Citizen Kane"I don't think any word can explain a man's life." These are a few of the final words in the quest of journalist Jerry Thompson (William Alland) as he investigates the cryptic final word of one of the richest men in the world, the late Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles). What is the sum of a man? Is it the legacy of his actions? Is it the things he acquires? Is it even that ephemeral force that we all pine for deep down which the poets call love? And as Thompson observes--as well as his colleagues at "News on the March"--is it something which can be neatly described in a short newsreel? Who was Charles Foster Kane?
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By now, "Rosebud" has been absorbed into the collective consciousness of filmgoers forever, the object which Charlie Kane looks back on as death closes in and he considers how he spent his life, and what in that pursuit was lost. More than a simple sled, Kane has lost his sense of humanity, of purpose, his direction prefabricated and insulated in the environment of unlimited wealth. The opening montage is like a pantomime, save that it has a voice, the voice of the news, "of the people" such as they are, the frequent method of discourse and connection Charles Kane himself implemented to reach the world as the publisher of The Daily Inquirer. Through it, we are presented the accepted, public persona of Kane. The rest of Citizen Kane is the more "intimate", presumably genuine story...the "news behind the news"; but that isn't enough. Thompson's editor puts him on the case like a gumshoe to uncover just what it is that made Kane utter such a cryptic final word, a task which requires him to contact--where able--those who knew the tycoon best, and dig for the story in a fashion which I suspect Kane would have found dryly ironic. Citizen Kane is a film told principally through flashbacks, recollections of the witnesses to the life of Charles Kane who knew him at different stations in time. Each testimony is like the jigsaw puzzles Kane's second wife, Susan Alexander (Dorothy Comingore) worked on during her tenure at Kane's monument to himself, his mansion-of-mansions, Xanadu. Is Thompson a skilled enough detective to put the pieces together and get the big picture? Xanadu itself is the ultimate reflection of the works of Kane, an "Ozymandias" of yellow journalism and politics, his fortune pulled from the earth in the form of the Colorado Load bequeathed to his mother, Mary Kane (Agnes Moorehead), in his youth. Can Mary be blamed for just trying to give her son a perfect life, even if it meant entrusting him wholly into the care of a surrogate father and mentor, stern as the marble in his memorial library, Walter Parks Thatcher (George Coulouris)? It was a choice Charlie never had, and one which would rankle him to the point that he became rebellious and determined to become everything Thatcher hated. Evidently, one cannot simply transform another by force of will alone; and unfortunately, this was a lesson Charlie himself never seemed to learn. At the age of twenty-five, he took a quizzical interest in the Inquirer, citing that he was interested in managing it out of fun, and noting that it was an acquisition resulting from a foreclosure by the bank; like him, the Inquirer becomes a find which produces fortunes from leftovers.
Charles Foster Kane hurtles headlong into his chosen profession with aggressiveness, alongside his dear friends Jedediah Leland (Joseph Cotton) and Mr. Bernstein (Everett Sloane), laying out the best of intentions in the form of Kane's "Declaration of Principles"; and what is it they say about promises? Like the reporters Kane endorsed in his enterprise, the yellow journalism which he employs with aplomb is certainly familiar territory to the auteur responsible for the "War of the Worlds". Following that sensation, Orson Welles and his retinue found themselves with complete creative control over Citizen Kane; the rest is history, and a history not too far removed from that of Mr. Kane--perhaps a touch less dramatic. Kane builds the Inquirer up by his opportunistic approach to news--going so far to report on events and wars regardless of their veracity--but really Kane ends up serving another old axiom: the best way to get rich is to be rich already. As Susan observed--as well as Kane himself when speaking to Thatcher--he never invested (in people or in properties); he only used his money to "buy things". He cites himself as an "American" first and foremost; he is a consumer more than a capitalist, the herald of a society endorsing the new, first world mantra of consumerism following World War II--Citizen Kane was made in 1941, but is prophetic in this regard. Each former friend and companion of Charlie's who Thompson visits recalls their time with the enigmatic man with a moment of introspective reminiscence, recalling those days like dreams that have yet to pass as you wake from slumber; and much time passes during each conversation, like a journey into sleep. Bernstein remembers the birth of the business, and dispenses wisdom to Thompson like a doctor does with prescriptions...including a famously recalled moment about a girl with a parasol. Bernstein is also the first to observe that "Rosebud" might be something Charlie lost; only, it's not so much a thing here, as it is a representation of his humanity and innocence devoured by his ever-growing public life. Jed Leland is easily the most curious of witnesses to disclose his view of Charles Kane to Thompson, in as much as his testimony reinforces a quality inherent in second-hand accounts--that they're only as reliable as the teller of the story. That's not necessarily to say that Jed is lying, but it is an interesting thought considering how different he behaves from how he "describes himself" in his flashback--jocular and even a bit cynical versus his formerly optimistic self. In a film filled with spectacular moments, Mr. Leland recalls perhaps my favorite. It is a scene where Charlie and his first wife, Emily (Ruth Warrick) are newlyweds, and seated around the breakfast table. Their conversations are shown rapid-fire, and gradually the marital bliss disintegrates until, ultimately, they are not talking at all; Emily reads the rival Chronicle, while Charles reads his Inquirer. There is a comment Jed makes about Emily being a "nice girl"--he says it twice--which the more I think on it implies that Jed may have had some kind of feelings for Emily. Maybe he was jealous of Charlie, but his attitude changes when it is revealed that Charlie has thrown himself on his political sword to show he will not be manipulated by "Boss" Jim W. Gettys (Ray Collins) while running for governor, and newspapers run headlines that all but say Kane was unfaithful to his wife. And when Jed tells Thompson about how Kane finished his bad review of Susan's opera performance, Thompson observes that "everyone knows that story"; maybe it's just a story, but it makes for some fascinating journalism.
