Minneapolis Record Herald : KANE, SPONSOR OF DEMOCRACY, DIES Publisher Gave Life to Nation's Service during Long Career The San Francisco... DEATH FINALLY COMES... The Detroit Star : Kane, Leader of News World, Called By Death at Xanadu Was Master of Destiny The El Paso Journal : END COMES FOR CHARLES FOSTER KANE Editor Who Instigated "War for Profit" Is Beaten by Death France's Le Matin : Mort du grand Editeur C.F. Kane Spain's El Correspendencia : El Sr. Kane Se Murio! Other foreign language newspapers (Russian and Japanese) also announce his death: Ezhednevnaya Gazeta (Daily Newspaper) Bednota ("The Impoverished") S.F. Kan Velichaishij (C. F. Kane, the greatest) Izdatel' Umer (publisher died) Izdatel' Umer v Svoyei Usad'be ("Publisher died in his mansion") The castle's owner is Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles), publisher of the New York Inquirer : Another title card: To forty-four million U.S. news buyers, more newsworthy than the names in his own headlines, was Kane himself, greatest newspaper tycoon of this or any other generation. Narrator: Its humble beginnings in this ramshackle building, a dying daily. [Views of the old Inquirer Building] Kane's empire in its glory [A picture of a US map shows circles widening out over it] held dominion over 37 newspapers, two syndicates, a radio network, an empire upon an empire. The first of grocery stores, paper mills, apartment buildings, factories, forests, ocean liners, [a sign reads COLORADO LODE MINE CO.] an empire through which for fifty years flowed in an unending stream the wealth of the earth's third richest gold mine. [Piles of gold bullion are stacked up and a highway sign reads, COLORADO STATE LINE] Famed in American legend [Kane Jr. is pictured with his mother in a framed portrait] is the origin of the Kane fortune, how to boarding house keeper Mary Kane [a view of Kane's old home, Mrs. Kane's Boarding House] by a defaulting boarder in 1868 was left the supposedly worthless deed to an abandoned mine shaft - the Colorado Lode. [A large bucket tilts, pouring molten ore into a mold] Fifty-seven years later, [A view of the Washington DC Capitol Building] before a Congressional investigation, Walter P. Thatcher, grand old man of Wall Street, for years chief target of Kane papers' attacks on trusts, recalls a journey he made as a youth. In front of a Congressional investigating committee, Walter Parks Thatcher (George Coulouris) recalls his journey in 1870 to Mrs. Kane's boarding house in Colorado, when he was asked to raise the young boy. My firm had been appointed trustee by Mrs. Kane for a large fortune which she had recently acquired. It was her wish that I should take charge of this boy, this Charles Foster Kane. Thatcher refuses to answer a Congressman's question (accompanied with laughter and confusion) about whether the boy personally attacked him after striking him in the stomach with a sled. Thatcher prefers to read a prepared statement of his opinion of Kane, and then refuses to answer any other questions: Mr. Charles Foster Kane, in every essence of his social beliefs, and by the dangerous manner in which he has persistently attacked the American traditions of private property, initiative, and opportunity for advancement, is in fact, nothing more or less than a Communist ! That same month in New York's Union Square, where a crowd is urged to boycott Kane papers, an opinionated politician speaks: The words of Charles Foster Kane are a menace to every working man in this land. He is today what he has always been - and always will be - a Fascist ! Narrator: And still, another opinion. Kane orates silently into a radio microphone in front of a congratulatory, applauding crowd. A title card appears, a quote from Kane himself: I am, have been, and will be only one thing - an American. 1895 to 1941 All of these years he covered, many of these he was. Narrator: Kane urged his country's entry into one war [1898 - The Spanish-American War] - opposed participation in another [1919 - The Great War - an image of a cemetery with rows of white crosses] - swung the election to one American President at least [Kane is pictured on the platform of a train with Teddy Roosevelt] - spoke for millions of Americans, was hated by as many more. [an effigy, a caricature of Kane, is burned by a crowd] For forty years, appeared in Kane newsprint no public issue on which Kane papers took no stand, [Kane again appears with Roosevelt] no public man whom Kane himself did not support or denounce - often support [Kane is pictured with Hitler on a balcony], then denounce. [Kane never denounced - and then later supported any of his closest friends who argued with him, including his two wives, Leland and Thatcher. Because he held grudges, he couldn't easily find reconciliation.] A title card: Few private lives were more public. Narrator: Twice married, twice divorced. [Kane and first wife Emily are dressed in wedding clothes, walking outside the White House] First to a president's niece, Emily Norton, who left him in 1916. [A newspaper article reads: "Family Greets Kane After Victory Speech" - his wife and young son are pictured with him outside Madison Square Garden] Died 1918 in a motor accident with their son. Sixteen years after his first marriage, two weeks after his first divorce, [At the Trenton Town Hall, newspaper reporters and photographers crowd around when Kane comes out with Susan] Kane married Susan Alexander, singer at the Town Hall in Trenton, New Jersey. [A poster from one of Susan's performances: "Lyric Theatre, On Stage, Suzan Alexander, Coming Thursday"] For Wife Two, one-time opera singing Susan Alexander, Kane built Chicago's Municipal Opera House. [The cover of an opera program: "Chicago Municipal Opera House presents Susan Alexander in Salammbo , Gala Opening" and a drawing of the Opera House] Cost: $3 million dollars. Conceived for Susan Alexander Kane, half finished before she divorced him, the still-unfinished Xanadu. Cost: No man can say. In politics - always a bridesmaid, never a bride. Narrator: Kane, molder of mass opinion though he was, in all his life was never granted elective office by the voters of his country. But Kane papers were once strong indeed, [a newspaper machine rolls newspapers through, EXTRA papers move upward] and once the prize seemed almost his. In 1916, as independent candidate for governor, [a view of a banner, KANE for GOVERNOR] the best elements of the state behind him, the White House seemingly the next easy step in a lightning political career, then suddenly, less than one week before election - defeat!... An iris opens on the Daily Chronicle screaming the headline [note the quotation marks on "Singer" and "Songbird," later described by an interviewee as a bone of contention for Kane]: CANDIDATE KANE CAUGHT IN LOVE NEST WITH 'SINGER' The Highly Moral Mr. Kane and his Tame "Songbird" Entrapped by Wife as Love Pirate, Kane Refuses to Quit Race ...Shameful. Ignominious. Defeat that set back for twenty years the cause of reform in the U.S., [heart-shaped framed pictures of Kane and Susan are pictured in the newspaper] forever cancelled political chances for Charles Foster Kane. [A sign on a gate reads: FACTORY CLOSED, NO TRESPASSING] [1929] [Another sign reads: CLOSED] [The signs repeat the theme of closure/death from the film's opening shot.] Then, in the first year of the Great Depression, a Kane paper closes [On the St. Louis Daily Inquirer building hangs a CLOSED sign]. For Kane in four short years: collapse. [On a map of the US, the circles diminish, leaving only a few] Eleven Kane papers merged, more sold, scrapped. But America Still Reads Kane Newspapers and Kane Himself Was Always News. In 1935, returning from Europe by ship, Kane is asked by the press (the reporter was an uncredited