An Influential Film for an Essential Movie Collection

Rating: 10/10 (1 August 2011)

A great classic influences those following classics that result from ground-breaking collaboration of writing, acting, direction, and production. Anyone who studies cinema history understands that Citizen Kane should always be mentioned as an essential, influential work. You'll never, ever see it remade. No one would dare try to make it better, because they can't. Some call it dated, yet it was made in 1941. Even today, it will knock the pants off most films that are hammered out by the studios and independent companies, alike.
Citizen Kane is as influential and controversial today as it was even before its release. There was uproar when the owner of Hearst newspapers attempted to sabotage the production of Citizen Kane after discovering that Kane, the main character, was based on Hearst. Today, there is debate on whether the film should be considered a classic. A number of people call Citizen Kane "overrated." If you agree, that's fine, because I'm not about to dissuade you. But there are also people who don't like more current classics like "Shawshank Redemption," "Schindler's List," or "2001: A Space Odyssey." They claim that these films (and a number of others on the IMDb Top 250) "put you to sleep." Or, they beg to ask, "What's the point?" The point is that so many more people feel it's classic, rather than crap.
The pacing of Citizen Kane is quite deliberate, in order to peel back the many clues needed to answer the mystery of the last words made by Charles Foster Kane, a recluse newspaper magnate in the mansion that sits among darkness and decay, similar to his very legacy. An investigative reporter is given the task to discover the meaning of "Rosebud," exhaled in a whisper of Kane's final breath. I enjoyed how the mystery of Rosebud unfolded, especially with regard to the film's surprising climax. All of those characters left behind to (oft-times, begrudgingly) give their accounts of how Kane influenced their lives, as Kane's quest for fairness succumbed to his thirst for power. The style of storytelling was ground-breaking in its time, as Kane's persona emerged through the performance of Orson Welles and the Mercury Players, who helped put together a fitting, brilliant, and outstanding ending. Make sure to spot Nat King Cole's film debut, playing the piano at the night club.