Citizen Kane, directed by and starring Orson Welles, is here commemorated on a postage stamp.  In this famous scene Kane gives a political speech with a giant portrait of himself in the background.Orson Welles' Citizen Kane posterRuth Warrick as Emily Monroe Norton Kane in a publicity still from Citizen Kane.

Discover great deals on the many hard to find and one of a kind items available only on ebay!

Citizen Kane

more...

HomeHome
ActionAction
Art FilmsArt Films
ClassicsClassics
12 Angry Men12 Angry Men
All About EveAll About Eve
Ben-HurBen-Hur
Butch Cassidy and the...Butch Cassidy and the...
CasablancaCasablanca
Citizen KaneCitizen Kane
City LightsCity Lights
Double IndemnityDouble Indemnity
Dr. StrangeloveDr. Strangelove
Duck SoupDuck Soup
For a Few Dollars MoreFor a Few Dollars More
Gone with the WindGone with the Wind
High NoonHigh Noon
It Happened One NightIt Happened One Night
It's a Wonderful LifeIt's a Wonderful Life
Kind Hearts and CoronetsKind Hearts and Coronets
Lawrence of ArabiaLawrence of Arabia
Metropolis movieMetropolis movie
Modern TimesModern Times
Mr. Smith Goes to WashingtonMr. Smith Goes to Washington
Nights of CabiriaNights of Cabiria
North by NorthwestNorth by Northwest
NotoriousNotorious
On the WaterfrontOn the Waterfront
Once Upon a Time in the WestOnce Upon a Time in the West
Paths of GloryPaths of Glory
PsychoPsycho
RashomonRashomon
Rear WindowRear Window
RebeccaRebecca
Shadow of a DoubtShadow of a Doubt
Shichinin no samuraiShichinin no samurai
Singin' in the RainSingin' in the Rain
Some Like It Hot Some Like It Hot
Stalag 17Stalag 17
Strangers on a TrainStrangers on a Train
Sunset BoulevardSunset Boulevard
The Adventures of Robin HoodThe Adventures of Robin Hood
The African QueenThe African Queen
The Best Years of Our LivesThe Best Years of Our Lives
The Bicycle ThiefThe Bicycle Thief
The Big SleepThe Big Sleep
The Bridge on the River KwaiThe Bridge on the River Kwai
The Gold RushThe Gold Rush
The Good, the Bad and the...The Good, the Bad and the...
The Grapes of WrathThe Grapes of Wrath
The Great DictatorThe Great Dictator
The Great EscapeThe Great Escape
The Maltese FalconThe Maltese Falcon
The Night of the HunterThe Night of the Hunter
The Philadelphia StoryThe Philadelphia Story
The Seven SamuraiThe Seven Samurai
The Seventh SealThe Seventh Seal
The Third ManThe Third Man
The Treasure of the...The Treasure of the...
The Wages of FearThe Wages of Fear
The Wizard of OzThe Wizard of Oz
To Kill a MockingbirdTo Kill a Mockingbird
Touch of EvilTouch of Evil
VertigoVertigo
Witness for the ProsecutionWitness for the Prosecution
YojimboYojimbo
ComedyComedy
DocumentaryDocumentary
DramaDrama
HorrorHorror
Movie PropsMovie Props
Sci-Fi / FantasySci-Fi / Fantasy

Citizen Kane was the first feature film directed by Orson Welles (he had directed two short films previously), and is rumored to be based on the lives of the newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, the reclusive aerospace and movie mogul Howard Hughes, and the Chicago utilities magnate Samuel Insull. Welles maintained that the character is a composite of several historical individuals. In F for Fake Welles claims Kane was originally intended to be based on Hughes (to be played by Joseph Cotten) but he changed it to Hearst. Internally while it was under production, it was referred to as RKO 281. The film premiered on May 1, 1941. Endlessly discussed and dissected by critics and viewers alike, this innovative film is perhaps the most influential ever in film history.

The movie has some parallels to the 1933 movie The Power and the Glory.

The only remaining living cast member is Sonny Bupp who played Kane's young son, Charles Foster Kane III.

Robert Wise, who died of heart failure on September 14, 2005, was the last living crew member.

Overview

Produced in 1941, the film deals with the inability of Charles Foster Kane (played by Welles) to truly love. Instead Kane has only "Love on my own terms." As a result, Kane eventually alienates every loved one around him and dies a lonely recluse in an opulent, but crumbling estate.

Kane dies in the opening scene of the film; this is followed by a newsreel pastiche documenting Kane's public life (this segment was produced by RKO's actual newsreel department). The remainder of the movie is told through flashbacks being related to a reporter trying to improve the newsreel — the newsreel is regarded as functional but not especially profound, and furthermore the reporter is searching for the meaning behind Mr. Kane's dying word, "rosebud."

What is revealed has been described by Jorge Luis Borges, in a 1941 review, as a "metaphysical detective story. subject (both psychological and allegorical) is the investigation of a man's inner self, through the works he has wrought, the words he has spoken, the many lives he has ruined... Overwhelmingly, endlessly, Orson Welles shows fragments of the life of the man, Charles Foster Kane, and invites us to combine them and reconstruct him. Forms of multiplicity and incongruity abound in the film: the first scenes record the treasures amassed by Kane; in one of the last, a poor woman, luxuriant and suffering, plays with an enormous jigsaw puzzle on the floor of a palace that is also a museum. At the end we realize that the fragments are not governed by a secret unity: the detested Charles Foster Kane is a simulacrum, a chaos of appearances."

The film combines revolutionary cinematography (by Gregg Toland, with whom Welles shared a title card, which was an unprecedented gesture of Welles' appreciation for Toland's overall contribution to the film) with an Oscar-winning screenplay (by Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz — though most film history circles consider Mankiewicz's contribution to the screenplay to be far greater than that of Welles), and a lineup of first time film actors, associates of Mr. Welles' from his stint at the Mercury Theater, such as Joseph Cotten and Agnes Moorehead.

Filmmaking innovations

Film scholars and historians view Citizen Kane as Welles' attempt to create a new style of filmmaking by studying the various forms of movie making, and combining them all into one (much like D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation did in 1915). Examination of the techniques used by Welles and his crew reveals elements of expressionism in the use of light and shadow, noting the influence of German and Russian filmmakers. The film is even seen as one of the predecessors of method acting, as seen during the scene where Kane vents his anger at his political opponent, Jim Gettys, at the top of a flight of stairs. (Welles actually tripped and broke his ankle during the filming of that scene, but the scene continued and made it into the final print of the film.)

Read more at Wikipedia.org


[List your site here Free!]

Click to see more Citizen Kane items at www.ebay.com
Prices current as of last update, 03/24/24 10:31am.

Home Contact Resources Exchange Links ebay