cameo role for cinematographer Gregg Toland) on arrival in New York harbor, about contemporary politics, and the "chances for war in Europe": Reporter: Isn't that correct? Kane: Don't believe everything you hear on the radio. [A sly reference to Welles' own infamous 1938 radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds that sent listeners into a panic.] Read the ' Inquirer '! Reporter: How did you find business conditions in Europe? Kane: How did I find business conditions in Europe, Mr. Bones? With great difficulty. (He laughs heartily) Reporter: You glad to be back, Mr. Kane? Kane: I'm always glad to be back, young man. I'm an American. Always been an American. (Sharply) Anything else? When I was a reporter, we asked them quicker than that. Come on, young fella. Reporter: What do you think of the chances for war in Europe? Kane (smugly): I've talked with the responsible leaders of the Great Powers - England, France, Germany, and Italy - they're too intelligent to embark on a project which would mean the end of civilization as we now know it. You can take my word for it. There'll be no war. In the next newsreel clip, Kane is seen at a cornerstone ceremony, clumsily dropping mortar on himself from a trowel, and then brushing the dirt off his coat. At the center of the ceremony as he lays a cornerstone, but without his customary power, he is surrounded by workmen swinging hooks and cables around him. Narrator: Kane helped to change the world, but Kane's world now is history. The great yellow journalist himself lived to be history. Outlived his power to make it... Filmsite Home About & Contact Privacy Policy Terms of Use Copyright © 1996-2024 Filmsite LLC. All rights reserved. Citizen Kane: Why Many Consider it to be the Best Film of All Time Your changes have been saved Email is sent Email has already been sent Please verify your email address. You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics. Everything Deadpool & Wolverine Did, She-Hulk Did Better This is where the borderlands movie went wrong, why everyone was wrong about kevin costner’s horizon. Citizen Kane , legendary director Orson Welles’ debut film, and arguably his magnum opus as well, premiered in theaters all the way back in the year 1942. Very loosely based on real life newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst (who was adamantly against the film), Citizen Kane follows Jerry Thompson, an investigative reporter, as he tries to find the meaning behind mogul Charles Foster Kane’s (played by Orson Welles himself), last word, “rosebud.” The film does its investigation through the lenses of four different people who knew Charles Kane: The archives of Walter Thatcher, Kane’s business manager Mr. Bernstein, Kane’s old friend Jedediah Leland, and his affair partner Susan Alexander. All four paint a portrait of Charles Foster Kane’s entire life from beginning to the end for the reporter. Why is Citizen Kane Called the Greatest Film of All Time? Though not a box office success, the film was fairly acclaimed by the Academy Awards, being nominated for nine awards. It won one for Best Screenplay, written by Herman Mankiewicz (who received his own black-and-white biographical drama, Mank ) and Orson Welles. The film actually faded into obscurity, until roughly a decade later when Citizen Kane was frequently screened internationally and received rave reviews from critics, such as the legendary French critic Andre Bazin. Related: Gary Oldman Tackles the Most Controversial Question Surrounding Netflix's Mank The film shot to the top of critics' lists, being ranked in the top films of all time, even being #1 for multiple decades. But almost a century later, most people haven’t seen this film, so they wonder: “Why is Citizen Kane considered to be the best movie of all time?” Well, there are two standout reasons why: The structure and editing of the film, and the cinematography. With both being trailblazers for new techniques and editing that would change Cinema for decades to come. The Structure and Editing of Citizen Kane Pre- Citizen Kane , most films followed a standard, linear story structure. They followed the protagonists and characters from point A to point B in chronological order. Citizen Kane on the other hand, went a different route. Orson Welles told the story of Charles Foster Kane through multiple point-of-view segments from the people who knew Kane best, refracted through a non-linear narrative . This style of storytelling was a new and unique technique in filmmaking. One that can (and did) paint a near-polished portrait of its Macguffin. Welles can also be credited for advancements in what could be considered the precursor to modern Green Screen technical effects, as can be seen in this image: Though it looks like a normal scene of man staring down at a stage, it is actually a very clever piece of editing. Everything to the left (the stage, the giant picture of Kane, the seats and audience), is all edited in. The man on the right was only staring into the abyss, into nothing. Then a separate clip of the stage was edited in later. This process was then used multiple times throughout to create some of the harder, more expensive set pieces for the film. Related: These Movies Didn't Win the Best Picture Oscar, but Should Have Orson Welles also expanded on the idea of montage (the technique created by Sergei Eisenstein, to show a sequence of images all at once, to imply certain events happening). During one of the POV’s of Citizen Kane , the narrator goes over Charles Kane’s personal life, and his deteriorating marriage with his first wife, Emily Norton Kane. Instead of having long, drawn out scenes to show the deterioration, Welles’ uses an ingenious montage of the couple having breakfast, and as their marriage worsens, they get farther and farther apart at the breakfast table. It allowed Welles to use the run time for other scenes, and utilized a beautiful piece of symbolism for the passage of time and an honest but sad look at marriage . The Cinematography of Citizen Kane One of the other Academy Awards Citizen Kane was nominated for was Best Cinematography, which was no surprise, as cinematographer Gregg Toland created absolutely phenomenal and inventive techniques in the movie, cementing himself as one of the best cinematographers of his time. The one that stands out the most (for audiences and throughout time) is the beginning scenes showcasing the death of Charles Foster Kane. Instead of a standard still camera, Toland and his team chose to go with a fish angle lens shot from the perspective of the snow globe that was in Kane’s hand as he was fading away from life. And as he passes, Kane drops the snow globe, allowing the audience to see as one of his caretakers discovers his body. Toland also heavily used deep-focus camera techniques, acquiring special lenses and equipment to do so. Using deep-focus (which allowed nearly everything in the camera’s view to be clear and visible) was very uncommon in that era of Hollywood. Even when it looked like there were scenes in the film using deep-focus, there were occasions where Toland teamed up with special effects cinematographer Linwood Dunn, and the two would combine two separate shots into one, to make it look as if it was deep-focus. Another standout shot of Toland’s in Citizen Kane , one that absolutely revolutionized cinematography, was the deep shot of a young Charles Kane playing outside in the snow, as his mother spoke with someone inside the house. Most cinematographers at the time were using shallow planes to create depth, but Toland managed to create a deep-focus plane that was gorgeous and easily viewable, a stunning sensation in Hollywood. Additionally, the camera movements established by the groundbreaking crane shots would go on to