Citizen Kane Reviews

This movie demonstrates the absolute futility of seeking wealth, notoriety, women, power, and earthly treasures. Kane seeks after all these things and ends up a lonely, depressed man with no friends to speak of. At the very end, Kane has a moment of awakening when he realizes the purest and happiest moments of his life was when he was a child living with child-like faith. As a child, he cared not for wealth, notoriety, women, power, or earthly goods. It reminds Mark 10:15, "Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."

Whether Kane had a true repentance experience is unknown, the movie implies that this is left between him and God. What I find puzzling, however, is William Hearst's outright hatred for the film, wanting to see it completely destroyed. The movie is loosely based on his life. To me, the ending shows Kane's yearning for something virtuous and meaningful. Yet, Hearst wanted vindication of Kane's life in which he pursued wealth and power. Surely, Hearst's life is not identical to Kane's, but it is safe to say he pursued much of the power and wealth depicted in the movie. I guess it only back up that power and money does truly corrupt a man.

Quite an excellent film, with the exception of the rather stupid ending. Orson Welles' acting and direction were phenomenal but this movie, overall is not the best by any stretch of the imagination. I really believe that without the hype, I would have enjoyed this film more.

There always will be a debate about this movie. Some think it is indeed the best movie ever made and some will tell you it is the most overrated movie ever made. It is always the risk with such a huge classic that, if you watch it at a very young age (like I did the first time around) after building up some huge expectations, you might wonder what was the fuss all about. In my opinion, this movie is great because it is really subtle and also because it was much ahead of its time. I think it is something you can appreciate most of all if you have seen a lot of movies. Anyway, the second time I watched it, I was then able to see how modern and so well put together the whole thing was. It was simply mesmerizing. And think about it, Orson Welles was only 26 when he directed it... That's rather insane. To think that, at such a young age, this man who was much younger than me, managed to make possibly the best movie of all time. The thought is rather mind-blowing and it was also a curse for Orson Welles who always struggled as a director ever since, even though some of his following directing efforts were more than decent. Anyway, to conclude, I think it is great movie, it is one of the greatest achievement in this Art and a must see for any movie buff.

''I guess Rosebud is just a piece in a jigsaw puzzle...a missing piece.''

Following the death of a publishing tycoon, news reporters scramble to discover the meaning of his final utterance.

Orson Welles: Charles Foster Kane

Citizen Kane from 1941, has been lauded as the greatest motion picture to come out of America during the black-and-white era (or any era, for that matter). It also represents the pinnacle of Orson Welles' film making career. For, although Welles lived for more than forty years following the release of Kane, he never succeeded in recapturing the brilliance or fulfilling the promise of his first feature.



Some perhaps boast that his effort The Magnificent Ambersons was powerful, but the studio took the film away from him, slashing more than 40 minutes of footage. Thus, while Welles' Shakespeare movies and A Touch of Evil contain elements of brilliance, they are not on the same level as Kane aspires. It has been argued, most forcefully in Thomas Lennon and Michael Epstein's 1996 documentary, The Battle Over Citizen Kane, that Kane not only started Welles' directorial career, but nearly ended it.
The movie opens with an unforgettable image of a distant, fog-shrouded castle on a hill. It's a classic Gothic shot, and goes a long way towards establishing Citizen Kane's mood. We quickly learn that this place, called Xanadu, is the dwelling of America's Kubla Khan, Charles Foster Kane (Welles), a one-time newspaper magnate who could have become President if not for an ill-advised extramarital affair. Xanadu, in the words of the faux newsreel that gives a brief history of Kane's life, is the "costliest monument of a man to himself." Any resemblance to The Ranch, William Randolph Hearst's real-life San Simeon abode, is not coincidental.

''I can remember everything. That's my curse, young man. It's the greatest curse that's ever been inflicted on the human race: memory.''

