Citizen Kane Case

Citizen Kane. 1941. Director: Orson Welles (Oscar). Screenplay: Herman J. Mankiewicz and Orson Welles. Starring: Orson Welles (Oscar), Joseph Cotton, Dorothy Comingore. Awards: 1942 Oscar for Best Writing, Original Screenplay and nominated for seven additional. Golden Globe nomination. Genre: Drama/Mystery. Rated NR.

“Rosebud”, the tangled web that reporters were trying to unweave. The last word spoken by Charles Kane (Orson Welles) was the beginning of a mystery that reporters desperately tried to solve. Citizen Kane started with a view of a fence with a ‘No Trespassing’ sign attached to it. The no trespassing sign was symbolic of Kane’s life. He only let you in so far. No one really knew what was going on inside of him. Hence this is why no one knew what he meant by saying Rosebud. Rosebud was the snow sled Kane was playing with as a child. It was left behind when Kane was sent to live with Mr. Thatcher. The scene ends with the snow covers the sled, which is figuratively covering the final memories of Kane’s happy childhood. The sled is only seen two other times during the movie. The most compelling is when the camera spans across the room with all of Kane’s prized possessions, eventually zooming in on sled. The sled is tossed in the fireplace where we now see the word ‘Rosebud’ etched across it. The reporters are still unaware of those famous last words.

Most of the movie was set in dark lighting. This does not come into play until later in the movie when the darkness of Kane comes to light. His darkness was subtly introduced to the audience through a myriad of scenes using framing to reinforce the awkwardness of Kane’s interactions with others. Kane stood taller than other characters in the film, emphasizing his arduous nature. Different angle shots were used to build on his character. This brings me back to no trespassing sign, which is a symbol of Kane’s relationships. No one was allowed in. The darkness of Kane was not verbalized in the movie. It all came to light through his actions, color schemes, and music used throughout the film. Jedediah Leland (Joseph Cotton) explained it best.

“I was his oldest friend, and as far as I’m concerned Charlie Kane was a swine. Not that Charlie was ever brutal, he just did brutal things. Maybe I wasn’t his friend, but if I wasn’t he never had one. ..I suppose he had some private sort of greatness, but he kept it to himself. He never gave himself away. He never gave anything away. ...He had a generous mind. I don’t suppose anybody ever had so many opinions. But he never believed in anything except Charlie Kane. He never had any convictions except Charlie Kane and his wife.”

This scene was set up with emphasis on Leland. Gradually zooming in on Leland as he spoke about Charlie Kane gave the audience a feeling of what others thought of Kane. Music was somber, reinforcing the dark connotations being