Citizen Kane

The accolades are innumerable, the praise is unabated, and the question isn’t even open for debate: Citizen Kane is the greatest film of all time. At least that’s what the story has been for almost 50 years of cinematic history. In 1962, the film topped Sight & Sound’s revered list of the top ten greatest films, and it hasn’t looked back since. The French New Wave rediscovered it, the American film school generation worshipped it, and on into the age of the blockbuster, Citizen Kane still remains on top of more best-of lists than any other film. Therefore, the modern cinephile must ask an important question: Why? Surveying the landscape of cinematic history, it is not obvious why Kane should stand unvanquished atop a mountain of challengers. Between cultural and technological landmarks, timeless enthralling stories, and aesthetically potent images that contribute to the dream culture of most of the developed world, it should not be a forgone conclusion that Kane towers over all. Another point of view can question why there must be a “greatest film of all time.” Are we not content to simply enjoy and examine these masterful works of art? Why must we pit them against each other in an ill-begotten “objective” competition? Even the most avid list-maker will admit that the lists are just for fun, frivolous, and are mostly a way to discover new films and possibly rediscover old ones. So then, in order to truly appreciate Citizen Kane let us do away with the lists, and simply be content to examine one of the greatest works of art that has ever been produced.

First, a little history will do. In the late 1930’s a young Orson Welles was busy revamping the New York theater scene. With a number of notable productions, he focused on bringing the classics to the masses. His “Voodoo Macbeth” won high critical acclaim and cemented his reputation as theaters “next big thing.” Apparently not content with mere success, Welles secured infamy by moving to radio. His broadcast of War of the Worlds is well known for the hysterics it caused, and added to Welles reputation as a maximalist dramatic artist with a flair for egotism. In 1939, RKO Radio Studios offered Welles an unprecedented deal. He was given complete access to the studio for the development of a feature film and control over every aspect of the production. In the Hollywood studio system climate of 1939, this type of contract simply did not exist. So, with complete control, an infamous reputation, and every glaring eye in the movie business watching, Orson Welles made his (and possibly cinema’s) masterpiece.

The most apparent way in which Citizen Kane is a great film is from a purely aesthetic perspective. The stylistic and formal techniques that Welles implements are among the most effective in any film. The first formal element to grab the viewer’s attention is the narrative. The plot of the film circles like a bird of prey over the life of a great man, slowly getting closer to understanding Kane and deeper into his psyche. We see Kane’s life from many different perspectives: professional, political, romantic, platonic, and familial. The circular drive of the narrative enforces one of the films many themes: that often, human life is more complicated than it appears to be. The shifting perspective also keeps audiences interested to find out more about this man who we never truly know the whole story about.

When discussing stylistic elements about Citizen Kane, the cinematography usually commands the most attention, as well it should. When it came time to hire a director of photography for his first film, Welles went with the most experimental DP working in Hollywood at that time, Gregg Toland. Toland brought an unsurpassed knowledge of composition and lighting to the production and Welles knew it. Legend has it that Welles picked Toland’s brain to find out the limitations and capabilities of the motion picture camera, and the results were stunning. Toland introduced to Welles the possibility of deep focus photography that allowed everything in the cinematic frame to be in focus at once. For Welles, this was no mere camera trick. Instead of telling the audience where to look on the screen by making some things in focus and some things blurry, he used deep focus to allow movement and lighting to guide the eye of the audience. Thus, the audience became more active viewers, and the experience became almost participatory.

Welles also used expressive angles, shadows, and movements to bring about feelings, emotions, and thoughts from the viewer. The slow camera movements toward Xanadu carefully take us into the life of Kane; the shadows that fade off toward the edges of the frame serve as a visual metaphor for Kane’s egotism; low camera angles with oppressive ceilings serve to ironically convey the disappointment after the election. The film has numerous moments of stylistic proficiency, but they always serve a purpose. Beautiful and haunting images are not just there for visual effect but to convey something about a character or theme. The hall of mirrors expresses the depth of the human soul and the impossibility of ever truly understanding it; the woodland creatures in Susan’s bedroom show that Kane thinks of her as a way to regain his youth. From Xanadu’s cavernous halls to the newsroom’s sense of messy vitality, every element contributes.

 Welles was also fond of the long take, which made scenes feel as if they were taking place in real time. In his encounter with Thatcher in the newsroom, Welles uses the long take to ramp up suspense by moving the camera closer and closer until finally punctuating the scene with a close up of Welles making a his famous remark about “60 years.” Thus, we can see that although Welles loved the long shot (he once said it’s what separated the men from the boys) he used editing to glorious effect by often capping off a scene or a good turn of dialogue with a quick cut.

Citizen Kane : How to run a newspaper - kewego
Citizen Kane





Another expressive quick cut is used to punctuate the scene where a young Kane plays in the background while in the foreground his parents and Thatcher decide his future for him. The cut comes when Kane’s mother opens the window and shouts his name alarmingly loud to give an already tense scene a deeply unsettling jolt.

