The story isn't the point

Rating: 10/10 (28 April 2004)

The real importance of "Citizen Kane" is not its story, although the script is a strong character study. The strength of "Kane" is in its incredibly creative use of light, camera movement, and deep focus to create a film that at the time was literally revolutionary.
It is important to remember that "Kane" was Orson Welles' first film. He had just attained both fame and notoriety with his "War of the Worlds" broadcast, and had only his radio background to sustain him. RKO studios, then in serious financial trouble, saw him as a man capable of creating a riveting story, not as an innovator.
Fortunately, in Welles they had also hired a man capable of attracting brilliant men to his side. Cinematographer Gregg Toland was at the time probably the best in the business; he is given top billing by Welles in the final credits.
At the time that "Kane" was made, film in America was in a rut. The ideal, which movies stuck to, was to create a "Natural" look--no obvious lighting, the camera at eye level, no obvious cuts or transitions. Welles, unfamiliar with all this, used obvious light, a VERY mobile camera, and wipes, fades--all the techniques that modern filmmakers used today. The American Film Institute, in its highly controversial "Top 100," listed Kane as the #1 American movie. Although many would disagree, I feel that its impact on the way films are made today might give it the merit to have that high place.