Citizen Kane Research Paper
Orson Welles' film Citizen Kane has been consistently ranked as one of the best films ever made. A masterpiece of technique and storytelling, the film helped to change Hollywood film-making and still exerts considerable influence today. However, at the time of its premiere in 1941, it was a commercial failure that spelled disaster for Welles' Hollywood career.
Citizen Kane tells the story of millionaire press magnate Charles Foster Kane (played by Welles). The film opens with Kane on his death bed in his magnificent Florida castle, Xanadu, murmuring the word "Rosebud." A newsreel reporter (William Alland) searches for clues to the meaning of the word and to the meaning of Kane himself. Interviewing many people intimately connected with Kane, …show more content…
Welles fought constantly with RKO over his budget and against limits on his control of the production. Furthermore, because the film was based in part on the life of publisher William Randolph Hearst, Hearst's papers actively campaigned against it, demanding that Citizen Kane be banned and then later refusing to mention or advertise it altogether. Although the scheme backfired, generating enormous publicity for the movie, a frightened RKO released the film only after Welles threatened the studio with a …show more content…
None of these sequences, however, are showstoppers; each propels the narrative forward.
That narrative proved puzzling both to critics and to audiences at large. Written by Herman J. Mankiewicz and Welles (although there is considerable controversy over how much Welles contributed), the narrative employs a series of flashbacks that tell different pieces of Kane's life story and reveal the witnesses' various perceptions of him. By arranging these pieces out of order, the script opened the door for later screenwriters to avoid the demands of strict chronology. At the time, however, this innovation confused most
Citizen Kane tells the story of millionaire press magnate Charles Foster Kane (played by Welles). The film opens with Kane on his death bed in his magnificent Florida castle, Xanadu, murmuring the word "Rosebud." A newsreel reporter (William Alland) searches for clues to the meaning of the word and to the meaning of Kane himself. Interviewing many people intimately connected with Kane, …show more content…
Welles fought constantly with RKO over his budget and against limits on his control of the production. Furthermore, because the film was based in part on the life of publisher William Randolph Hearst, Hearst's papers actively campaigned against it, demanding that Citizen Kane be banned and then later refusing to mention or advertise it altogether. Although the scheme backfired, generating enormous publicity for the movie, a frightened RKO released the film only after Welles threatened the studio with a …show more content…
None of these sequences, however, are showstoppers; each propels the narrative forward.
That narrative proved puzzling both to critics and to audiences at large. Written by Herman J. Mankiewicz and Welles (although there is considerable controversy over how much Welles contributed), the narrative employs a series of flashbacks that tell different pieces of Kane's life story and reveal the witnesses' various perceptions of him. By arranging these pieces out of order, the script opened the door for later screenwriters to avoid the demands of strict chronology. At the time, however, this innovation confused most