Title of Movie: Citizen Kane
BW/Color: Black and White
Original Release Date: 1941 By RKO Radio Pictures
Screenplay by: Herman J. Mankiewicz , Orson Welles
Director: Orson Welles
Principal Actors:
• Orson Welles = Charles Foster Kane, a rich newspaper publisher whose life is the film's subject.
• Joseph Cotten = Jedidiah Leland, Kane's friend and reporter on Kane's paper. Leland works for Kane as his business grows. Leland gets fired after he writes a negative review of Susan’s operatic debut
• Dorothy Comingore = Susan Alexander Kane- Kane’s mistress, later becomes his 2nd wife.
• Everett Sloane = Mr. Bernstein - friend and employee loyal till the end.
Cinematographer: Greg Toland
Genre Drama / Mystery
Acting and character development
The cast members were classically trained theatrical actors, and none had ever made a movie. While there are many unimpressive performances in Citizen Kane none of them were weak. It was filled with an A-rate cast and the actors worked together well as an ensemble. Perhaps, no performance was better than Orson Welles portraying all of Kane’s walks of life. From young and charismatic, to middle aged somber and assuming the end justified the mean instead of arguing it, to old quiet and wounded a man who had fought and lost time and time again Orson Welles delivers stunningly convincing performances at every “age”.
The characters are incredibly complex and often cross the line to become paradoxes. As a young man Kane is a “Fighting Liberal” as he ages and becomes more and more cynical his ideas begin leaning more towards a conservative right-wing view. At the end of his life Kane has done a total 180 and become an authoritarian bully. He claims it is his environment though that ...
... middle of paper ...
...and the respective best friend Jed- Emily divorces him and takes their young son with
Kane forces his attention towards his young wife Susan he becomes a term in a make her a great dog despite the fact that she has no talent ignoring objections can push is her to the brink of suicide you finally agrees to give up on his game to make her a star and instead he building in Norman powers called Xanadu where he and Susan retire in semi exclusion.. After all this, Susan rebel and walks out on him .He dies alone and bitter in the great palace he had built.
In pure chronological order the storyline of Citizen Kane would have been dull and unfocused. To mend this he and Herman Mankiewicz fragmented the story and jumbled it then had a hopeful reporter given one clue, the word rosebud, and track down the truth of Kane’s life. The story was told almost entirely via Flashbacks.
Mise-en-scène, cinematography and editing are used in all forms of cinema. Within the “Declaration of Principles” scene of Citizen Kane, lighting, blocking and panning are three of the main sub aspects that work in unison to consistently demonstrate important aspects of the film. Welles uses these attributes to portray to the audience how this younger Kane is an important newspaper owner, with an even more important document. He creates a scene that has a heavy emphasis on panning to continuously preserve a frame that centers Kane while also lighting the document so viewers can constantly see the important plot and characters of the movie.
The personality of the character played by Henry Fonda affected the way things played out because he was analyzing all of the evidence and the whole situation. The character played by Henry Fonda, was an architect. In the first initial vote, he was the only one who voted not guilty. This juror which was #8, made sure that they went over all of the evidence and eye wi...
Through exploring the public and private life of Kane, as it transitions from childhood to adulthood, Welles allows for audiences to understand the universal concept of
Citizen Kane has many layers in the narrative and use of cinematic language. The character Charles Kane with all his complexities had a very simple longing to be loved. Wells created a film filled with twists, turns and complexities in both the narrative and the visual narrative and this too left a simple visual at the end of Kane's childhood sleigh with the
Citizen Kane, is a 1941 American film, written, produced, and starred by Orson Welles. This film is often proclaimed by critics,filmmakers, and fans as one of the best if not the best film ever made. Citizen Kane is an unbelievable film becuase of how advanced it is compared to other films of its time. In the film, the producer used many different narrative elements to capture the audiences imagination. It truly is astounding how the filmmakers used certain editing techniques, sounds, and different narrative elements to illustrate the story and the plot. Although the plot isnt exactly captivating to the present day audience, this film is still amazing due to how much work and effort went into making it.
In your view, how does Welles’ portrayal of the complex nature of happiness contribute to the enduring value of Citizen Kane?
