My notes from watching Citizen Kane, December 2017.

1. Introduction
• 1941.
• Directed
by
25-­‐year-­‐old
Orson
Welles
to
great
fanfare.
• Largely
considered
the
best
movie
of
all
time.
• Nominated
for
7
Oscars
but
only
won
1,
probably
due
to
Heart's
smear
Campaign.
• Inspired
by
American
Tycoons,
most
famously
William
Randolph
Hearst,
one
of
the
richest
men
in
American
history
whose
father
made
a
fortune
in
silver
mining
and
whose
money
Hearst
used
to
start
a
newspaper
empire.
• "Rosebud."
• What
made
it
great
was
its
technical
achievements
-­‐
use
of
edits,
deep
focus,
invisible
wipes,
ptical
illusions,
cloth
ceilings,
etc.
-­‐-­‐ and
its
multiple
ways
of
underscoring
its
themes
such
as
the
effect
of
wealth
and
power.
• There's
"no
doubt
Citizen
Kane was
far
ahead
of
its
time"
or
"denying
the
debt
that
the
movie
industry
owes
to
Welles
and
his
debut
feature"
(Rotten
Tomatoes
Top
Critic
Berardinelli).
My
Observations
and
Commentary
• Volumes
have
been
written
about
this
movie.
• I
never
understood
its
greatness
until
I
understood
its
technical
achievements
in
relation
to
its
time.
• It
is
fun
to
look
for
ways
-­‐-­‐ such
as
dialogue
and
shot
angles
-­‐-­‐ that
the
themes
of
wealth
and
power
are
expressed.
Its
also
fun
to
look
for
uses
of
its
technical
creativity
-­‐-­‐ such
as
the
deep
focus,
invisible
wipes
and
cloth
ceilings.
• In
all
honesty,
I
really
want
to
like
this
movie,
and
I
appreciate
it,
but
have
always
found
it
boring,
depressing
and
the
Susan
Wells
character
annoyingly
shrill.
In
all
honesty,
I
find
its
usual
rival
for
greatest
movie
-­‐-­‐ "Tokyo
Story"
-­‐-­‐ a
more
enjoyable
movie.
Quotable
from
Top
Critics
• Inspired
by
the
life
of
William
Randolph
Hearst.
The
portrait
of
Kane
seems
more
like
a
composite
of
a
dozen
or
more
American
tycoons,
rather
than
a
Citizen
Kane
(Watched
December
2017)
Wednesday,
December
27,
2017 7:00
PM

2. more
enjoyable
movie.
Quotable
from
Top
Critics
• Inspired
by
the
life
of
William
Randolph
Hearst.
The
portrait
of
Kane
seems
more
like
a
composite
of
a
dozen
or
more
American
tycoons,
rather
than
a
faithful
representation
of
an
individual.
(2)
A
great
motion
picture.
(1)•
Produced
by
a
man
who
had
never
had
any
motion
picture
experience;
great
because
he
cast
it
with
people
who
had
never
faced
a
camera
in
a
motion
picture
production
before;
great
in
the
manner
of
its
story-­‐telling,
in
both
the
writing
of
that
story
and
its
unfolding
before
a
camera;
great
in
that
its
photographic
accomplishments
are
the
highlights
of
motion
picture
photography
to
date,
and
finally
great,
because
technically,
it
is
a
few
steps
ahead
of
anything
that
has
been
made
in
pictures
before.(1)
•
Filmed
on
a
low
budget
in
70
days,
which
means
things
had
to
be
done
that
no
brain
or
set
of
brains
had
ever
before
accomplished
(1)
•
Welles
violates
cinema
tradition
in
acting,
writing
and
photography,
and
gets
away
with
it
all
magnificently.(1)
•
The
film
begins
with
a
mythical
two-­‐reel
"News
on
the
March"
(1)•
"Rosebud"
is
the
word
which
holds
together
the
succeeding
episodes
of
the
film.
(1)
•
Welles'
performance
is
nothing
less
than
astonishing.
The
support
he
gets
from
the
cast,
every
one
of
whom
is
a
completely
new
face
to
picture
audiences,
is
downright
amazing.
(1)
•
Written
at
its
time
of
release:
The
most
talked
about
picture
of
the
year;
Welles
has
approached
his
subject
matter
in
an
original
manner;
Welles
displays
touches
of
genius
in
the
handling
of
his
story.
(2)
•
A
movie
that
is
a
milestone
in
the
history
of
the
medium.
“Citizen
Kane”
held
a
mirror
up
to
(the)
art,
and
directors
made
their
presence
felt
within
it
more
overtly
and
more
brazenly
than
ever.
(3)
•
Built
environments
are
put
to
richly
expressive
use
throughout
the
film.
(4)•
Many
of
the
novel
techniques
Welles
developed
with
cinematographer
Gregg
Toland
were
calculated
to
offer
new
angles
on
film
space:
as
well
as
refining
deep-­‐focus
photography,
they
used
camera
tricks
to
elide
scales
and
locations,
and
dug
holes
in
the
floor
to
shoot
upwards.(4)
•
The
more
lavish
the
buildings
get,
the
more
ammunition
they
provide
for
the
picture’s
scepticism
about
the
pursuit
of
material
acquisition.
•
Orson
Welles
and
his
Mercury
Players
had
spent
more
than
a
year
talking
and
thinking
about
and
70
days
shooting
(5)
•
Welles
never
succeeded
in
recapturing
the
brilliance
or
fulfilling
the
promise
of
his
first
feature.
(6)
•
The
classic
gothic
shot
(the
film's
eerie,
visually-­‐stunning
opening)
goes
a
long
way
towards
establishing Citizen
Kane's
mood.
Any
resemblance
to
The
Ranch,
•