Within moments of the film's eerie, visually-stunning opening, Kane is dead, uttering the word "Rosebud" as he hunches over. His death, like his life, is a big news event, and the paper he owned, the New York Inquirer, is desperate to unearth the meaning regarding his cryptic last word. Is it a woman he bedded? A horse he bet on? A beloved pet? Some long-lost, unrequited love? The truth, which isn't revealed until the closing scene, represents one of the all-time greatest motion picture ironies, and leads us to believe that, on some level, Kane regretted not having led a simple, quiet life. It is easily one of the simplest yet cleverest twists divulged by film and a complexly written story.

The script for Citizen Kane, written by Herman J. Mankiewicz (with an assist from Welles), is a thinly-disguised fictional biography of publishing king William Randolph Hearst, who was 76 years old when the movie came out in 1941. And, while Hearst was offended by Welles' characterization of him, he was supposedly more angered by Kane's unflattering portrayal of his beloved mistress, Marion Davies (who is represented in the film by Susan Alexander). To add insult to injury, "Rosebud" was allegedly Hearst's pet name for Marion's private parts.
Kane is not, however, all Hearst. There's more than a little Welles in the character, and, when one examines the direction the film maker's life took after Kane, the similarities become more obvious. After peaking with Kane, Welles began an slow-but-inevitable descent into isolation, eventually dying of a heart attack in 1985. Like Kane, he was a vital, passionate figure in youth, but a sad, pathetic one at the end. (Who can forget the Paul Masson commercials?) In retrospect, Kane can be viewed as being as much a representation of Welles as of Hearst.

Back in 1941, Hearst exerted his considerable power and influence to destroy Citizen Kane before it opened. He failed, but, even though Kane saw the light of day, Welles' young career (he was only 25 at the time) did not escape unscathed. A smear campaign in Hearts' papers branded him as a communist. Kane, nominated for nine Oscars, emerged with only one (best screenplay), and "boos" could be heard whenever the film was mentioned during the ceremony. And, before Welles had completed post-production, RKO wrested control of his next picture, The Magnificent Ambersons, from him.
As a film, Citizen Kane is a powerful dramatic tale about the uses and abuses of wealth and power. It's a classic American tragedy about a man of great passion, vision, and greed, who pushes himself until he brings ruins to himself and all around him. Of course, the production aspect that makes Citizen Kane so memorable is Greg Toland's landmark cinematography. In fact, it's impossible to have a serious discussion about this film without mentioning this element.

The movie is a visual masterpiece, a kaleidoscope of daring angles and breathtaking images that had never been attempted before, and has never been equaled since. Toland perfected a deep-focus technique that allowed him to photograph backgrounds with as much clarity as foregrounds (note the scene where Kane's parents discuss his future while, as seen through the window, the child plays outside in the snow). There's also an extremely effective low-angle shot late in the film where Kane trashes Susan's room. The cinematography documentary, Visions of Light, devoted an entire section to Citizen Kane. If any other film has come close to the nearly-perfect artistry of this one, I haven't seen it. Anyone foolishly wondering how black-and-white images could be superior to colour needs only to watch the first few frames of Citizen Kane to understand. Not only is it impossible to envision this picture in colour, the very thought is blasphemous.

There's no doubt that Citizen Kane was far ahead of its time. Uncompromising, unsentimental drama of this sort was not in vogue during an era that was better known for titles like The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, and How Green Was My Valley(which beat out Kane for best picture). In challenging Hearst, Welles forced a clash of egos that had wide-ranging repercussions. Yet, out of the conflict, Citizen Kane emerged stronger than ever. Would the film be as compelling if we didn't know how close it came to never being released? Or if we didn't recognize the parallels between the life of the main character and that of the director?
Is Citizen Kane the best movie ever made? Many critics would argue "yes" without pause, but my enthusiasm is more restrained. While I acknowledge that Kane is a seminal masterpiece, it is perhaps not the Best Motion Picture but definitely to be considered among them. There is no denying the debt that the movie industry owes to Welles and his debut feature. Motion picture archives and collections across the world would be poorer without copies of this film, which will forever be recognized as a defining example of American cinema.

''I don't think there's one word that can describe a mans life.''

