Customer Reviews

Orson Wells: Citizen Cane - The 50th Anniversary

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If the stories are to be believed, Orson Welles created CITIZEN KANE as an act of vengeance for a sleight he received from W.R. Hearst during a dinner party at the tycoon's enormous California estate. Welles supposedly included "Rosebud" in his semi-bio of Hearst to embarrass the man. This mysterious word was the publisher's nickname for an intimate body part belonging to his mistress, Marion Davies. (BTW... watch closely in the film's early snow scene for a revealing "Rosebud" hint, when young Kane hits a visitor with his beloved sled and we see the famous flower insignia on it.)

Is this picture, as so many claim, THE GREATEST ever made? Since all art is subjective, can there ever be a single BEST motion picture, painting, statue or song? Whether or not "Kane" is numero uno, two things are certain:
1.) CITIZEN KANE is *classic* film making in every sense imaginable.
2.) Its high regard and place in cinematic history are assured, perhaps for all time.


"Citizen Kane" is available on DVD.

Also recommended:

The excellent HBO biopic about the creation of "Citizen Kane," RKO 281 (1999) features Liev Schreiber's remarkable portrayal of the enigmatic boy-director. Co-stars John Malkovich as Welles' collaborator Herman Mankiewicz, also Melanie Griffith as actress Marion Davies and James Cromwell as newspaper czar William Randolph Hearst. (VHS) (DVD)

Orson labored for many years to finish his superb adaptation of Shakespeare's OTHELLO (1952). After winning the prestigious Palme D'Or at Cannes, this film played in a limited number of American theaters, flopped badly, then disappeared. The long-presumed "lost" negative of "Othello" was finally located in New Jersey, in 1992. (VHS) (DVD)


Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 imdb viewer poll rating.

(8.6) Citizen Kane (1941) - Orson Welles/Joseph Cotten/Ruth Warrick/Agnes Moorehead/Dorothy Comingore/Ray Collins/Philip Van Zandt (uncredited: Nat 'King' Cole/Alan Ladd/Herman Mankiewicz/Benny Rubin/Gregg Toland)