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Citizen Kane (1941),
Director: Orson Welles, Rated PG
The
classic story of power and the press.
  Starring:
Orson Welles, Joseph Cotton, Dorothy Comingore, Agnes Moorehead,
Ruth Warrick, Ray Collins, Erskine Sanford, Everett Sloane,
William Alland, Paul Stewart
DML Rating:
★★★★★★★★★☆
- near perfect
"You don't care about
anything except you. You just want to persuade people that you
love 'em so much that they ought to love you back. Only you want
love on your own terms. Something to be played your way,
according to your rules." - Jedediah Leland
Why watch this? This
is Rags-to-Riches 101. Charles Foster Kane. Rosebud.
Plot Summary:
Following the death of a publishing tycoon, a reporter
investigates his life by interviewing former associates to
discover the meaning behind his enigmatic last word, "Rosebud."
Through a series of flashbacks, the film reveals the rise and
fall of a complex man whose ambition and wealth created a
massive empire but resulted in personal isolation. The
investigation paints a portrait of a narcissistic yet lonely
man, ultimately questioning whether his power and possessions
could ever compensate for what he lost in his youth.
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Dad's Preview:
As part of my college film class, we watched several classics
including:
The Gold Rush (1925),
Stagecoach
(1939) and Citizen Kane. I am not pretending that I
understood everything back then at the impressionable age of 24,
but I do remember the story was dark and depressing -
this man was a taker, a narcissist. He loved money and power and
nothing else. Based loosely on real life media barons William
Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, Orson Welles crafted this
epic with a confidence unequalled in Hollywood. I personally
have always admired Welles' creative, askew usage of camera
angles. He was a master at black and white film. This film has
been called "The Greatest Film Ever Made" by many critics and
movie lists. I agree that it is superb, but I can't crown it the
best ever made. |
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Orson
Wells, Mercury Productions; RKO Radio Pictures |