inspire legions of directors and cinematographers. Gregg Toland’s techniques and cinematography for Citizen Kane were so influential that they are still taught and talked about in film, directing, and cinema classes nationwide. Of course, Citizen Kane is also known for many more things, such as its fantastic storytelling, but its story and plot structure, editing, and cinematography are what make it stand out to be considered the best movie of all time. While this position has been noticeably shaken in recent years, slowly replaced by Alfred Hitchcock's film Vertigo , the techniques and styles it created and advanced changed the film industry, and film itself, for the rest of history. Citizen Kane (1941) Citizen Kane Blu-ray edition reviewed by Chris Galloway December 04 2021 See more details, packaging, or compare In the most dazzling debut feature in cinema history, twenty-five-year-old writer-producer-director-star Orson Welles synthesized the possibilities of sound-era filmmaking into what could be called the first truly modern movie. In telling the story of the meteoric rise and precipitous fall of a William Randolph Hearst–like newspaper magnate named Charles Foster Kane, Welles not only created the definitive portrait of American megalomania, he also unleashed a torrent of stylistic innovations—from the jigsaw-puzzle narrative structure to the stunning deep-focus camera work of Gregg Toland—that have ensured that  Citizen Kane  remains fresh and galvanizing for every new generation of moviegoers to encounter it. Picture 8/10 Making its way back into The Criterion Collection 37-years after being the label’s first title on LaserDisc, Orson Welles’ influential debut Citizen Kane is presented here in a new Blu-ray edition (as spine 1104), sourced from a brand-new 4K restoration performed by Criterion and Warner Bros., scanned primarily from a 35mm nitrate composite fine-grain master made directly from the original negative that appears to no longer exist. Where damage was too heavy, a 35mm duplicate negative was used. The film is presented in the aspect ratio of 1.37:1 on the first dual-layer disc of the three-disc set. The Blu-ray is being released simultaneously alongside a 4K UHD/Blu-ray combo and I am working off of the Blu-ray disc found in that edition. Outside of this edition missing the 4K disc, the editions are otherwise the same. Updated: Feb 24, 2022 Criterion’s original pressing for their Blu-ray edition of Citizen Kane featured an error: around 24-minutes in the contrast flattens out and washes everything in a gray, leading to a flattened image with no depth and a loss in detail. This looks to have been a case of a bad HDR-to-SDR conversion. Criterion addressed the problem and have issued new discs with a corrected presentation. The image now features better contrast and wider range, and reflects what the first 24-or-so-minutes showed on the original disc. The image still appears “darker” compared to Warner’s previous Blu-ray edition, possibly due to an adjustment in contrast (which ends up hiding the faces a bit better in that early projector room scene), but blacks look sharp, whites are clean, and there’s still a healthy level of range in the grays. Not counting the newsreel footage that opens the film, which was purposely scratched and scuffed, this presentation does manage to look a bit cleaner in comparison to Warner’s disc, only a few minor marks remaining. The image also doesn’t show any shifts in the frame. The encode itself looks good, no obvious artifacts popping up while viewing. In all it looks good, but isn’t a significant improvement over Warner’s original release. Original comments below: Original Grade: 5/10 As has already been noted online there is an issue that crosses over to the standard Blu-ray on both editions, not the UHD: around the time the Bernstein interview begins, maybe even a bit before, contrast goes way off, flattening just about everything to a dark gray, wiping out textures and detail in the process. It’s suspected that somewhere along the line the remaining portion of the film was poorly converted from HDR to SDR, and after doing my own crummy HDR-to-SDR screengrabs from the 4K disc, I would strongly agree that is more than likely what happened. Criterion is already working on a fix and a new Blu-ray should hopefully be available soon, yet based on the first 24-or-so-minutes (and how the 4K disc turned out when viewed in SDR mode) I’d say this has turned out quite well. To my surprise the first 24-or-so-minutes manages to look better in a few ways when compared to Warner’s already impressive Blu-ray edition, which I think was also sourced from a 4K restoration (though I’m not 100% certain on that admittedly). The image is cleaner, and I’d say a bit more stable, only a few minor bits of debris and what look like the remnants of mold stains on the side remaining. This of course doesn't count the opening newsreel footage, which was purposely damaged to capture the appropriate look. Contrast is decent but the film does look a little darker in comparison to the previous Blu-ray, blacks coming off a little heavier, but grayscale (again, in the first portions of the film before the technical glitch kicks in) is pretty good, as cleanly shown in the projector room scene following the newsreel sequence, where the smoke is rendered nicely thanks to that sharp contrast and the clean gradients. Shadow details are also nice when the blacks aren’t super heavy. Before the technical glitch, which manages to severely flatten out the image, grain is rendered cleanly, and the bitrate is healthy, more than likely thanks to the entire disc being devoted to the film. No digital artifacts come to the forefront during the first 24-or-so-minutes . In all, the first portion of the film looks nice, and it looks promising for the rest of the film after Criterion addresses the contrast issue and reissues new discs. NOTE:  The first five screen grabs below are from the original pressing and represent the portion untouched by the HDR-to-SDR error. The remaining grabs present similar frames from both pressings, the first from the new  corrected  pressing, the following from the first pressing, showing the error. While Criterion has corrected the problem and all new copies of their Blu-ray and 4K combo editions contain the corrected disc, this comparison can be used to double-check your copy. Corrected editions should have "Second Printing" marked in the fine print on the disc art. Criterion includes a lossless PCM 1.0 monaural soundtrack. It’s an impressive sounding track considering the film’s age, the release marking its 80th anniversary. Bernard Herrmann’s score shows a shockingly wide amount of range with decent fidelity, dialogue even managing to sound the same. There’s some very minor background noise (which is pretty much expected) but damage isn’t heavy, no drops or pops present. Extras 10/10 As expected, Criterion goes all out with special features, spreading them across the three discs. The first disc dedicates its space to the film but we do also get three audio commentaries to choose from. Criterion has first ported over the two commentaries recorded by Warner Bros. in 2002 for their DVD special edition, the first featuring filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich and the other film critic Roger Ebert. Bogdanovich’s track is okay but is now probably the weakest of the three we get here. Since he knew Welles and even worked with him on the then-unfinished film The Other Side of the Wind, he has plenty of personal stories to share around Welles (and many others he’s not afraid to bring up), but he tends to go silent, pop up to comment a bit about something on screen, whether it’s a composition or technical detail, and then go silent again. It's