Why I liked it - contains spoilers

Rating: 10/10 (16 May 2006)

I do not want to write a conventional essay so I will just put down elements and scenes I liked.

All of the technical crew esp Greg Toland's photography.

Herman J Manciewiecz's contribution to the screenplay.

Bernard Herrman's Score

The opening scene, esp when the nurse comes in after the snow globe breaks. When I was a kid (around 12) I thought that was one of the coolest looking things ever.

"NEWS ON THE MARCH" I love the way they made the newsreel look old in spots.

The way the light from the projector cuts through the darkness and smoke and only barely illuminates the reporters.

The echo at the Thatcher Memorial Library from the librarians voice and footsteps and the way the light floods the table where the reporter reads Thatcher's journal.

When Agnus Moorehead (Kanes mother) yells "Charles". The slight crack in her voice breaks my heart every time.

When Kane tells Thatcher that his paper will lose money and will have to close in sixty years. I love how it is an uninterrupted take until it cuts to Welles saying the line: "at the rate of a million dollars a year, I'll have to close this place - in sixty years."

When Kane says "I always gagged on that silver spoon" and these exchanges: Thatcher: You're too old to be calling me Mr. Thatcher, Charles Charles Foster Kane: You're too old to be called anything else.

When Bernstein tells the reporter: Bernstein: Well, it's no trick to make a lot of money... if what you want to do is make a lot of money.

And
Bernstein: A fellow will remember a lot of things you wouldn't think he'd remember. You take me. One day, back in 1896, I was crossing over to Jersey on the ferry, and as we pulled out, there was another ferry pulling in, and on it there was a girl waiting to get off. A white dress she had on. She was carrying a white parasol. I only saw her for one second. She didn't see me at all, but I'll bet a month hasn't gone by since that I haven't thought of that girl.
And
Bernstein: Old age. It's the only disease, Mr. Thompson, that you don't look forward to being cured of.

The Mr Kane song

The breakfast scene that succinctly shows the deteriorating relationship between Kane and Emily, his first wife.

When Leland Keeps asking the reporter for a cigar and when he says

Leland: I can remember absolutely everything, young man. That's my curse - that's one of the greatest curses ever inflicted on the human race, memory.

The way you see the same scene at the opera twice giving the viewer another perspective

When Kane and Susan Alexander meet. Also this line Kane: I run a couple of newspapers. What do you do?

The Shot of Kane giving his campaign speech

When Leland and Kane discuss his defeat and this line

Kane: A toast,Jedediah, to love on my terms. Those are the only terms anybody ever knows - his own.

Bernard Herrman writing an opera that's supposed to be bad.

After the opera tour scene we see a close up of a light bulb dissolve into the shot where Susan took an overdose or a poison while Kane bangs on the door.

Susan's jigsaw puzzles.

The huge fireplace.

The weird back round during the everglade picnic scene.

Kanes destruction of Susan's room.

The mirrors he walks by after he picks up the snow globe.

At the end of the interview with Susan, The reporter says he feels sorry for Kane, Susan: Don't you think I do.

The credits at the end.

Last but not least, Orson Welles and his great direction.