Thompson goes to see Susan Alexander not once, but twice, before she will talk to him about her time with Charlie Kane. Although technically Jed tells the story to Thompson about how the second Mrs. Kane and Charlie met, their meeting was more or less a matter of chance on account of a toothache and splashed mud, which he recalls was due to his wishing to revisit some mementos from his past, the implication being that he wished to reclaim his precious sled from his childhood, doing some soul searching. Susan fills some need for Charlie, less by being Susan but more by being ignorant of him. In her, he sees an opportunity--since that is Kane's skill--to make someone love him for him, and not for his reputation and money. He is a Pygmalion to her, and she a block of common clay, though his efforts to mold her painfully mirror his own transfiguration from his youth at the hands of his mother and Thatcher; and he is a businessman first, an artist running a distant second. Susan might be the biggest casualty of Kane's need for self-fulfillment, as he drives her into a life which she herself indicated was merely an expression of her mother's desire to see her in opera. But Kane acquires Susan, a practice he continued to do as he fell into his compulsion to "own" the world--a catalog of statues, life in perfect, captured standstill. Perhaps the most overt metaphor of Kane's possessiveness over Susan comes just prior to her leaving him. We see a life-sized porcelain doll of a beautiful woman on her chair, who looks not too unlike Susan--a doll for his doll. The destruction of her room is of devastating proportions, a story recalled to Thompson by the sleazy butler, Raymond (Paul Stewart), as Thompson makes one final push to understand what "Rosebud" is; but all Raymond does is reiterate that he found the snow globe, stopped his rampage, said the word, and walked out quietly into one of the boldest visual representations of the multifaceted character of himself--the infinite mirrors, lost in his melancholy. Citizen Kane is widely considered to be the greatest film ever made for a multitude of reasons, not least of which include the revolutionary, deep focus cinematography by Gregg Toland and the narrative--itself a commentary on American privilege and the rise of the public elite in the 20th century, featuring a composite protagonist influenced by tycoons, most famously of which was William Randolph Hearst. Citizen Kane is a story about a man who seeks to find himself, and finally learns that he cannot do so through consumption; for all his wealth, he is unable to fill the void in his soul with money and objects. It is the story about how materialism is no substitute for love; a good message, and a riveting, exciting, and thoroughly entertaining movie.
Recommended for: Fans of film, period. More than that, it is as fresh and exciting upon any viewing, with a story that speaks to the soul about what it means to love and the sacrifices required, and about how convictions matter, and many other great things. Forgive me if I gush, but I cannot express enough that if you have never seen Citizen Kane, you must.