What an legendary phenomenon!! Citizen Kane truly is one of the cleverest and most remembered films of all time. It is also one of the greatest films of all time. I thought that this film was absolutely brilliant. It is a masterpiece. I thought that this film was really well brought together and adapted but I have to say that it was a very hard story to follow with all the flashbacks and the different things Kane decides and things like that. This is a drama on how a lot of business men can go through life particularly men who are very rich and are one of the most famous people in all of the USA. Despite the fact that this film is very complex and is like a real mysterious film, it is a very deep and personal story aswell.


Orson Welles delivers an absolutely outstanding performance as Charles Foster Kane. Orson brings the power of Kane onto the screen like no other actor had done before. His acting was probably one of the best from an actor at such a young age. Orson Welles performance is probably the best film acting debut of all time. I am sure that it is probably the greatest directing debut of all time aswell for Orson Welles.


The direction from Orson Welles was absolutely amazing. It is without a doubt the best directing debut of all time. I have always been fascinated by a director directing a film that he/she is the leading role in. For example, Mel Gibson in Braveheart, Kevin Costner in Dances With Wolves, Roberto Benigni in Life Is Beautiful and Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby. The screenplay was absolutely amazing. I find that this film would have been either a really good novel or a real life true story. But I think one of the main reasons why people love this film is because of how clever it is written and how well it is adapted together to fit into a story that isnt just a great drama but can be an inspiration to many people around the world.


There are some awesome supporting characters too that make Kane a powerful character. Characters like Susan Alexander Kane, Jerry Thompson, Bertha Anderson, Signor Matiste and Jim W. Gettys. I have only seen Orson Welles in this and The Third Man and he has does great films of the ones I have seen so far. But I think Citizen Kane is his most famous as both director and actor.


The only thing that disappointed it for me was that I thought it was a very confusing and complex story but it was awesome enough to understand. When I first saw it, I got totally lost because it was complex but once I saw it again and remembered the scenes, I loved it second time. Orson Welles has created a film for the ages, a film that is still a masterpiece and one of the best films ever made after over 60 years and a film that some people would closely refer as perfect. It has some of the best characters and it has one of the biggest twists. Not on my favourites list but Citizen Kane does deserve its rightful place as one of the best films of the 1940s and of all time.

I finally got around to seeing this classic. It took me a few tries, because I kept falling asleep (to be fair, I always started it late at night, while in bed, so take into consideration). After 3 tries, I finally got around to finishing it.

I had real high hopes for this classic. Being so high up in IMDb Top250, and on top of that, being called Number 1 film of ALL TIME by American Film Institute, well, it did have a lot of things to live up to. Is it a great classic must-see film? Yes, of course, although it can be very tough to watch as the pacing is quite slow at times and film is told in very non-linear flashbacks. But I honestly believe it gets such high marks and acclaim because of the significance of the revolutionary-at-its-time filming style of Orson Welles and the massive controversy associated with its release. Basically, the film is a satirical portrayal of the rich tycoon that plagued the US when this film was released, mainly a mockery of newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, who was so infuriated by this picture his banned any mention of this film in his newspapers and actively accused Orson of being a communist, and even offered millions to try to buy the negatives of the film so he could destroy it.

The story, as mentioned before, is told in flashbacks of the rise-to-power of a newspaper tycoon, who becomes corrupted by power, loses all his friends and loves, and dies a lonely man surrounded by all his material gains. On his deathbed, he mutters 'Rosebud' and the media sends out a reporter to interview all the people in his life to try to find the meaning of that word. But there lies the weak point of the film - I really couldn't care less why he said Rosebud, what it means, and what the implications of him saying that as his last word was.

Watch this movie for its historical importance, watch it for its incredible performances, watch it for its controversy, watch it for its outstanding direction by the legendary Orson Welles. But if you are hoping for a captivating story, an adventure, a tear-jerker, an epic masterpiece, you may be disappointed as it's basically a character-study of a man who got corrupted by wealth.

Great film? yes. Best film ever? Not in my books.