fine enough, but it’s completely overshadowed by Ebert’s track, which, all these years later, is still one of my favourite ones. Ebert comes off as far more passionate about the subject matter and rarely goes silent, treating the track as if it’s one of his lectures. As the film plays, he talks about the film’s visuals and the technical tricks Welles and cinematographer Gregg Toland employed in just about every shot and sequence. He’ll point out areas of the screen where you can see how complicated pans and pulls were pulled off, directing your attention to something that would break away for a camera to go through, or even explain how opticals are layered to pull off some unlikely shots. He explains the film’s deep depth of field and how it was accomplished, and then goes into how these visual tricks serve the purpose of the story. Ebert also tackles other subjects around the film’s history, sharing his own thoughts and feelings here and there, but it’s a track very much focused on the technical qualities of the film. Chances are most people who have purchased the film on DVD and/or Blu-ray in the past have already listened to it, but if one hasn’t yet they really need to give it a spin. The third track, recorded exclusively for this edition, features critics Jonathan Rosenbaum and James Naremore. The two also provided decent-to-great tracks for Criterion’s editions of Welles’ Chimes at Midnight and The Magnificent Ambersons (oddly, not for Othello ) and this one’s up there with those. Tackling what many would consider the mother of all films (though the two point out neither consider it the best film ever made, let alone Welles’ best film) the two occasionally feel to be walking on eggshells with each other as they seem to know they disagree— adamantly , apparently—on a number of subjects, seeming to walk around them. But when one says something and the other disagrees, the other lets them know. To an extent this leads them to touching on the many controversies around the film’s legacy, not least of which being the topic on who wrote the film, a topic that also gets brought up a few times throughout the features. The two also talk about the film’s production and, like Ebert, cover the film’s technical attributes and effects work, go over William Randolph Hearst’s attempts in burying the film, and then how the film, after disappearing for years, started to come back into the mainstream and grow in stature. Throughout they also reference other critics and scholars, including the likes of Joseph McBride and Pauline Kael, Kael’s essay “Raising Kane” and the fallout from that leading to a decent discussion all on its own. It’s another nicely put together track from the two and they yet again keep the momentum going. The remaining features are then spread over the other two dual-layer Blu-ray discs, the discs seeming to be divided by topic, Blu-ray 2 focusing on the film itself and 3 focusing on Welles’ Mercury Theatre and its troupe. The second disc starts things off with a making-of documentary, though interestingly not the one Warner has included with many their own special and deluxe editions, The Battle Over Citizen Kane , which was an episode from the PBS series American Experience . It may seem like a significant exclusion, but I assure you it’s not. Naremore even lets his distaste for that documentary come to the surface in the commentary track with Rosenbaum, stating he’s ashamed he even has a credit in it, which came out of his providing materials to the episode’s creators. It doesn’t take long to realize he hates the film. That documentary does cover the film’s production and Hearst’s desire to have the film destroyed in good detail, yet it’s incredibly one-sided. Criticisms thrown at the documentary it feels as though Hearst rose from the dead to commission it aren’t too far off base: it really comes off more like a hit piece against Welles, even going out of its way to paint Hearst in a better light. There are certain aspects around Welles and the film that prove to be touchy to an older generation, the one that discovered it when it made its way to revival houses after disappearing for years, and I’m sometimes shocked at the level of spite that can be thrown around when the accepted history of the film is challenged, something I got to witness on social media when David Fincher’s Mank was released. Thanks to those types of reactions it can be easy to dismiss the vitriol thrown at a documentary not conforming to a specific narrative locked in by a fervent fanbase, but even if I won’t let myself get worked up on such topics I still thought the documentary was ridiculous. One doesn’t even have to think of Citizen Kane as untouchable to recognize how unfair it is to Welles. It won’t be missed and I’m glad Criterion chose not to include it, going a different direction. Instead, to fill in that gap, they have dug up a far more interesting and level-headed making-of , advertised here as a rarely seen feature, the 1991 BBC program commemorating the 50th anniversary of the film, The Complete “Citizen Kane.” The 95-minute television episode (which I think was shown before an airing of Citizen Kane ) starts things off wonderfully by imagining the opening sequence of the film Welles originally intended to make first, Heart of Darkness , even recreating his planned models and possible narration before moving on to the film he would end up making, Citizen Kane . Through interviews the documentary covers the film’s production and the Hearst controversy in impeccable detail, then moving on to how it was rediscovered and grew in stature through the decades. Critics and scholars like Robert Carringer and Pauline Kael show up, Kael talking about her essay that started a firestorm, leading into the controversy around who should have writing credit. Bogdanovich also shows up to talk about a number of things, including offering a counter to Kael. The program also has an amusing little section covering the year leading up to Citizen Kane ’s release, throws in archival interviews with Welles, and the last 10-minutes or so goes over Hearst’s career, drawing parallels to Kane’s life in the film. It’s a great little find on Criterion’s part, coming off fairer in its coverage without going one way or the other on certain controversies and topics. For anyone not already familiar with the film, this is a great place to go to learn about its production and how it came to be as highly regarded as it is today. Moving on, Criterion has—as I expected—gone back to their LaserDisc features for the 50th anniversary release (not to be confused with their first LaserDisc edition for the film, spine #1, which only had a visual essay by Robert Carringer alongside the original trailer) and re-edited them for this edition. For Working on “Kane” Criterion edits together the interviews they conducted back in 1990 with actor Ruth Warrick, editor Robert Wise, and special-effects artist Linwood Dunn, who all directly worked on Kane . For its 18-minute running time the three talk about working with Welles and share their respective experiences on the film. Warrick talks about the dinner/marriage montage and the lack of directing she felt she received from Welles, the filmmaker explaining to her she didn’t need it, while Wise talks about the more complicated techniques that went into editing the film, like how they degraded the film for the newsreel footage. Dunn recounts some of the optical work and how Welles’ sensibilities changed as he became more familiar with the technical aspects of filmmaking. Freshly edited for this edition, it’s a great little feature providing first-hand accounts on the film, and the Warrick and Wise interviews are more satisfying than the short ones Warner Bros. included on their previous releases. On