Citizen Kane is a 1941 American drama film directed, produced by, and starring Orson Welles and co-written by Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz, and was Welles's first feature film. The quasi-biographical film examines the life and legacy of Charles Foster Kane, played by Welles, a composite character based on American media barons William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, and Chicago tycoons Samuel Insull and Harold McCormick, as well as aspects of the screenwriters' own lives.
After the Broadway success of Welles's Mercury Theatre and the controversial 1938 radio broadcast "The War of the Worlds" on The Mercury Theatre on the Air, Welles was courted by Hollywood. He signed a contract with RKO Pictures in 1939. Although it was unusual for an untried director, he was given freedom to develop his own story, to use his own cast and crew, and to have final cut privilege. Following two abortive attempts to get a project off the ground, he wrote the screenplay for Citizen Kane with Herman J. Mankiewicz. Principal photography took place in 1940, the same year that its innovative trailer was shown, and the film was released in 1941.
Upon its release, Hearst prohibited any mention of the film in his newspapers. Although it was a critical success, Citizen Kane failed to recoup its costs at the box office. The film faded from view after its release, but returned to public attention when it was praised by French critics such as André Bazin and re-released in 1956. In 1958, the film was voted number nine on the prestigious Brussels 12 list at the 1958 World Expo.
Citizen Kane is frequently cited as the greatest film ever made.The Sight & Sound Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time
For 50 years (five decennial polls: 1962, 1972, 1982, 1992 and 2002), it stood at number one in the British Film Institute's Sight and Sound decennial poll, and it topped the American Film Institute's 100 Years ... 100 Movies list in 1998, as well as its 2007 update. The Library of Congress selected Citizen Kane as an inductee of the 1989 inaugural group of 25 films for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The film was nominated for Academy Awards in nine categories and it won for Best Writing (Original Screenplay) by Mankiewicz and Welles. Citizen Kane is praised for Gregg Toland's cinematography, Robert Wise's editing, Bernard Herrmann's score and its narrative structure, all of which have been considered innovative and precedent-setting.
Plot
On a vast palatial estate in Florida, elderly wealthy newspaper publisher and industry magnate Charles Foster Kane dies in his mansion, Xanadu, uttering his last word, "Rosebud". With Kane's death sensational news around the world, a newsreel producer tasks reporter Jerry Thompson with discovering the meaning of "Rosebud". Thompson sets out to interview Kane's friends and associates. He tries to approach Kane's second wife, Susan Alexander Kane, now an alcoholic nightclub owner, but she refuses to talk to him.
Thompson goes to the private archive of the late banker Walter Parks Thatcher, where he learns of Kane's early years in a Colorado boarding house. When gold was discovered in 1871 through a mining deed belonging to Kane's mother, Mary Kane, she hired Thatcher to establish a trust that would provide for Kane's education and assume guardianship of him, protecting him from his brutal father. While the young Kane plays happily in the snow with his sled, his parents introduced him to Thatcher and told him he would live with him, prompting the boy to angrily strike Thatcher with his sled and attempt to run away.
At age 25, Kane gained control of his trust and, through the mine's productivity and Thatcher's shrewd investing, becomes one of the richest men in the world. Kane bought the New York Inquirer newspaper and embarked on a career of yellow journalism, publishing scandalous articles that attacked Thatcher's (and his own) business interests. Thompson interviews Kane's personal business manager, Mr. Bernstein, who recalls that Kane hired the best journalists available to build the Inquirers circulation. Kane rose to power by successfully manipulating public opinion regarding the Spanish–American War and marrying Emily Norton, the niece of the President of the United States, before eventually selling the newspaper to Thatcher in the aftermath of the 1929 stock market crash.
Thompson interviews Kane's estranged best friend, Jedediah Leland, in a retirement home. Leland says that Kane's marriage to Emily disintegrated over the years, despite their having a son, and he began an affair with amateur singer Susan Alexander while running for Governor of New York as a "fighting liberal". His opponent, Jim W. Gettys, discovered the affair, revealing it to Emily and the press, the public scandal ending Kane's political career. Kane married Susan and forced her into becoming an opera singer, which she had neither talent nor ambition for, and built a large opera house in Chicago for her to perform in. Kane fired Leland from the Inquirer after he wrote a bad review of Susan's disastrous opera debut, finishing and printing the negative review himself. Susan protested that she never wanted the opera career anyway, but Kane forced her to continue the season.
Susan consents to an interview with Thompson and describes the aftermath of her opera career, which Kane allowed her to end after she attempted suicide. After many unhappy years at Xanadu, Kane and Susan's relationship turns bitter and violent, prompting Susan to leave. Kane's butler Raymond recounts that, after Susan moved out of Xanadu, Kane began violently destroying the contents of her former bedroom. When Kane discovered a snow globe, he calmed down and tearfully said "Rosebud". Having exhausted every lead, Thompson concludes that he cannot solve the mystery and that the meaning of Kane's last word will remain unknown. Kane's possessions at Xanadu are catalogued or discarded by the mansion's staff, who find the sled the eight-year-old Kane was playing on the day he was taken from his home in Colorado, and throw it into a furnace with other items. Unbeknownst to anyone, the sled's trade name is "Rosebud".
