A good film, but not a great film

Rating: 7/10 (16 November 2003)

"Citizen Kane" has been a famous movie for a long time now. This reviewer had no clue as to why before watching the film, and even now after having seen it with her own eyes this reviewer still does not know why it is so famous. Like every movie it has its impressive areas and it's "I just don't want to pay attention to this" areas. "Citizen Kane" is a film with little entertainment value. Entertainment is an important factor in holding an audience's attention. It did have some rather, dare I say it, boring parts. But there were a few scenes that made up for the lack of entertainment value throughout the film.
"I think it would be fun to run a newspaper." That quote was the best line in the whole film. It, itself, provided a great deal of laughter and entertainment for the watching audience. If there was one thing about "Citizen Kane" that should never be forgotten, it is definitely that line. In this film, there is a scene that takes place at the Inquirer. It is very busy and noisy. Kane (Orson Welles), Leland (Joseph Cotten), and the Inquirer's Editor-in-Chief (Erskine Sanford) are all trying to talk at the same exact time and it gets rather confusing. It is really very interesting. A viewer could go from a sleepy pose to a wide awake pose just from watching this scene. It certainly grabbed this reviewer's attention.
The acting in "Citizen Kane" was actually very believable and realistic. It didn't seem like the actors/actresses had a movie camera stuck in their faces and were talking on cue. It seemed like you could be looking in through a window and just see everyday life being carried out. This reviewer was very impressed by the acting jobs. The actors/actresses were not half-bad, except for one. Susan Alexander Kane, Kane's second wife, was being pressured by her husband to be an opera singer. Well, she got bad reviews on her singing and I'm afraid that Dorothy Comingore, the actress who played her, would have to get bad reviews on her acting from this reviewer. She was overly-dramatic and just plain annoying. She was constantly screaming at her husband and this reviewer just wished the noise would stop! If Comingore's character was meant to come across as loud and obnoxious then she did a wonderful job portraying that! But if the character was meant to be anything else then maybe the casting director should have found another actress to play the part.
Special Effects! When people these days think of special effects they think of things blowing up constantly or even things that you see in "The Matrix" trilogy, like time just stopping or people flying through the air. That is what special effects are in the year 2003. But back in the 1940's that wasn't. "Citizen Kane" was probably full of special effects, but since they aren't anything really noticeable or unusual for our time period, most of them probably wouldn't be noticed. This reviewer caught two types of special effects used in the movie, and actually one of them was probably over-used. Fading from scene to scene or from picture to picture was a brand new thing back then. These days it's used all the time and it's hardly even noticed, but when "Citizen Kane" was made fading was huge! That's probably why it was used so much throughout the film. It's like when you get something brand new and you use it over and over again until it's worn out. That's what this film did with fading. It used it so much it started to become over-used. Although, this reviewer will admit, it is pretty nifty, and "Citizen Kane" used it well. Another special effect this film used was pretty awesome. In some scenes when one character was meant to be the focus of the scene that character would be lit up so you could see them perfectly, and the other characters would be in the shadows, so the viewer wouldn't want to pay attention to them. This reviewer thought that was pretty cool.
The costumes in this film were fitting to the time period. The men mostly wore suits and hats and the ladies mostly wore modest dresses. Unless, of course, they were a dancer, then they were wearing short dresses that drew lots of attention to the women wearing them.
There was a great deal of music in this film. There was music in the background, music that you could hear playing on a radio in the scene, music being played by a band, and music being played on the piano. There was opera singing and just regular singing too. This reviewer loves music and seeing that much of it in one film is great!
Overall, "Citizen Kane" is a good film. Not great, but good. This reviewer wouldn't say it was the number one all time best film ever, but then again, this reviewer's understanding of the film doesn't reach as far as others. If a viewer of my age was given the chance to buy this film, they most likely wouldn't jump at the opportunity. If a viewer of an older age who fully appreciates these types of films were offered that same chance they probably would. "Citizen Kane" was a film not to be easily forgotten.