Citizen Kane

Released: May 1, 1941

Studio: RKO

Genre: drama

Box Office (numbers in millions):

Domestic: 1.59 Worldwide: --

Adjusted for Inflation:

Domestic: 56.60 Worldwide: --

Directing: Orson Welles

Screenwriting: Herman J. Mankiewicz, Orson Welles

Starring: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Everett Sloane, Dorothy Comingore, Agnes Moorehead

Review:

“Call it a classic – in fact, call it the classic – but don’t for a second think that Kane is a musty, petrified museum piece.” ^TV “Welles broke all the rules and invented some new ones” ^A07 “when he co-wrote, directed, and starred in this masterpiece.” ^VD “The two hours between the whispered ‘Rosebud’ and the burning sled have inspired more intellectual pontificating than just about anything else ever put on film, but what’s almost always overlooked in all the reverence is just how much fun this movie is.” ^TV This is “a rollicking, electrifying entertainment that includes some of the most dazzling imagery ever shot.” ^TV “Welles delightedly explores his mastery of a new vocabulary;” ^T95 his enthusiasm for film is like “the biggest toy-train set any boy ever had.” ^RS

“The debut of the 25-year-old Orson Welles actually merits the overused description of cinematic genius.” ^TV Citizen Kane is “a landmark of cinema history” ^FS which is “hailed by most critics as the greatest film ever made.” ^VD “The techniques he used …revolutionized movies in ways that are still being felt.” ^RS “Every aspect of the production marked an advance in film language: the deep-focus, deeply shadowed cinematography; the discontinuous narrative…; the innovative use of sound and score; the low-level camera shots; the ensemble acting from Welles’ Mercury Theater.” ^FS “The rich black-and-white tones look as vibrant as today’s headlines.” ^TV

The movie tells a “searing story of a newspaper publisher with an uncanny resemblance to William Randolph Hearst” ^A07 and his “ultimately empty rise to power” ^A98 as he is “destroyed by ambition and childhood neglect.” ^RS “A reporter is sent to investigate the significance of ‘Rosebud,’ the last word uttered by Kane (Welles), through interviews with various associates and his wife (Cotten, Sloane, Comingore).” ^FS “The film traces the newspaper tycoon from his simple beginnings to his ruthless peak and back down to his cold and lonely end” ^VD after his “wealth and power ultimately leave him abandoned and alone in his castle-like refuge.” ^FS “Most intriguing, however, is that there’s actually no one around to hear Kane mutter ‘Rosebud.’…So is everything we see and hear really the dying man’s dream?” ^T98