3. thinking
about
and
70
days
shooting
(5)
Welles
never
succeeded
in
recapturing
the
brilliance
or
fulfilling
the
promise
of
his
first
feature.
(6)
•
The
classic
gothic
shot
(the
film's
eerie,
visually-­‐stunning
opening)
goes
a
long
way
towards
establishing Citizen
Kane's
mood.
Any
resemblance
to
The
Ranch,
William
Randolph
Hearst's
real-­‐life
San
Simeon
abode,
is not coincidental.
(6)
•
The
script
forCitizen
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.
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.
(6)
•
As
a
film, Citizen
Kane is
a
powerful
dramatic
tale
about
the
uses
and
abuses
of
wealth
and
power.
(6)
•
The
production
aspect
that
makesCitizen
Kane so
memorable
is
Greg
Toland's
landmark
cinematography.
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.
(6)
•
There's
no
doubt
thatCitizen
Kane was
far
ahead
of
its
time.
(6)•
There's
no
denying
the
debt
that
the
movie
industry
owes
to
Welles
and
his
debut
feature.
(6)
•
"Rosebud."The
most
famous
word
in
the
history
of
cinema.
(7)•
Orson
Welles and
his
cinematographer,Gregg
Toland,
used
deep
focus
-­‐-­‐ a
strategy
of
lighting,
composition,
and
lens
choice
that
allows
everything
in
the
frame
to
be
in
focus
at
the
same
time.
The
filmmakers
must
give
a
lot
more
thought
to
how
they
direct
the
viewer's
attention,
first
here
and
then
there.
What
the
French
call
mise-­‐en-­‐scene-­‐-­‐the
movement
within
the
frame-­‐-­‐ becomes
more
important.
(7)
•
• Toland
used
(optical
illusions)
as
a
way
to
fool
the
audience's
eye
on
two
delightful
occasions
in
the
film.
One
comes
when
Kane
is
signing
away
control
of
his
empire
in
Thatcher's
office.
Behind
him
on
the
wall
are
windows
that
look
of
normal
size
and
height.
Then
Kane
starts
to
walk
into
the
background
of
the
shot,
and
we
realize
with
surprise
that
the
windows
are
huge,
and
their
lower
sills
are
more
than
six
feet
above
the
floor.
As
Kane
stands
under
them,
he
is
dwarfed-­‐-­‐which
is
the
intent,
since
he
has
just
lost
great
power.
Later
in
the
film,
Kane
walks
over
to
stand
in
front
of
the
great
fireplace
in
Xanadu,
and
we
realize
it,
too,
is
much
larger
than
it
first
seemed.
(7)

4. normal
size
and
height.
Then
Kane
starts
to
walk
into
the
background
of
the
shot,
and
we
realize
with
surprise
that
the
windows
are
huge,
and
their
lower
sills
are
more
than
six
feet
above
the
floor.
As
Kane
stands
under
them,
he
is
dwarfed-­‐-­‐which
is
the
intent,
since
he
has
just
lost
great
power.
Later
in
the
film,
Kane
walks
over
to
stand
in
front
of
the
great
fireplace
in
Xanadu,
and
we
realize
it,
too,
is
much
larger
than
it
first
seemed.
(7)
• Welles
wanted
to
use
a
lot
of
low-­‐angle
shots
that
would
look
up
toward
ceilings,
and
so
Toland
devised
a
strategy
of
cloth
ceilings
that
looked
real
but
were
not.
(7)
• Uses
invisible
wipes,
which
is
a
visual
effect
that
wipes
one
image
off
the
screen
while
wiping
another
into
view.
Invisible
wipes
disguise
themselves
as
something
else
on
the
screen
that
seems
to
be
moving,
so
you
aren't
aware
of
the
effect.
One
of
the
most
famous
shots
in
Kane
shows
Susan
Alexander's
opera
debut…
Only
the
stage
and
the
stagehands
on
the
catwalk
are
real.
The
middle
portion
of
this
seemingly
unbroken
shot
is
a
miniature,
built
in
the
RKO
model
workshop.
(7)
• Between
Thatcher's
words
"Merry
Christmas"
and
"...
a
very
Happy
New
Year,"
two
decades
pass.
(7)
Sources
The
Hollywood
Reporter
Staff1.
Kate
Cameron,
New
York
Daily
News,
19412.
Richard
Brody,
The
New
Yorker3.
Ben
Walters4.
Time
Magazine5.
James
Berardinelli6.
Roger
Ebert7.