Cast
The beginning of the film's ending credits states that "Most of the principal actors in Citizen Kane are new to motion pictures. The Mercury Theatre is proud to introduce them." The cast is then listed in the following order, with Orson Welles' credit for playing Charles Foster Kane appearing last: Joseph Cotten as Jedediah Leland, Kane's best friend and drama critic for The Inquirer. Cotten also appears (hidden in darkness) in the News on the March screening room. Dorothy Comingore as Susan Alexander Kane, Kane's mistress and second wife. Agnes Moorehead as Mary Kane, Kane's mother. Ruth Warrick as Emily Monroe Norton Kane, Kane's first wife. Ray Collins as Jim W. Gettys, Kane's political rival for the post of Governor of New York. Erskine Sanford as Herbert Carter, editor of The Inquirer. Sanford also appears (hidden in darkness) in the News on the March screening room. Everett Sloane as Mr. Bernstein, Kane's friend and business manager at The Inquirer. William Alland as Jerry Thompson, a reporter for News on the March. Alland also voices the narrator of the News on the March newsreel. Paul Stewart as Raymond, Kane's butler. George Coulouris as Walter Parks Thatcher, a banker who becomes Kane's legal guardian. Fortunio Bonanova as Signor Matiste, vocal coach of Susan Alexander Kane. Gus Schilling as John, headwaiter at the El Rancho nightclub. Schilling also appears (hidden in darkness) in the News on the March screening room. Philip Van Zandt as Mr. Rawlston, News on the March producer. Georgia Backus as Bertha Anderson, attendant at the library of Walter Parks Thatcher. Harry Shannon as Jim Kane, Kane's father. Sonny Bupp as Charles Foster Kane III, Kane's son. Buddy Swan as Charles Foster Kane, age eight. Orson Welles as Charles Foster Kane, a wealthy newspaper publisher.
Additionally, Charles Bennett appears as the entertainer at the head of the chorus line in the Inquirer party sequence, and cinematographer Gregg Toland makes a cameo appearance as an interviewer depicted in part of the News on the March newsreel. Actor Alan Ladd, still unknown at that time, makes a small appearance as a reporter smoking a pipe at the end of the film.
Production Development
Hollywood had shown interest in Welles as early as 1936. He turned down three scripts sent to him by Warner Bros. In 1937, he declined offers from David O. Selznick, who asked him to head his film company's story department, and William Wyler, who wanted him for a supporting role in Wuthering Heights. "Although the possibility of making huge amounts of money in Hollywood greatly attracted him," wrote biographer Frank Brady, "he was still totally, hopelessly, insanely in love with the theater, and it is there that he had every intention of remaining to make his mark."
Following the 1938 "The War of the Worlds" broadcast of his CBS radio series The Mercury Theatre on the Air, Welles was lured to Hollywood with a remarkable contract. RKO Pictures studio head George J. Schaefer wanted to work with Welles after the notorious broadcast, believing that Welles had a gift for attracting mass attention. RKO was also uncharacteristically profitable and was entering into a series of independent production contracts that would add more artistically prestigious films to its roster. Throughout the spring and early summer of 1939, Schaefer constantly tried to lure the reluctant Welles to Hollywood. Welles was in financial trouble after failure of his plays Five Kings and The Green Goddess. At first he simply wanted to spend three months in Hollywood and earn enough money to pay his debts and fund his next theatrical season. Welles first arrived on July 20, 1939, and on his first tour, he called the movie studio "the greatest electric train set a boy ever had".
Welles signed his contract with RKO on August 21, which stipulated that Welles would act in, direct, produce and write two films. Mercury would get $100,000 for the first film by January 1, 1940, plus 20% of profits after RKO recouped $500,000, and $125,000 for a second film by January 1, 1941, plus 20% of profits after RKO recouped $500,000. The most controversial aspect of the contract was granting Welles complete artistic control of the two films so long as RKO approved both projects' stories and the budget did not exceed $500,000. RKO executives would not be allowed to see any footage until Welles chose to show it to them, and no cuts could be made to either film without Welles's approval. Welles was allowed to develop the story without interference, select his own cast and crew, and have the right of final cut. Granting the final cut privilege was unprecedented for a studio because it placed artistic considerations over financial investment. The contract was deeply resented in the film industry, and the Hollywood press took every opportunity to mock RKO and Welles. Schaefer remained a great supporter and saw the unprecedented contract as good publicity. Film scholar Robert L. Carringer wrote, "The simple fact seems to be that Schaefer believed Welles was going to pull off something really big almost as much as Welles did himself."