One of the Best movies ever made

Rating: 10/10 (6 December 2008)

Well, what to say? 22 year old Orson Welles came into Hollywood in the late 30s on a hiding to nothing. He had already had a big influence on live theatre, and made headlines all over the US with his controversial "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast. He was given a three picture deal by RKO with final cut on all of them. Unprecedented at the time. Surely he couldn't live up to the hype? What Welles produced was a cinematic triumph without equal at the time, that 67 years on still defies description.
There is hardly an honest film maker in Hollywood that won't own up to being influenced, to at least some extent by this movie. Everything about this movie, from the premise, to the script, the score, the cinematography and the acting is exceptional.
Orson Welles not only does a superb job as director, he also puts in one of the greatest tour de force performances in the history of American cinema as Kane. Growing from an ambitious happy go lucky 20 something to a tyrannical monster, to a bitter, pathetic old shell of a man in less than two hours. Welles inspires rage, hatred and pity out of what could have been a one note character in less skilled hands.
The story is simple. A past his prime media tycoon dies muttering the word "Rosebud" and a journalist, looking for the real scoop on Kane's life, sets out to find exactly what Rosebud is. We hear the heartbreaking story of a young boy sold to the bank by his parents, raised to be a business man, finding success as a media owner and then being destroyed by his inability to love others. The journalist never finds out what Rosebud is, but we do, Kane's sleigh he used to ride when he was a child. It's been argued that the sleigh means nothing, it's been argued that the sleigh means everything. In the end it can mean just about anything you want it to.
Also of note here is the performance of Joseph Cotton, who puts in one of the great performances as Jedediah Lelan, who unwittingly becomes the conscience of the story, simply by being himself.
The story behind the film's release, brilliantly depicted in the late 90s TV film RKO 281 and the documentary "The Battle Over Citizen Kane" are almost as interesting as the film itself, and that really is saying something.
"It's Terrific" the original 1941 promo posters for Kane rather naively stated. But looking back now, sums it up rather nicely.