Toland is a 15-minute feature on director of photography Gregg Toland, made up again of interviews Criterion recorded back in 1990 for the 50th Anniversary LaserDisc edition, this time with cinematographers Allen Daviau, Haskell Wexler, and Vilmos Zsigmond. The three recount how the first saw the film and how it impacted them and continues to influence them. They talk about the film’s complicated lighting and depth of field, and it was fun hearing how the three, particularly Zsigmond, still weren’t completely sure how Toland was able to pull of some of the sequences, at least when this interview was recorded 30-years ago. Craig Barron and Ben Burtt , visual effects and sound effects experts respectively, take a deep dive into the film’s effects work, with the conversation around the visuals ranging from in-camera effects to use of an optical printer, matte paintings, and much, much more. I must confess I never paid much attention to the film’s sound design and Burtt manages to point out some things I never paid much attention to, from use of reverberation to placement and timing of sounds. The two’s respective topics then come together when they both breakdown both the visual and sound effects for the attempted suicide sequence, Barron offering up some onscreen visual aids on how things are layered, a technique he utilizes throughout the feature for other effect shots. I always enjoy their contributions since they clearly explain the work and how it was accomplished, and it all ends up being a brisk 27-minutes. Robert L. Carringer had provided a visual essay for Criterion’s original LaserDisc edition, released in 1984, and he provides another one here, going over the possible meanings of “Rosebud,” including the rumoured salacious meaning it had for Hearst. The 14-minute feature also breaks out into other topics, including Welles’ dislike of Hearst and how he considered the ending “dollar store Freud,” but he couldn’t come up with anything better. Carringer even manages to link in Albert Camus’ The Myth of Sisyphus . The essay is quick and nicely edited, featuring photos, designs and what I think are storyboards alongside the narration. To tackle the William Randolph Hearst link to the film, critic Farran Smith Nehme offers a very in-depth overview of the media tycoon’s life and the parallels it shares with Kane’s in the film. This leads her to speculate why Hearst had his sights set on Welles’ film and not other forms of art that were inspired by his life, including Aldous Huxley’s novel After Many a Summer , the portrayal of Hearst’s relationship with showgirl-turned-actress Marion Davies and her alcoholism maybe being the topic that ultimately sent Hearst into a tizzy. Hearst gets a lot of mention throughout the features, which is not at all a surprise, but I appreciated this focused inclusion that also works to break through some of the myths. Of the new features I ended up most liking Racquel J. Gates’ contribution, which focuses on the difficulties in introducing the film to younger generations, its reputation and untouchable status as (at the very least) one of the great films being a hindrance since younger generations come to it already prepared to hate it. Gates ultimately suggests the film should be reframed a bit. Using her students as examples, she explains the differing reactions she’s seen in her attempts to appropriately frame the film, ranging from her feeling like Kane during Susan’s opening night where she’s horrified no one is enjoying it, to students getting into the film and understanding the dynamics of the Kane/Susan relationship (and I chuckled at one of the comparisons she used with students). Once the students connect, she can then start going over its strengths, why it’s considered great, and not only show the film’s technical marvels but why Welles used them in the first place. Her conversation then segues into how the film’s reputation can also harm other films from the period, or from decades before, since they can be easily looked over, bringing up how some of Kane ’s technical and narrative accomplishments were seen prior, including in the silent film Within Our Gates . Even though Gates is in no way saying the film doesn’t deserve its status, and she clearly loves the film, I have a feeling some won’t appreciate what she covers, but, to relate personally (and I have a feeling it won’t be a unique experience in my generation), when I went into the film way back I had a certain set of expectations that probably led to negatively skewing my initial viewing (on an RCA VideoDisc mind you) and it took some time and another viewing or two (on VHS) before I felt like I finally got it. The film is quite entertaining and an absolute marvel to this day, but its reputation does set up certain expectations that will probably not be met by newcomers, especially younger generations, and I thought Gates made some great points about how that can and has negatively impacted the film through the years since its rediscovery. Again, I thought this one of the stronger contributions. Moving on, Criterion digs up their 1990 interview with director Martin Scorsese , who talks for 7-minutes about his first seeing the film (on TV in an edited form that sounds to have inexplicably cut out the newsreel opening) and how he marveled at its camera work and other technical attributes. Criterion also ports over the still photo gallery with commentary by Ebert that has appeared on previous Warner editions. The 12-minute video plays through several production stills but stops at around the 6-minute point (over a title card) while Ebert talks about the impact the film has had and its status as “greatest” film of all time, which he finds a bit silly. But he feels the film is as great as it is, despite Welles’ zero experience at the time, due to the young director just being able to get the right people to work on the film, specifically Gregg Toland. Ebert’s track is a nice little add-on to his feature commentary, which looked more at the technical aspects of the film. Sadly, this is also the only gallery Criterion has ported from the Warner releases, which also featured a few other galleries, including correspondence between various entities. The feature is also a direct port from the Warner disc and has been upscaled from standard-definition. Also from the Warner disc is 1-minute’s worth of Pathé newsreel footage covering the opening world premiere of the film, followed by the film’s theatrical trailer , which closes off the second Blu-ray. The third dual-layer Blu-ray, as I mentioned, features content that focuses on Welles and the Mercury Theatre specifically, only referencing Citizen Kane where appropriate. My Guest is Orson Welles is a newly created feature gathering 42-minutes’ worth of excerpts from television interviews Welles participated in through the 70’s and early 80’s, including (but not limited to) ones with Dick Cavett, Merv Griffin, and the AFI. It’s broken down into sections, from Welles’ myth building, where Welles either pushes the myths around his life or explains why he’s built up these myths (which could also be a myth) to how he would finance his films. It jumps around but is impressively edited considering the wealth of material they had to work with, having a clean and natural flow that allows Welles to tell his own story. If I had one slight annoyance with it it’s that the section around his love of magic tricks never shows a complete trick, from beginning to end, only serving up highlights. Otherwise, I thought this was a great little addition. The final section to make use of Criterion’s 1990 interviews comes in the form of Knowing Welles , a 22-minute program featuring interviews with filmmakers Bogdanovich, Martin Ritt and Henry Jaglom, producer Frank Marshall, and