Citizen Kane and Images

Orson Welles and co-writer, Herman J. Mankiewiez, created

a complexly structured story. Welles invites the viewer to

piece together the various segments of Kane's life rather like

the jigsaw puzzles that Kane's second wife, Susan, plays with

in Kane's castle. The film begins outside the castle, Xanadu,

at the "No Trespassing" sign, then moves through the dark eerie night to the castle, then on into the bedroom. The camera moves slowly toward the bed, where an ugly old man lies dying, Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles). The camera moves in to hear the man's dying word, "Rosebud." The glass snow scene falls to the floor, as Kane loses hold of the world (he died); in slow motion the glass ball falls to the floor and shatters. Through the glass, we see a nurse enter the room to care for the dead Kane. The wide angle of the shot through the broken glass distorts the view of the nurse and is also symbolic of a distorted life. This distortion is a clue for the viewer. Blaring music and the unrelenting voice of a newscaster takes us from the expression-istic death scene to a smoky projection room, where a newsreel is being shown. The overexposed newsreel, "The March of Time," com

. . .
e and of Kane's marriage to the first Mrs. Kane. Mr. Bernstein idolized Kane and this is shown by the fact that he never deserted Kane, in the room where the old Bernstein talks with the reporter a large portrait of Kane hangs on the wall. Bernstein's point of view reveals Kane as a young man of energy, spirit, and vision. Though this section turns inward, Bernstein never really looks beneath the flashy, energetic surface of Kane. Nor is the audience allowed to see beyond the surface, in fact one can like the character of Kane at this point. In conceptualizing the film to this point, we begin to wonder what happened to Kane, why did he die alone? Jed Leland (Joseph Cotton), narrates the fourth section, which begins to go beyond the surface of the public Kane, and explores the interior motivations of Kane. Jed Leland (now an old man), relates to the reporter, how he once was Kane's best friend but they became mortal enemies. Leland tells of Kane's life from the time he married the first Mrs. Kane, to the opera debut of the second Mrs. Kane (Susan). Leland explains how Kane, once a man of idealism, fired him for writing an opera review that revealed Susan Kane's singing voice for what it was, bad. Whereas Bernstein told of Kane at
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1534
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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