Undeniably brilliant

Rating: 10/10 (24 November 2018)

Kane is a great film: creative, courageous, original, deep and gripping, mentally stimulating, inventive, superbly shot, written, acted. It tells you things about the world and yourself. It is youthful, vigorous and vital. All the actors in Kane are beyond excellent. This film stays with you for the duration.
A number of the reviews on this site therefore make incredibly odd reading. It seems to have become the fashion to denigrate this remarkable film, and topple its position on the list, all the way down to number 72. Unbelievable ! Not too long ago a collection of self-appointed arbiters called Sight & Sound critics replaced Kane with Vertigo as their greatest film ever. Stupefying ! Vertigo ! That fantasy that didn't happen ! .
The nay-sayers appear to have no sense of history, and be incapable of relating a work to the times it was created in. Not that Kane is dated. In fact, its picture of American power, wealth, politics and corruption was re-enacted yesterday, and is still extant. All that was required was for Kane to shout "lock him up" when orating against Boss Jim Gettys. In his own words, Kane was an American. He wanted to make his country great, although he was only running for Governor. His life illustrated a profound truism: if you want to be a success, make sure you inherit a fortune; then you can make deals which lose a million a year for 60 years.