Citizen Kane

Category: Drama
Starring: Orson Welles

Widely considered one of the greatest movies of all time it was hard to go into this fresh as the move has entered and somehow stayed in the zeitgeist (Rosebud is a classic example) and I have seen this movie before a very very long time ago, so it wasn’t like I was going into it blind. That being said – Welle’s acting is magnetic and draws you into whatever character he’s playing – and the film, even with it’s 1930’s sensibilities, is eminently watchable.

The movie starts with Kane as an old man on his deathbed in a palatial estate called Xanadu – he’s holding a snow globe and as he shuffles off this mortal coil he mutters a single last word “Rosebud” – setting up the mystery of why this great man would choose that as his last words. It’s such a mystery that a newspaper assigns an investigative reporter to do a story on Kane which sets up the framework of the movie.

The reporter (Thompson) tries to talk to Kane’s ex wife – a bitter alcoholic who refuses to speak to anyone about him. He then investigates Kane’s business manager’s office and reads some old records showing how Kane came into his fortune and how he squandered it.

It starts with Kane as a child. His parents have a mining claim that is producing and they arrange for him to go to a boarding school and have his money managed by the aforementioned business manager. When they went to send him off to boarding school – he hits them with the sled he was happily riding before the family broke apart.

When Kane turned 25 he got access to the money and responsibly and sensibly invested it using sound strategies to grow his portfol.. Ahh who are we kidding he wasted almost the entire fortune with poor decisions on booze, news, and flooze(ies).  He buys a newspaper and immediately goes full Murdoch – building influence and power through the press. He marries the niece of the president and seems like he’s riding high.

He decides to run for political office (well that sounds familiar) and during his run he meets a woman (Susan) and begins a torrid affair. He is discovered and because this isn’t 2024 the affair ruins his political career (and marriage). Kane, determined to prove his choice to have an affair was a good one, pushes poor lounge singer Susan into singing opera.  She.. Doesn’t have the vocal range for opera and even though she tells him this he blithely ignores here and builds an entire opera house for her debut – which was as awful as you imagine it was.  Kane’s best friend Leland who runs the arts column for their paper, writes a scathing review of Susan and the opera and Kane finds the review before print and fires Leland but then for some reason publishes the poor review

The reported manages to convince Susan to speak to him and she tells him that she begged him not to have to continue, but Kane makes her and eventually they have a big enough argument that Kane strikes Susan and she leaves him. He’s finally all alone – having driven away everyone who cared for him.

Thompson speaks to the butler who confirms the incident and say Kane went into a rage and only calmed down when he grabbed a snow globe.. At which point he whispers ‘rosebud’

Then the famous ending – where they’re going through his things and burning some of it (I’m not really sure why) and as the camera pans the pile of detritus you see a sled with the name ‘rosebud’ on it.

5/5 – great movie.. Deserves it’s flowers. Welle’s acting is superb and the story (apparently loosely based on Randolph Hurst) is compelling and keeps you interested. I liked the bittersweet ending where you can’t help but feel that Kane is longing for the time in his life when he was truly happy – riding that sled in the snow before his parents sent him away.