Citizen Kane

CITIZEN KANE is Orson Welles's greatest achievement--and a landmark of cinema history. The story charts the rise and fall of a newspaper publisher whose wealth and power ultimately isolates him in his castle-like refuge. The film's protagonist, Charles Foster Kane, was based on a composite of Howard Hughes and William Randolph Hearst--so much so that Hearst tried to have the film suppressed. Every aspect of the production marked an advance in film language: the deep focus and deeply shadowed cinematography (from Gregg Toland); the discontinuous narrative, relying heavily on flashbacks and newsreel footage (propelled by a script largely written by Herman L. Mankiewicz); the innovative use of sound and score (sound by Bailey Fesler and James G. Stewart, music composed and conducted by Bernard Herrmann); and the ensemble acting forged in the fires of Welles's Mercury Theatre (featuring the film debuts of, among others, Joseph Cotten, Everett Sloane, and Agnes Moorehead). Every moment of the film, every shot, has been choreographed to perfection. The film is essential viewing, quite possibly the greatest film ever made and, along with THE BIRTH OF A NATION, certainly the most influential.

Cast:

Year - Presenter		Award Category		Result		Name
1941 - Academy Awards		Best Original Screenplay		Winner		Herman J. Mankiewicz
1941 - Academy Awards		Best Original Screenplay		Winner		Orson Welles

"...A tour de force of style and an ultimately tragic epic of a quintessentially American captain of industry, it is timelessly brilliant and incisive..." -- Kevin Thomas , (Los Angeles Times)

"...Its surface is as much fun as any movie ever made. Its depths surpass understanding....CITIZEN KANE is more than a great movie; it is a gathering of all the lessons of the emerging era of sound..." -- Roger Ebert , (Chicago Sun-Times)

"...[A] masterpiece....[The film] seems more relevant than ever..." -- Brad Stevens , (Sight and Sound)

"...KANE remains a source of fascination and inspiration..." -- Neil Smith , (Total Film)

"...Packed with cool effects and a surprise ending unsurpassed even by THE SIXTH SENSE..." -- Entertainment Weekly Staff , (Entertainment Weekly)

"...It introduced a number of lively, nonlinear storytelling techniques..." -- Premiere Staff , (Premiere)

"Eerily, it seems to predict the arc of Welles's career, one of great promise eventually betrayed or sold short. Time will never diminish the worth of this movie." -- Andy Webster , (Premiere)

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