The Rise and Fall of a Newspaper Tycoon

Rating: 8/10 (3 May 2013)

Lauded as America's greatest motion picture of all time, Orson Welles succeeded in utilizing advanced techniques in cinematography, storytelling, and especially lighting and camera angles. Citizen Kane represents the pinnacle of Welles's film-making career despite the surrounding controversy during its time of release. The film had parallels between the eponymous character, Charles Foster Kane, and William Randolph Hearst, who was an American newspaper magnate. Welles combined innovative techniques of deep focus shots along with a kaleidoscope of angles. Different types of angles were utilized in order for the audience to deepen their understanding of each character. Despite the film's confusing newsreel sequence, Welles succeeds in utilizing unique camera angles and advanced cinematography in a perfect manner.
Released in 1941, the film became subject of controversy for the brutal portrait of Hearst's life. Citizen Kane also revolutionized how cinematography, a non-linear storyline, and a kaleidoscope of angles were used effectively. The famous eerily opening featuring a shot of the eponymous character's (Orson Welles) mansion, Xanadu. The camera depicts a foggy and murky atmosphere with a deep focus shot of Xanadu atop of the hill. The scene then cuts to a room with a dying Kane, holding a snow globe as he mutters "Rosebud." The camera focuses on the globe as it rolled out of his left hand and broke.
Welles employs different a non-linear storytelling which features the death of the main character in the beginning of the movie. As the news unfolds of his death, the famous newsreel sequence unfolds on screen. It presents a brief of narrative events in roughly the same order as the movie as a whole. The editing of the sequence was well-done as the narrator of the newsreel points out that "Kane helped to change the world, but Kane's world now is history. The great yellow journalist himself lived to be history. Outlived his power to make it" Reporter Jerry Thompson (William Alland) was determined to find out the meaning of Kane's last word "Rosebud." He was assigned to discuss with Kane's former associates in an attempt to uncover the meaning of Rosebud.
Different camera angles allow the audience to understand the character emotions and tensions within a scene. For example, there was a scene that involves using a low-angle technique when Kane was having a discussion with his friend, Jedediah Leland (Joseph Cotten). He confronts him after his defeat in the election for governor against Jim W. Gettys (Ray Collins). In the office, where the discussion took place; Leland commented that "(Kane doesn't) care about anything except (himself)." As Kane walks closer to the camera, Leland said to him, "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." The low angle emphasizes Leland trying to assure his moral superiority to Kane.
Citizen Kane made advances in cinematographic advances. Cinematographer Gregg Toland made a significant contribution to the style of the film through the use of deep focus. It refers to having everything within the frame, even the background, focused at the same time. There is a famous scene, involving Kane's mother, Mary Kane (Agnes Moorehead), having a conversation with his father, Jim Kane (Harry Shannon). Deep focus shot was effective in depicting the Kane family, discussing with Walter Parks Thatcher at the table. She figured out that she was given a stock in order to be given ownership of the Colorado Lode, a working gold mine. She signed an agreement to transfer $50,000 per year given to both to her and her husband. Charles Kane eventually owned all possessions by the time he reached the age of 25. The deep focus shot allowed the background which is inside Mary Kane's boarding house to be focused. We see Kane's parents signing the agreement and the distance of a young Kane outside, playing in the snow.
In spite of the movie's age and its confusing opening sequence, Citizen Kane has attained its status as "the greatest film ever made." The American Film Institute has ranked the film number 1 in the first top- 100 ranking in 1998. Using deep focus shots allow the characters' emotions to be understood through Gregg Toland's extensive use of back-lighting. What matters is to understand Charles Kane's ruthless rise of acquiring wealth, as he enters the newspaper business. The difficulty to interpret Kane's life has become apparent as reporters attempted to decipher his last word "Rosebud." This word was a clue that Kane was not just a mere symbol of his public accomplishments. Who, really, was Charles Foster Kane?