Charles Foster Kane hurtles headlong into his chosen profession with aggressiveness, alongside his dear friends Jedediah Leland (Joseph Cotton) and Mr. Bernstein (Everett Sloane), laying out the best of intentions in the form of Kane's "Declaration of Principles"; and what is it they say about promises? Like the reporters Kane endorsed in his enterprise, the yellow journalism which he employs with aplomb is certainly familiar territory to the auteur responsible for the "War of the Worlds". Following that sensation, Orson Welles and his retinue found themselves with complete creative control over Citizen Kane; the rest is history, and a history not too far removed from that of Mr. Kane--perhaps a touch less dramatic. Kane builds the Inquirer up by his opportunistic approach to news--going so far to report on events and wars regardless of their veracity--but really Kane ends up serving another old axiom: the best way to get rich is to be rich already. As Susan observed--as well as Kane himself when speaking to Thatcher--he never invested (in people or in properties); he only used his money to "buy things". He cites himself as an "American" first and foremost; he is a consumer more than a capitalist, the herald of a society endorsing the new, first world mantra of consumerism following World War II--Citizen Kane was made in 1941, but is prophetic in this regard. Each former friend and companion of Charlie's who Thompson visits recalls their time with the enigmatic man with a moment of introspective reminiscence, recalling those days like dreams that have yet to pass as you wake from slumber; and much time passes during each conversation, like a journey into sleep. Bernstein remembers the birth of the business, and dispenses wisdom to Thompson like a doctor does with prescriptions...including a famously recalled moment about a girl with a parasol. Bernstein is also the first to observe that "Rosebud" might be something Charlie lost; only, it's not so much a thing here, as it is a representation of his humanity and innocence devoured by his ever-growing public life. Jed Leland is easily the most curious of witnesses to disclose his view of Charles Kane to Thompson, in as much as his testimony reinforces a quality inherent in second-hand accounts--that they're only as reliable as the teller of the story. That's not necessarily to say that Jed is lying, but it is an interesting thought considering how different he behaves from how he "describes himself" in his flashback--jocular and even a bit cynical versus his formerly optimistic self. In a film filled with spectacular moments, Mr. Leland recalls perhaps my favorite. It is a scene where Charlie and his first wife, Emily (Ruth Warrick) are newlyweds, and seated around the breakfast table. Their conversations are shown rapid-fire, and gradually the marital bliss disintegrates until, ultimately, they are not talking at all; Emily reads the rival Chronicle, while Charles reads his Inquirer. There is a comment Jed makes about Emily being a "nice girl"--he says it twice--which the more I think on it implies that Jed may have had some kind of feelings for Emily. Maybe he was jealous of Charlie, but his attitude changes when it is revealed that Charlie has thrown himself on his political sword to show he will not be manipulated by "Boss" Jim W. Gettys (Ray Collins) while running for governor, and newspapers run headlines that all but say Kane was unfaithful to his wife. And when Jed tells Thompson about how Kane finished his bad review of Susan's opera performance, Thompson observes that "everyone knows that story"; maybe it's just a story, but it makes for some fascinating journalism.
Thompson goes to see Susan Alexander not once, but twice, before she will talk to him about her time with Charlie Kane. Although technically Jed tells the story to Thompson about how the second Mrs. Kane and Charlie met, their meeting was more or less a matter of chance on account of a toothache and splashed mud, which he recalls was due to his wishing to revisit some mementos from his past, the implication being that he wished to reclaim his precious sled from his childhood, doing some soul searching. Susan fills some need for Charlie, less by being Susan but more by being ignorant of him. In her, he sees an opportunity--since that is Kane's skill--to make someone love him for him, and not for his reputation and money. He is a Pygmalion to her, and she a block of common clay, though his efforts to mold her painfully mirror his own transfiguration from his youth at the hands of his mother and Thatcher; and he is a businessman first, an artist running a distant second. Susan might be the biggest casualty of Kane's need for self-fulfillment, as he drives her into a life which she herself indicated was merely an expression of her mother's desire to see her in opera. But Kane acquires Susan, a practice he continued to do as he fell into his compulsion to "own" the world--a catalog of statues, life in perfect, captured standstill. Perhaps the most overt metaphor of Kane's possessiveness over Susan comes just prior to her leaving him. We see a life-sized porcelain doll of a beautiful woman on her chair, who looks not too unlike Susan--a doll for his doll. The destruction of her room is of devastating proportions, a story recalled to Thompson by the sleazy butler, Raymond (Paul Stewart), as Thompson makes one final push to understand what "Rosebud" is; but all Raymond does is reiterate that he found the snow globe, stopped his rampage, said the word, and walked out quietly into one of the boldest visual representations of the multifaceted character of himself--the infinite mirrors, lost in his melancholy. Citizen Kane is widely considered to be the greatest film ever made for a multitude of reasons, not least of which include the revolutionary, deep focus cinematography by Gregg Toland and the narrative--itself a commentary on American privilege and the rise of the public elite in the 20th century, featuring a composite protagonist influenced by tycoons, most famously of which was William Randolph Hearst. Citizen Kane is a story about a man who seeks to find himself, and finally learns that he cannot do so through consumption; for all his wealth, he is unable to fill the void in his soul with money and objects. It is the story about how materialism is no substitute for love; a good message, and a riveting, exciting, and thoroughly entertaining movie.
Recommended for: Fans of film, period. More than that, it is as fresh and exciting upon any viewing, with a story that speaks to the soul about what it means to love and the sacrifices required, and about how convictions matter, and many other great things. Forgive me if I gush, but I cannot express enough that if you have never seen Citizen Kane, you must.