Charles Foster Kane is a wealthy newspaper tycoon. He was able to buy his own newspaper because his mother inherited a gold mine. At a very young age his parents sent him to live with his personal banker in many different cities. Being taken from his family at such a young age made him hate his guardian and made him very rebellious. This lead him to buy the New York Inquirer instead of investing in other things like his banker told him to. His first wife was the president’s niece, which gets him interested in politics. He runs for governor of New York, but loses due to his affair with Susan Alexander being exposed. He had a chance to keep the affair from the public but chose not to because he believed that no on could threaten him, instead ruining his marriage. He had an obsession with making his second wife an opera star, even though she wasn’t very good and refused to hear criticism about her. He wanted to make her a star because people told him he couldn’t, so he wanted to prove them wrong. His second wife left him because he wanted her to be a certain way, but didn’t really care about how she felt. He realized that
Citizen Kane is a timeless movie that revolutionized the film industry by bringing new techniques and ways to go about making a film that changed the Cinema forever. Orson Welles created a timeless picture by dedicated himself to the Mise-en-scene, he pushed the boundaries and found different ways to utilize what he already knew. The Mise-En-Scene of this narrative creates a film that is ahead of it’s time and a genius innovation to
Throughout the course of a lifetime, a common phrase heard is “don’t judge a book by its cover”. This phrase indicates the fact that it is nearly impossible to truly evaluate the life and feelings of a person just by what can be seen about them. This is the case in the film Citizen Kane, directed by Orson Welles. Charles Foster Kane is a man who would appear to the general public as having it all. A very popular man, Kane owns a successful newspaper company for which he is known worldwide. He builds a gigantic mansion for his second wife and himself, surrounded by intricate and expensive statues. Kane seems to be perfect in every single way, and one may think that he is the happiest man alive. However, Charles never had the things that
Orson Welles ' introduced innovating editing and sound design in the 1940s with Citizen Kane (1941). Welles uses editing and sound to show the audience the passing of time, this is seen the breakfast montage. Welles uses sound bridges during the transitional wipes of fast moving images which fade into the next shot. The sound bridges act as links between the two scenes and make the time difference apparent to the audience. At the beginning of the montage Welles uses a slow zoom combined with romantic music to show the love between Kane and Emily. Both characters appear in the frame together with deep focus and slow paced editing which shows the closeness of the couple in the early years. This is juxtaposed by the end of the montage showing
Through these extensive genres, Welles made a brand of himself. He was known for playing in theaters, receiving the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the D.W. Griffiths Award, and was named number sixteen on the Fifty Greatest Screen Legends List of the American Film Institute. In Welles films, famous actors like Everett Sloane and Joseph Cotton made constant appearances. His filmin...
Citizen Kane is widely considered the greatest movie of all time because of the countless innovations Orson Welles made while directing. His revolutions include the re-implementation of dynamic camera movement within a single shot, use of light and darkness to create complex scenery, and countless other implementations of film form styles. The non-chronological story-line creates an immersive experience as the audience attempts to figure out the true meaning of "Rosebud" alongside Thompson as he interviews Kane's closest friends and enemies. We learn more and more about the man, far more then covered in the public
What I believe Orson Welles means by Citizen Kane being a “failure story” is, despite Charles Foster Kane’s immense amount of wealth and status due to his career as a newspaper tycoon, he is a man who is very unhappy in life. The story shows how prosperity and power is ultimately useless in the absence of genuine love from others.
The idea of wealth bringing power is exhibited by Charles Kane, in Citizen Kane by Orson Welles. In Citizen Kane, the theme of money bringing ultimate power, more specifically the shift of power from Thatcher to Kane, is shown through lighting and Angles. Wells’ uses low-key lighting, high-key lighting and Angles to show as Kane gains money, he gains more and more power.
Through materialism, Kane became a self-invested individual. The highly acclaimed Citizen Kane creates drama and suspense for the viewer. Orson Welles designed this film to enhance the viewer’s opinion about light and darkness, staging, proxemics, personal theme development, and materialism. Creating one of the most astounding films in the cinematography world, Welles conveys many stylistic features as well as fundamentals of cinematography. It is an amazing film and will have an everlasting impact on the world of film.