A faceless journalist sets out to investigate the life of media magnate and failed politician Charles Foster Kane. He seeks to uncover the meaning of “rosebud”, Kane’s last utterance. In turn satire, tragedy and gothic comedy, Citizen Kane is a triumph of disjointed, non-linear narrative in which the form becomes the theme, an ironic reflection upon the success ethic and the crushing weight of materialism. In drawing upon the tradition of classical narrative, while at the same time violating some of the expectations in the viewer’s reception of such narrative, Welles ultimately assured “Citizen Kane” of its place as a watershed in modern cinema. Credits: script-Herman J. Mankiewicz, Orson Welles; music-Bernard Hermann; photography-Gregg Toland; editors-Robert Wise, Mark Robson. Cast includes: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Agnes Moorehead, Dorothy Comingore, Ray Collins, Everett Sloane.
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How to watch
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
013696
Language
English
Subject categories
Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Expressionism in motion pictures
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Black and White
Holdings
16mm film; Access Print (Section 1)