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Citizen Kane

I recently saw Citizen Kane for the first time. Having
heard all my life how this was probably one of the greatest
movies ever made, I was eager to rent a copy and find out
for myself.

Taken in the context of its time, I have no doubt Citizen
Kane probably floored people with its forward-thinking film
techniques and storytelling. But let�s face it- acting,
cinematography, and screenplays have improved dramatically
since then, and I was very disappointed. Several of the
techniques used by Orson Wells such as odd camera angles,
use of shadow and deep-focus are clearly novelties to the
young film maker and they are used so obviously in some
scenes that they become distracting. If you are an old
movies fan, you probably won�t mind the campy acting and
contrived script, but don�t expect anything nearly as
engaging as what you�ll find in modern films.

The story Citizen Kane is somewhat interesting and this
movie certainly deserves a peek for its place in history,
but I would never place it among the best films ever made.

Orson Welles is one of my favorite dramatists, and Citizen
Kane, as his first movie is one my favorite films. It's
wonderful, how it tracks the life of an aspiring
buisnessman, and as we discover at the end, with all the
headaches his work as chairman of the board has brought him
over all his years in buisness, he's really come to miss
his pleasent childhood, and especially his favorite sled,
Rosebud. It's a shame that Hollywood dosen't make character
studies like this anymore, and that they didn't show enough
appreiciation for Welles' work even back then. That's why I
hope the new generation of filmgoers can learn to be
impressed with classics like this too. Viva Orson Welles.

this is most definitely a 4 star film and a technological
tour de force but it is also a lopsided and uneven example
of story telling. the story line is/was not breaking new
ground and the acting is/was not top of the line. wells put
together a story long enough and barely interesting enough
to display his new ideas of film making. remember that
wells was only 24 or 25 when he made this film, and it
shows. his ideas for camera technique are nothing short of
amazing but his overall direction shows a 24 year old at
work with some very fresh ideas. the story is held together
with kanes last word and the search for the meaning behind
it. the technilogical merit alone makes this a masterpiece
(it could be viewed without sound and still have an
impact) but it does not hit me like i expected it to.
film, like art and music should strike you like a
lightening bolt and move you. this film does not move me
because it has no soul. technological ideas cannot replace
the human element in anything, especially where emotions
and feeling come into play. ultimately i feel that this
film is like a vegetable we don't like; they might taste
bad but they are good for you. do we really have to love
this film or can we admire it for what it is?

Citizen Kane has been lauded as the greatest motion picture
to come out of America during the black-and-white era or
any era, for that matter. The last word uttered by media
magnate and multimillionaire tycoon, Charles Foster Kane,
was "rosebud". During preparations for a newsreel story on
Kane's life, the producers determine that they need to know
the man more and send a A curious reporter, whose face we
never see and whose shoulder we're always looking over to
find out what the mysterious word means and through a
series of flashbacks he finds out more about the
megalomaniac. The reporter first spoke to Susan Alexander
his second wife but now widowed ex-wife and ex-opera
singer. She told them her story and experiences with Mr.
Kane but didn�t get the information to answer the
question. Great Movie