CITIZEN KANE

One of my favorite critics Roger Ebert has sadly passed away and to pay my respects to him, I'm going to review one his favorite films (as well as one of mines) that he really knows a lot about, which is...

What many have considered to be one of the best movies of all time, "Citizen Kane" defiantly is at least one of them. There's really so much to talk about regarding this film so I'm going to get started right now. After the death of a very rich publishing tycoon named Charles Foster Kane (Orson Wells); a news reporter who we never see and hardly get a look at his face goes out to find the meaning of his last words. If you already know what his final words mean (And I'm sure many jerks including "Family Guy" has ruined it for you) that doesn't mean you shouldn't see the film or heck is the only important part to the story. The film basically talks about the life of Charles Foster Kane through many different perspectives and while learning about this man, we see both his good and bad side. The film is also based on and fictionalizes the life of William Randolph Hearst, which I'll talk about when I review "The Battle Over Citizen Kane". Since the film shows different sides of the story I'm going to review it in parts.

ROSEBUD

This film has one of the best openings in all of cinema. At first we see a “No Trespassing” sign on an Iron Gate, to then seeing a dark looking castle on top of a hill in a misty dark night. As we look at this castle, the camera then slowly dissolves closer and closer to this dark castle and as we pass by many places for recreation on the grounds behind the gate. I'm telling you, this whole opening looks like an opening to a horror film. Once we're in the Castle, we see an old cabin covered in snow up on the mountains, and before we question why we’re seeing this, the camera quickly zooms out and it is revealed to be a glass snow globe in the hands of a man off screen. We cut to the lips of our main character as he mutters out one word that echoes and drops the snow globe. A nurse walks in as we see through a curve of a sliver of the shattered glass fragment from the broken globe and she puts a sheet over the off screen mans body indicating that he's dead. That's really an incredible scene, but this is only the opening and I'll try not to go into to much detail with the rest of the film throughout this review.

NEWS ON THE MARCH OF CHARLES FOSTER KANE





After that dramatic opening, we cut to a Newsreel of the man who died and his name was Charles Foster Kane and we learn about who he is and what he did for America. The people who are watching it are News reporters who are kept in the shadows. This Newsreel actually looks like a legit Newsreel and most of the time I'm not only convinced about the reel being real, but I'm also interested in learning about the man. We get to see more of his castle Xanadu , which is not just a castle but it's a palace fit for a King, Queen, Emperor, President, you name any kind of ruler. It's in my opinion the best Castle ever! We also get to see a few interviews of Kane and the man who took him in, Walter Parks Thatcher (George Coulouris), which are fun and interesting. My favorite quote in an interview with Kane has to be" Don't believe everything you hear on the radio" which is a reference to Orson Wells infamous radio broadcast on "War Of The Worlds" that caused a panic to listeners. The Newsreel also tells us about the people he’s met; the women he’s married; how he’s been loved and hated by thousands; his run Politics; and the fact that he sadly died alone, man this has to be one of the best and tragic film character ever (I'm not just speaking just by what I saw on the Newsreel). After the Newsreel, we then meet the reporters that were watching the reel and even though they’re normal people and the fact that the reporter who goes on the journey to figure out the meaning of Kane's last words is the person we’re with throughout the film; the shadowing for the reporters fits perfectly because they're not the focus of the story, it’s Kane who is the heart and soul of the story, which is a stylistic choice that’s both clever and cool.


FIRST INTERVIEW WITH SUSAN KANE (KANE'S SECOND EX WIFE)



There's really not much to talk about here. It's just Kane's ex wife Susan (Dorothy Comingore) refusing to talk, but don't worry will hear from her again later. I will tell you this, I really do love the shot of how we enter the night club she works at, it's really outstanding.