These moments of visual expression occur in every frame of the film, and always to serve an emotion or an idea. Although most of Welles’ visual sensibility was gleaned from Hollywood professionals, it is clear that the auditory landscape of Citizen Kane owes much to his career in radio. He offers a realistic sound that was missing from the films of that time. The overlapping chatter of the smoke-filled projector room gives the viewer a feel for what a projector room might actually sound like. The sound is also full of expressionistic flourishes like the squawking eyeless bird that introduces that last flashback, the seemingly helpless screaming woman at the picnic, and Kane’s calls of “Sing Sing!” turning into the honking of a passing car. Bernard Herrmann contributed a musical score that was both expressive and subtle. The “wonk” of the horns that almost comically begin the scene in Thatcher’s library give way to a beautiful theme that evokes childhood whimsy as a young Kane plays in the snow.

The acting is fantastic throughout with each supporting character being played as if their entire life depended on Kane. Thus, the egotism of Kane is even expressed through the attitudes of his closest companions; however Welles as Kane remains the main attraction. Welles perfectly portrays Kane’s egotism and desire to control. Welles plays Kane at many different ages and stations of life from a young idealistic American dreamer to a confused mustachioed man dealing with a mid-life crisis to a hobbling geriatric laid captive to his own hopes and dreams.

When referring to Kane as an aesthetic triumph it must be noted that Welles did not merely create a dream team and make a movie, but that he used each talented member of his team to their maximum potential. Bernard Herrman, Gregg Toland, Robert Wise, and many others went on to successful film careers, but Welles used their talent while forcing them to adhere to his own mad vision of grand failure. He is a director in the truest sense of the word; he allowed for an amount of collaboration because his knowledge of how to make a motion picture was limited, but the vision was his and his alone. Using collaboration within the scope of directorial vision, Welles created a film that used all the tricks of the trade at that time. Special effects and stock footage are imperceptibly used, and every possible technological capability of photography, set design, and sound recording was used to great effect. Welles put to perfect use every element at his disposal to contribute to his vision; he was a director in every sense of the word.

Stylistics aside, Citizen Kane also served as a defining cultural artifact for pre-WWII America. The life of Kane stretches from post-Civil Way confusion all the way to America’s entrance to WWII. We experience the Spanish-American war, the Great Depression, the rise of the penny press, and the progressive strivings to help the working lower class. It is clear that Kane is not a cultural roadmap that delineates the fads, clothes, music, and popular trappings of the time period, but it is about the political climate and the movers and shakers of the period. Welles was not interested in evoking bygone charm and nostalgia from turn of the century Victoriana, but in the important people who decide what gets written in the history books. There is no dustbowl weariness or jazz age decadence in Citizen Kane, just politics and business. If Welles had written “The Great Gatsby” it probably would have been about Woodrow Wilson. Citizen Kane takes place in a forgotten America where captains of industry were heroes, the working class had few rights, and the rich white aristocracy ruled the world.

Finally, it is necessary to examine the themes and ideas that are present in Citizen Kane to fully appreciate its greatness. Rosebud is an interesting way to give the narrative an urgent thrust, but what does it actually tell us about Kane? It tells us that Kane longed to return to a childhood reverie of security and innocence. Maybe rosebud represents the last time he was truly happy, and he spent the rest of his life trying to get back to the warmth and happiness of that moment. Of course, rosebud may tell us some things about Kane, but it does not solve the whole mystery of his life. Kane often ruins good things that happen to him. His thirst for power ruins the newspaper and his relationship with Susan. But when Kane destroys his political life and first marriage in one fell swoop, it cannot be logically explained. Kane’s pathologic death march toward failure tends to leave someone who encounters his life with many questions, and the beauty of the film is that there are no simple answers. There could be a million ways to explain Kane’s behavior, or none. The only way Kane’s life could be interpreted was through the accounts of the people who knew him, therefore a full explanation of Kane’s life is impossible because all points of view are subjective. The film revels in the fact that nothing can be explained; a postmodern postulate if ever there was one.

Another theme that is prevalent in the film is Kane’s striving for greatness in the true American fashion. Kane needs to be great, to matter, to make an indelible mark across the American landscape. The desire to “matter” is the blood pumping through the beating heart of America; since we have the freedom, it is our duty to climb as high on the ladder of success as we can make it (or so goes conventional pre-Vietnam wisdom). In 1941, Orson Welles dared to raise the possibility that turning out to be “great” might not make someone happy. This questioning of the American dream certainly did no favors for the films box office receipts.

In the end, it seems that Citizen Kane’s greatness lies in the fact that it has something for everybody. Not in the modern sense where every filmic element is just bland enough for everyone to enjoy the film and no one to love it, but it truly offers what any moviegoer might be looking for in a movie. For entertainment and a well-told story, Kane can hardly be matched. It is at times both funny and dramatic with a mystery structure to keep the audience guessing until the end. But if the audience is interested in something deep and true, both timeless and of it’s time, a film that is satisfying on every level on which the human mind works, then this rich film will offer an experience not to be rivaled.

So there it is, a film that offers up deep truth and ideas, cheap entertainment, and scintillating melodrama, all wrapped up in a visual and auditory style that is hauntingly beautiful. It may or may not be the greatest movie ever made, but it certainly has the best of what makes movies great.