cinematographer Gary Graver. Ritt and Jaglom directed Welles and talk about their experiences with him as an actor and on a personal level, Jaglom seeming to be a bit more irate on how he had been treated and perceived through the years. The other three recount working with him on The Other Side of the Wind , sharing their own stories, including how eating out with Welles meant going to the best restaurants. You also hear stories here similar to stories around the making of Citizen Kane , Gravers recounting how they shot tests that were going to end up being used in the finished film, similar to what Welles did with Kane to get around budget limitations and possible studio interference. Next is a section devoted to actor Joseph Cotton , which presents his 3-minute speech for Welles’ AFI Lifetime Achievement Award ceremony alongside a 1966 interview with the actor. The 15-minute interview is a decent career retrospective, Cotten—who I keep forgetting was a decade older than Welles—talking about getting into acting at a late age and how Welles and Citizen Kane were the only reasons he was able to get into Hollywood. He also talks about his disappointment behind his interview scene in the film, which ended up being quickly filmed when several unfortunate circumstances led to it being hastily put together and filmed, as a “test” mind you. He hated his make-up, having to incorporate the visor to hide some obvious seams, and it ended up being the first film scene he had ever done, making him wonder if he really wanted to get into film acting. It’s an excellent find and a great interview, which ended up making me aware I don’t believe I’ve ever seen any sort of interview with the actor before. Criterion also digs up a 21-minute interview from 1996 with actor William Alland , who of course plays Thompson in the film. Here he talks about joining the Mercury Theatre, the move to Hollywood to shoot Kane , and some of his work afterwards. As pointed out in the notes, though, Alland’s career didn’t take off like others from the troupe. The disc then devotes a section to the Mercury Theatre and writer/producer/actor John Houseman. The first feature here is a 1988 television episode around Houseman from the program The South Bank Show . Featuring interviews with Houseman and others (including archival interviews with Welles) it provides a retrospective of his career, from when he first got into stage production and co-founding the Mercury Theatre with Welles, the move to radio, his eventual fallout with Welles over Kane , and then his late move into acting (after doing small roles here and there) with The Paper Chase , for which he won a number of awards. There’s also mentions of his Smith Barney ads, which may have cemented him as, to quote Bill Murray in Scrooged , “America’s favourite old fart.” When talking about who wrote Citizen Kane it’s worth mentioning that Houseman treats the matter delicately, as this is something that has become a very sore spot for many, including him, as I alluded to earlier. Yet he does share here what he thinks happened, and how he feels Welles perceived things. I admittedly don’t know all of the details, but I do appreciate Criterion still offering content throughout the set that comes at the topic from numerous directions. That topic also carries on through to an 18-minute excerpt from a 1975 episode of The Merv Griffin Show , which included Welles, Houseman, and actor Robert Blake as guests. According to Houseman and Welles this would be the first time they’ve talked to each other in years, and Welles talks about burying an “imaginary hatchet.” Everything appears fine, though again, that South Bank episode 13 years later suggests its still touchy for Houseman. At the very least, the two here reminisce a bit around that earlier period with the Mercury Theatre, the radio program, and Kane , with Welles admiring how Houseman was able to just change careers and go into acting. Funny enough, the idea of Houseman performing back in the Mercury Theatre days never crossed any of their minds, and Welles has to laugh at how, out of everyone, Houseman was the only one to win an Oscar for acting. After that, Criterion includes three radio plays recorded for the CBS radio program, The Mercury Theatre on the Air , including Dracula (53-minutes), Heart of Darkness (35-minutes), and His Honor, the Mayor (28-minutes), that last of which also advertises Welles’ then upcoming film, Citizen Kane . Audio is spotty but the first two are faithful adaptations, Dracula told from multiple perspectives, and the Heart of Darkness adaptation manages to create some vivid visuals in your head, making it a bit of shame Welles didn’t end up doing his own film adaptation. His Honor, the Mayor is an original piece, a cautionary tale around a mayor having to deal with an assembly being put together by a group of white supremacists in his hometown, while also addressing the townsfolk who demand he stop it or let it go as planned. The mayor, who is disgusted by the group, insists he shouldn’t intervene since it’s being conducted in a public space and he has no right to stop it, but various townspeople, concerned about a rise in fascism, want no part of it. The play takes an interesting approach to the subject and doesn’t present things as black-and-white, and the characters, especially for the time, end up being far more complicated than I would have expected. It also touches on how people don’t really understand different ideologies, some characters clearly not knowing what they’re talking about, mimicking what they hear. I was also amused by how another character, accused by many of being a communist, corrects another by explaining he’s, in fact, an anarchist. It’s not perfect but I appreciated that some nuance was attempted, and Welles doesn’t play the “both sides are bad” angle; it’s clear who the villains of the story are, he just seems interested in showing how American ideals can be tricky to properly put into practice. In the end, Welles insists there’s no easy answers for the subject, but the message does ultimately seem to be that the garbage will end up taking itself out. Closing the disc off are Welles’ actual first film, 1934’s silent feature The Hearts of Age , along with a visual essay put together by David Cairns and Randall William Cook for The Criterion Channel in 2017, Orson Welles: On the Nose . The 8-minute short film appears to be a student film, and it’s a hard one to read into. I couldn’t really make a lot of sense of it, but there are some interesting edits and visuals, and I thought the old age make-up wasn’t terrible considering what I assume would have been limited resources, though the “black face” make-up that appears doesn’t do anybody any favours (the short, which looks to come from a recent restoration, does start off with a warning about the content). The Cairns/Cook essay is a short 8-minute look at how Welles used prosthetic noses for his characters to develop them more, though some of it probably also came down Welles just not liking his own button nose. This leads to some discussion around other actors that used prosthetics and the art behind it. It’s a fun inclusion. Finally, the set—which comes in an unfriendly fold-out package that would have been greatly improved upon if Criterion had simply put the access slots on the sleeves for the discs on the outer edges of the flaps instead of the inner ones—closes with a 42-page booklet that features an extensive essay on the film written by Bilge Ebiri. It’s an excellent essay, and one of the release’s strongest additions, Ebiri covering the film’s production, rediscovery, interpretations, and controversies in one nice friendly package. For those new to the film, it’s a must-read. Altogether, Criterion has really knocked it out