THE MEMOIRS OF KANE'S LEGAL GUARDIAN AND BANK MANAGER WALTER PARKS THATCHER





Our Reporter’s next stop is a dark looking library where he reads the secret memoirs of Thatcher's relationship with Kane. In the memoirs of Thatcher’s relationship with Kane we learn about Kane's childhood and his beginning in the Newspaper business. In the childhood portion of the flashback, we see a  young happy Charles Forrest Kane as a little boy who is being taken away from his stern but loving Mother (Agnes Moorehead) and his uneducated and abusive father (Harry Shannon); and even though he's not living in great conditions with not so good parents, he still is happy and when he's being taken away you feel sorry for him. Interestingly enough, despite that we're looking at our protagonist as a child, the childhood sequence itself surprisingly and yet so subtly hints of our character becoming this rich and powerful man. Just listen carefully to what he says while he's playing. When we see him as a kid living with Thatcher as he's having a very unhappy Christmas, I love how the flashback fast-forwards to Kane at 25. Even though we don't see him in person yet, we see a montage of headlines of his controversial writing on the Newspaper to then finally seeing our protagonist in person as he puts down his paper while drinking coffee, speaking in a soft spoken voice. Oh and by the way, I love what he says about writing for the Newspaper and his response about the controversy and his description of being two people. When we go to The Great Depression as Kane becomes rich, there's a marvelous filming technique of how each character appears and if you look carefully you'll discover that a piece of cinematography looks very familiar to the childhood sequence that we saw earlier.


INTERVIEW WITH BERNSTEIN (KANE'S PERSONAL MANAGER)

 

Bernstein (Everett Sloane) talks about his experience with Kane; the day Kane took over the Inquirer; and how he fought with his competition “The Chronicle”. As we watch Bernstein getting interviewed we get some really great and powerful acting moments from Sloane with the smart and cleverly written dialogue which are the monologue about an unforgettable moment he had years ago; revealing his sympathy for Kane's ex wife Susan; and old age before the reporter leaves. While being serious, this flashback on Bernstein's perspective of Kane has some funny and good over the top moments, like when Kane moves into “The Inquirer” and the song and dance number full of dancing chorus girls as Kane and his friends watch. We also learn more about Kane's controversial writing such as deciding to turn a disappearance story into a murder case and encouraging the Spanish American War. He even starts going on a shopping craze of getting more stuff to the point when his room is filled with it. The shots are all incredible some highlights in this sequence has to be the room filled with paper; the picture of the staff; and the dance number. Oh and the sets are once again magnificent.

INTERVIEW WITH JEDEDIAH LELAND (KANE'S BEST FRIEND)



Jedediah(Joseph Cotten) talks about Kane's relationship with his wives, his fall in Politics and working with him. The shots in this film just keep getting better and better as the film moves on. Come to think of it, I can't think of one shot I didn't like. There's the famous Breakfast montage as we see Kane and his first wife Emily (Ruth Warrick) slowly losing interest in each other as the years go by. By the way, the weight that Orson Wells had to either gain or lose is really amazing. I also love how we enter the flashback. His relationship with Susan starts out sweet but then we see him force her to become a singer. The upward shot in the Opera House that Kane built for her is completely outstanding.The bad guy who blackmails Kane is kept in the shadows for awhile and the shadowing for it is great and yes when we finally do see him he looks just as sinister as he is in the shadows.The relationship between Kane and Jedediah wasn't anything special as Jedediah said and the last scene with them together in a deep focus shot is acted out great and his action in that scene shows what kind of man he is.One of the best scenes in the whole movie is the speech that Kane gives, it's really powerful, it's filmed great and it's just straight out epic!Oh and the snow globe appears again and he mentions his Mother for the last time when he's with Susan.

THE 2ND INTERVIEW WITH SUSAN

 

The interview talks about the fall of Charles and Susan's love. Like many parts in the movie, this is very tragic as well. Some scenes and shots recollect to things that happened earlier in the film. When we meet Susan again, we enter the club the same way we did before. We see her operatic performance again, only this time we're watching it with Charles. We also get to see her reaction to the review that was written earlier. We also get to find out why he built Xanadu. Just like as we see Kane age and age, the make up is really good for when he hits his old age.

THE INTERVIEW WITH RAYMOND (KANE'S BUTLER)



Now I'm not going to talk about this scene but I will say it's very powerful, it's all shot as big and epic as the film is and it's a very sad ending. For those who found out what Rosebud is and haven't seen the film, there's more to Rosebud then you realize.

 Overall the film is a masterpiece and a huge part of film history and any person who's into films must see it and it is indeed one of the best movies ever made.

RATING 5/5

DEDICATED TO FORMER CRITIC ROGER EBERT

R.I.P TO A GREAT CRITIC

Oh and one more thing I must say before I end my review...

SIMS CHEAT