Citizen Kane

Director: Orson Welles

1941

24 March 2025

See

Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles) is a media baron, based on the real life tycoon William Randolph Hearst, a complex man, ambitious newsman, and a man rejected by a woman, Susan Alexander (Dorothy Comingore) a failed opera singer whose talents only he could see. His disappointments leave him a recluse in a castle surrounded by pillaged wonders of the world. His dying word “Rosebud” is assigned to reporter Jerry Thompson (William Alland) to uncover the meaning. 

Think 

Only Kane and Susan knew the reasons, but Welles and cowriter Herman Mankiwicz might’ve known a thing or two about Hearst. He and Welles’ father were friends, and Mank was in his inner circle before being excommunicated. Together they created what is considered one of the greatest films of all time. 

Feel

Why is it the GOAT? The narrative structure, Welles being 26 and writing, directing and starring. His naturalistic acting ahead of its time. The remarkable make up effects aging Kane into his seventies. The way it’s shot, with scene transitions by cinematographer Gregg Toland. How the dialogue is overlapping with people speaking simultaneously and over each other, closer to the verisimilitude of real life. Insights into the rich and powerful always resonate, thats why the series Succession resonated now. What was it about that man and his motivations? Citizen Kane doesn’t tell, it shows. There’s an anecdote about Welles running into Hearst in an elevator. He invited him to the premiere. The mogul didn’t reply. Welles allegedly said as the doors were closing, “That’s the difference between you and Kane. He would’ve accepted.”