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Citizen Kane (1941)
• Written by Herman J. Mankiewicz and Orson
Welles.
• Directed by Orson Welles.
• Staring Orson Welles (as a young man, a
middle aged man, and an old man).
(This is the “auteur” approach—one person in
charge.)
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Nine Oscar Nominations
• Best B/W Interior
Decoration
• Best Sound Recording
• Best Dramatic Picture
Score
• Best Film Editing
• Welles nominated for 4
Oscars
• BEST ORIGINAL
SCREENPLAY
• Best Picture
• Best Actor
• Best Director
• Best B/W
Cinematography
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Background:
Academy Awards for 1941
Welles:
*Best Writing, Original Screenplay
• Best Actor in a Leading Role
• Best Director
• Best Picture
The only award received was for best screenplay. And
the audience actually booed when some categories
were announced.
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Background
• When Citizen Kane was first released in 1941, it was a
commercial failure. In fact, it was almost not
released. And RKO almost burned the negative
• After the Oscars, RKO put Citizen Kane in a vault.
• Welles never got a chance to make another picture
with that kind of control.
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Who was Orson Welles?
• 1938 He was most well-known for Mercury
Theater radio dramas and especially “The
War of the Worlds.”
– The Panic Broadcast
• Took place in Grovers Mills, New Jersey (just
outside of Trenton)
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Who was Orson Welles?
• When he started making Citizen Kane, Orson
Welles was 24-years- old. He had never made
a movie before.
• Yet RKO gave him “complete script control,
director control, producer control, cast
control—everything—and no questions asked.
And this was unheard of.”
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Charles Foster Kane
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Based on the life of William
Randolph Hearst
•
Marion Davies (mistress)
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Background
• Charles Foster Kane closely parallels the life of
William Randolph Hearst, built the world’s largest
newspaper chain Although
• Hearst was born wealthy (his father had made a
fortune, some of it in mining), Hearst decided, like
Kane, that it would be “fun to run a newspaper”—
The San Francisco Examiner.
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Background
• Hearst later became involved with actress, Marion
Davies, who became the model for Susan Alexander
Kane.
• Hearst had a mansion in California called San Simeon
that was the basis for Xanadu in the film.
• Hearst, who was 76 years old when the film was
made, was not amused by the similarities.
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San Simeon
• Hearst Castle
– San Simeon
– San Luis Obispo
County, California.
• Charles Foster Kane’s
– Xanadu
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Background
• “No Hearst newspaper ever published a
review. No Hearst newspaper ever published
an ad. The orders came from San Simeon that
there was to be no advertising accepted for
that movie.” Vern Whaley
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Themes
• A search for the meaning
of a man’s life
• Love
• Rosebud…maybe it’s
something he lost
• Power
– Youth and Decay
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Plot: A Character Study
• Opening
The film begins
and ends with a
shot of the fence
around Xanadu and
the “No
Trespassing” sign
on the outside
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Plot
The film quickly kills off the main character
(Kane) after we see the snow globe and he utters
“Rosebud” (thus making us curious about what
Rosebud is and who this guy is—a mystery to be
solved).
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Plot
• Each person tells Thompson something about Kane
and each becomes a first-person narrator who has a
flashback.
• Sometimes the flashbacks overlap (e.g. Jed Leland’s
memories of the opera and Susan Alexander Kane’s
memories of the opera). Sometimes a story event
appears more than once.
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Structure: From public to intimate
viewpoint
• Opening sequence
“Rosebud”
• March of Time (public)
• Thatcher Library
(guardian)
• Bernstein (Business
manager)
• Leland (friend, and Drama
critic)
• Susan (2nd wife)
• Closing Sequence
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Great Scenes
• Breakfast Montage
• March of Time
– Scratchy Newsreel style/sound
• Reporter in shadow
– Reporter is the stand in for the viewer
trying to understand CFK
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Style: Montage Sequence
The breakfast scene condenses time.
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Symbolism: Glass Snowball
• First seen at the beginning when Kane is dying.
• Seen on the Susan Alexander’s dressing table the
first night Kane meets her.
• Seen in Susan Alexander Kane’s room at Xanadu just
after she leaves him and he is trashing the room.
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Cinema Art
• Innovative sound (extensive
background in radio (audio)
• Effective lighting techniques
• Photography: Deep focus
(composition and movement
determine where to look)
– Camera angle
• Set design
– Everything supports the story line
of power, corruption of character
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Love and Power
• Walter Parks Thatcher takes Kane away from
his mother.
• Thatcher represents making money, the
bottom line, being financially successful.
• Kane hates Thatcher.
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Love and Power
• The most important object for Kane is the
snow globe—because it reminds him of his
mother.
• Because Susan owns the snow globe, Kane
associates her with his mother.
• Both Kane’s mother and Susan Alexander
Kane love him for himself.
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Artistic Achievement
– Structure and editing
parallel the story
(circular/spiral-adding depth
each time)
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Art
The style used to introduce the segment on Susan
and the segment on Thatcher is similar.. Art object
to person
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Art
Art that depicts them is shown before we see the
actual person….
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Style: Lighting
The use of shadows is significant. These shots
are from when Kane is writing his “Declaration
of Principles.”
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Style: Lighting
Scenes that show Kane when he is younger
tend to be shot in high key lighting and softer
light; scenes shot as he grows older tend to be
low key with much more darkness and stronger
contrasts (hard light), and shot from low angle
to emphasize power.
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Young and idealistic vs. Old and Isolated
•
•
•
•
•
•
Thin, has hair
Clothes are light colored
Actor moves quickly
Music is upbeat, quick
Shots are shorter
Lighting is mostly high key
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•
•
•
•
Fat, bald
Clothes are dark colored
Actor moves slowly
Music is slower, more
somber
• Shots are longer
• Lighting is more low key
• Shot from low angle
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Style: Photography
Deep Focus Photography:
the use of a wide-angle
lens allows everything in
a frame to be in focus at
once. It also tends to
exaggerate the distances
between people.
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Deep Focus - Gregg Toland
• Altered the camera and treated
lenses to reduce glare
• Fastest film stock available
• Greater depth of field
• Closing down the aperture
– Most films shot F/2.3 to F/3.5
– CK shot between F/8 and F/16
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