with the supplements. Due to the film’s reputation and the very fact this was Criterion’s very first title to enter the collection back in 1984, there were probably some unfair expectations around supplements, but I think Criterion has really met those expectations and then some. The features do a wonderful job of covering the film’s development and production, examine its legacy and what that might look like going ahead, and addresses the various controversies in a fair fashion. It also does a wonderful job in covering the Mercury Theatre and the troupe’s move from stage to radio to screen. It’s a hell of a collection of material. The disc suffers from a poor HDR-to-SDR conversion, but Criterion is already addressing this and will have fixes out soon; what parts of the presentation that weren’t affected do look promising at the very least. Still, Criterion has put together a hell of a special edition when it comes to supplements, loading the three discs with a wide array of features delving into the film’s legacy. You Might Like Citizen Kane (Blu-ray/4K UHD Blu-ray) The Magnificent Ambersons (Blu-ray) The Immortal Story (Blu-ray) Raygun becomes viral sensation during breaking performance at 2024 Paris Olympics: Social media reacts Breaking , more commonly known as breakdancing, made its debut as an Olympic sport this week at the 2024 Paris Games , with 17 B-girls and 16 B-boys making their way to France with the hopes of securing a gold medal. On the first day of competition, viewers from across the world were treated to a different kind of introduction — not to the sport itself, but one of its athletes. Though she was a long way from winning a gold medal, likely no breaker Friday captured the imagination of the international audience more than Rachael Gunn, an Australian breaker who competes under the name “Raygun.” REQUIRED READING: Follow USA TODAY's coverage of the 2024 Paris Olympics Raygun went 0-3 in her head-to-head competitions Friday — falling to Logistx of the United States, Syssy of France and eventual silver medalist Nicka of Lithuania by a combined score of 54-0 — and failed to record a point across those three matches, but for what she lacked in smoothly executed moves, she made up for in the hearts she won over with her demeanor. Raygun’s short-lived Olympic experience made her a celebrity, one who people became even more enamored with once they learned more about her. The 36-year-old Gunn, who was one of the oldest qualifiers in the breaking competition, has a PhD in cultural studies and is a college professor at Macquarie University in Sydney. Her research focuses primarily on breaking, street dance and hip-hop culture while her work draws on “cultural theory, dance studies, popular music studies, media, and ethnography.” “In 2023, many of my students didn’t believe me when I told them I was training to qualify for the Olympics, and were shocked when they checked Google and saw that I qualified,” Gunn said to CNBC earlier this month . Unlike much of her competition in Paris, Gunn took up break dancing later in life. She didn’t enter her first battle until 2012. On Friday, a person who began the day as a little-known academic ended it as a viral worldwide sensation. Here’s a sampling of the reaction to Raygun and her performance: 2024 PARIS OLYMPICS: Meet the members of Team USA competing at the 2024 Paris Olympics Social media reacts to Raygun’s breaking performance at 2024 Paris Olympics I could live all my life and never come up with anything as funny as Raygun, the 36-year-old Australian Olympic breakdancer pic.twitter.com/1uPYBxIlh8 — mariah (@mariahkreutter) August 9, 2024 Give Raygun the gold right now #breakdancing pic.twitter.com/bMtAWEh3xo — n★ (@nichstarr) August 9, 2024 my five year old niece after she says “watch this!” : pic.twitter.com/KBAMSkgltj — alex (@alex_abads) August 9, 2024 I'd like to personally thank Raygun for making millions of people worldwide think "huh, maybe I can make the Olympics too" pic.twitter.com/p5QlUbkL2w — Bradford Pearson (@BradfordPearson) August 9, 2024 The Aussie B-Girl Raygun dressed as a school PE teach complete with cap while everyone else is dressed in funky breaking outfits has sent me. It looks like she’s giving her detention for inappropriate dress at school 🤣 #Olympics pic.twitter.com/lWVU3myu6C — Georgie Heath🎙️ (@GeorgieHeath27) August 9, 2024 There has not been an Olympic performance this dominant since Usain Bolt’s 100m sprint at Beijing in 2008. Honestly, the moment Raygun broke out her Kangaroo move this competition was over! Give her the #breakdancing gold 🥇 pic.twitter.com/6q8qAft1BX — Trapper Haskins (@TrapperHaskins) August 9, 2024 my dog on the lawn 30 seconds after i've finished bathing him pic.twitter.com/A5aqxIbV3H — David Mack (@davidmackau) August 9, 2024 My wife at 3AM: I think I heard one of the kids Me: No way, they are asleep *looks at baby monitor* pic.twitter.com/Ubhi6kY4w4 — Wes Blankenship (@Wes_nship) August 9, 2024 me tryna get the duvet off when i’m too hot at night #olympics pic.twitter.com/NM4Fb2MEmX — robyn (@robynjournalist) August 9, 2024 Raygun really hit them with the "Tyrannosaurus." pic.twitter.com/ZGCMjhzth9 — Mike Beauvais (@MikeBeauvais) August 9, 2024 Raygun (AUS) https://t.co/w2lxLRaW2x — Peter Nygaard (@RetepAdam) August 9, 2024 Cast & crew User reviews The Backrooms A mystery series revolving around a plot to get inside a mysterious alternate dimension known as The Backrooms. A mystery series revolving around a plot to get inside a mysterious alternate dimension known as The Backrooms. A mystery series revolving around a plot to get inside a mysterious alternate dimension known as The Backrooms. Kane Parsons 6 User reviews 1 Critic review Episodes 23 Scientists … Protagonist All cast & crew Production, box office & more at IMDbPro More like this Did you know Connections Featured in The History of Analog Horror (2022) User reviews 6 azathothpwiggins Nov 20, 2022 January 7, 2022 (United States) United States Official first episode. The Backrooms (Found Footage) (C) See more company credits at IMDbPro Technical specs Runtime 6 minutes Related news Contribute to this page. See more gaps Learn more about contributing More to explore Recently viewed. 237 IMAGES Citizen Kane 'Citizen Kane' at 80; look back at the 1941 reviews Citizen Kane Citizen Kane Citizen Kane at 75—TIME's 1941 Take on the Orson Welles Film Review: Citizen Kane COMMENTS Citizen Kane movie review & film summary (1941) Along with the personal story is the history of a period. "Citizen Kane" covers the rise of the penny press (here Joseph Pulitzer is the model), the Hearst-supported Spanish-American War, the birth of radio, the power of political machines, the rise of fascism, the growth of celebrity journalism. A newsreel subtitle reads: "1895 to 1941. Citizen Kane Rated 5/5 Stars • Rated 5 out of 5 stars 06/19/24 Full Review Audience Member Citizen Kane is a masterpiece of a film. It gives a soul into Charles Foster Kane and is absolutely ahead of it's time. 'Citizen Kane' a masterpiece at 50 Roger Ebert April 28, 1991. Tweet. Fifty years ago this year, Orson Welles had made what would eventually become known as the greatest movie of all time. But he was having trouble getting it released. "Citizen Kane" told the story of an aging press tycoon whose arrogance had alienated him from everyone who loved him, and who had died alone ... What's so good about Citizen Kane? No wonder film students love Citizen Kane. Watch it and you've ticked off a whole term's work in a single afternoon. The script bursts with quotable one-liners and exchanges. But don't ... A Viewer's Companion to 'Citizen Kane' As the camera swoops above the night club and through the skylight to discover Susan Alexander Kane sitting forlornly at a table, it goes from a model of the nightclub roof to a real set. The switch is concealed, the first time, by a lightning flash. The second time we go to the nightclub, it's done with a dissolve. Citizen Kane (1941) Citizen Kane is a film with epic characteristics, and was at least 30 years ahead of his time, let's start by spectacular Gregg Toland photography, which for me is one of the top 5 best film photography, all the camera angles, metaphors, editing, close-ups, the use of natural and artificial light, mounts scenarios are something inexplicable (Remember Kane's speech), J. Mankiewicz script is ... Citizen Kane Citizen Kane is a 1941 American drama film directed by, produced by, and starring Orson Welles.Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz wrote the screenplay. The picture was Welles's first feature film and it is considered as his best one.. Citizen Kane is frequently cited as the greatest film ever made. [5] For 40 years (5 decennial polls: 1962, 1972, 1982, 1992, 2002), it stood at number 1 in the ... Citizen Kane Movie Review Leading characters are drunk in two sequences. Sev. Parents need to know that Citizen Kane is a serious, grown-up film that will have little appeal for young kids. For teens (and any older kids who shows a budding interest in the art of movie-making), however, it is the must-see portrait of an early 20th century media tycoon. Citizen Kane A monumental film in cinema history. Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Aug 19, 2022. This is an adult film, technically and psychologically adult, recognizing the ultimate obscurity in which ... Citizen Kane Citizen Kane is a masterpiece in the literal sense of the word. Initially ignored by the masses during its formative years (even though it scored rave reviews and 9 Oscar nominations), the film finally received its well deserved recognition during the 1950's onwards during, which time it was frequently perched at the top of various greatest ... Citizen Kane Citizen Kane...has the best of everything: a great director and star, innovative cinematography, dreamlike - even nightmarish - art direction, a sonorous musical score, a skillful screenplay in which comic passages intensify the movie's tragic qualities by means of their grotesque juxtaposition (how lifelike!), a psychological / narrative form that predates our contemporary "psycho-histories ... 'Citizen Kane' Review: 1941 Movie On May 1, 1941, RKO Radio Pictures held the premiere of Citizen Kane at the Palace Theatre in New York, garnering raves from local critics. 'Citizen Kane' Review: 1941 Movie Citizen Kane Review A critical canon was established with Kane firmly placed in the top spot. The film was named the best ever made in Sight & Sounds 1962 poll, a position it has held with stubbornness ever since ... 'Citizen Kane': Film Review Crew: (B&W) Available on VHS, DVD. Original review text from 1941. Running time: 120 MIN. With: Kane - Orson Welles Kane (Age 8) - Buddy Swan Kane III - Sonny Bupp Kane's Father - Harry Shannon ... Citizen Kane Well, some five years after I started writing reviews, the opportunity arose at a small film festival. This review is the result of that screening. Citizen Kane has been lauded as the greatest motion picture to come out of America during the black-and-white era (or any era, for that matter). It also represents the pinnacle of Orson Welles' film ... Citizen Kane (1941) Orson Welles. Citizen Kane. In the most dazzling debut feature in cinema history, twenty-five-year-old writer-producer-director-star Orson Welles synthesized the possibilities of sound-era filmmaking into what could be called the first truly modern movie. In telling the story of the meteoric rise and precipitous fall of a William Randolph ... "Citizen Kane," Reviewed April 26, 1941. Joseph Cotten, Orson Welles, and Everett Sloane in "Citizen Kane," 1941. Photograph courtesy Everett. The noise and the nonsense that have attended the release of "Citizen ... Citizen Kane Citizen Kane, American film drama, released in 1941, that was directed, produced, and cowritten by Orson Welles, who also starred in the lead role. Citizen Kane is acclaimed by many critics as the greatest movie ever made. As a landmark work in the history of cinema, it ranks among the few films ever produced for which a remake, in the opinion of most critics, is all but unthinkable. Citizen Kane (1941) Citizen Kane: Directed by Orson Welles. With Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore, Agnes Moorehead, Ruth Warrick. Following the death of publishing tycoon Charles Foster Kane, reporters scramble to uncover the meaning of his final utterance: 'Rosebud.' Why Is 'Citizen Kane' the Great Movie Ever Made? For Andre Bazin, who would go on to co-found Cahiers du Cinema in 1951 and become the spiritual father of the New Wave, Kane represented, in Welles and Toland's use of deep focus and long takes ... 'Watchmen: Chapter 1' Review: The 'Citizen Kane' of ... Part 1 of Brandon Vietti's film version faithfully adapts the story but struggles with its complexity and style The post 'Watchmen: Chapter 1' Review: The 'Citizen Kane' of Superhero ... Citizen Kane (1941) The fresh, sophisticated, and classic masterpiece, Citizen Kane (1941), is probably the world's most famous and highly-rated film, with its many remarkable scenes and performances, cinematic and narrative techniques and experimental innovations (in photography, editing, and sound). Its director, star, and producer were all the same genius individual - Orson Welles (in his film debut at age 25 ... Why Citizen Kane is Considered to be the Best Film of All Time Citizen Kane, legendary director Orson Welles' debut film, and arguably his magnum opus as well, premiered in theaters all the way back in the year 1942.Very loosely based on real life newspaper ... Citizen Kane Review Picture 8/10. Making its way back into The Criterion Collection 37-years after being the label's first title on LaserDisc, Orson Welles' influential debut Citizen Kane is presented here in a new Blu-ray edition (as spine 1104), sourced from a brand-new 4K restoration performed by Criterion and Warner Bros., scanned primarily from a 35mm nitrate composite fine-grain master made directly ... 'Alien: Romulus' review: New movie brings freshness to timeline Director Fede Alvarez's "Alien: Romulus" unleashes familiar franchise foes like Facehuggers and Chestbursters while embracing new youthful swagger. 'Watchmen: Chapter 1' Review: The 'Citizen Kane' of Superhero ... The latest attempt to adapt their work, "Watchmen: Chapter 1," is a CG-animated two-part motion picture, faithfully recreating many of the panels from the comic and much of its narration and dialogue. 'Trap' movie spoilers: Post-credit scene, ending explained When she winds up in The Butcher's home, Lady Raven comes in, makes nice by meeting his wife Rachel (Alison Pill) and volunteers to play a song on their piano, delighting Riley. Social media reacts to Raygun's viral breaking performance at 2024 Breaking, more commonly known as breakdancing, made its debut as an Olympic sport this week at the 2024 Paris Games, with 17 B-girls and 16 B-boys making their way to France with the hopes of ... Between the Temples (2024) Between the Temples: Directed by Nathan Silver. With Jason Schwartzman, Carol Kane, Dolly De Leon, Caroline Aaron. A cantor in a crisis of faith finds his world turned upside down when his grade school music teacher re-enters his life as his new adult Bat Mitzvah student. The Backrooms (TV Series 2022- ) The Backrooms: Created by Kane Parsons. With Kane Parsons, Henry, Aakash, Madison. A mystery series revolving around a plot to get inside a mysterious alternate dimension known as The Backrooms. assignment essay homework paper phd report resume review speech thesis