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Home > English > Advanced > Module B: Critical Study of Texts > Citizen Kane

Background to the film and its director: Orson Wells
A synopsis of the film
Activities

Background to the film and its director: Orson Welles

“Students discuss and evaluate the ways in which the set work has been read, received and valued in historical and other contexts.” English Stage 6 Syllabus p 52

Orson Welles persistently struggled against the interference of the industry, particularly Hollywood’s studio system.

He believed in cinema authorship; the power of the director to create a film independent of the need to make money; “the value of art against commerce”.

During the filming of Citizen Kane (released in 1941) there was an atmosphere of freedom unfelt in previous Hollywood film endeavours. In this atmosphere, designers and technicians came forth with ideas they’d been forced to keep quiet for years.

New film technologies were especially exploited by the makers of Citizen Kane, licensed by Welles’ support of “art film” notions. He liked to experiment with whatever could put the team’s vision onto film as accurately as possible.

Citizen Kane trod on awfully powerful toes. Before the film was released to the public, the president of RKO (Radio Pictures Company) was offered $842,000 if he would destroy the negatives and the prints of the film. Apparently the film was deemed too controversial by media-mogul William Randolph Hearst as it paralleled his own life too dramatically. He was prepared to pay $142,000 above the cost of the film in order to silence it. This was a lot of money back then!

Nevertheless, the film was released. In response, the Hearst-owned press launched such a tirade against RKO and its employees, banning all publicity of RKO pictures from their papers, that RKO was forced to withdraw Citizen Kane from cinemas.

The film was reissued in the late 1950s on the art-cinema circuit, reaching considerably fewer audiences than was originally intended.

Welles is very influential in the movie-world. Indeed, over the years, most movie-makers have gained inspiration and stolen ideas from his extensive movie catalogue. As a result, today we are quite familiar with the techniques used in Citizen Kane. For film-goers of the 1940s though, Welles’ style was completely new and innovative.

Welles used many of his own co-actors from the Mercury Theatre in the film. These actors were generally unknown to cinema-going audiences. This was a very brave act when the Hollywood system survived on “names” to get audiences in.

Many critics today view Citizen Kane as they would view a large budget student film; students being more likely to push the limits of technology. Critics from around the world have consistently voted Citizen Kane the best film ever made!

A synopsis of the film

“Students explore the ideas expressed in the text through analysing its construction, content and language. They examine how particular features of the text contribute to textual integrity.” English Stage 6 Syllabus p 52

Throughout the first viewing of the film, students check their understanding by writing a film synopsis (modelled below) which they will share and discuss with peers.

Citizen Kane is a film about the life of fictional character Charles Foster Kane. The film opens with the death of Kane, an aged multi-millionaire who dies alone in his “private museum” Xanadu. Kane’s final word is “rosebud” and the film sets out to solve the mystery surrounding this word and reveal how it is relevant to the life of C.F. Kane.

The search begins when reporters intend to create a more “complete” picture of Kane’s life for an obituary newsreel. Dissatisfied with their first superficial attempt, they begin interviewing Kane’s colleagues and family only to find that his life was more complex and perhaps private, than they had once thought. Whilst the interviews reveal the love-hate relationship Kane shared with all he met, they do not solve the “rosebud” mystery. Thus, the reporters have failed to gain a deeper understanding of Kane’s life.

The audience however, are well aware of what “rosebud” recalls for Kane. Indeed, we are forced to sympathise with this “citizen” who was corrupted by power and greed, an innocent who had privilege thrust upon him with little thought of what a child really needs. “Rosebud” is the very symbol of all Kane lost, and the powerful reminder of what money could never buy.

Activities

Suggested Outcomes: 1, 2A, 8, 10

Many informative sites about this text can be found by using a search engine like Google and typing:citizen+kane.

1. Look into the background of the text, referring to:
   1. The Hollywood Studio System of 1930-1940s
   2. William Randolph Hearst controversy
   3. Orson Welles and his first major film
   4. Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre
   5. Critical reviews of the film, past and present.
2. Having already gained some cinematic history knowledge through the Preliminary Course, students design three promotional film posters for Citizen Kane, approaching it:
   • as the Hollywood Studio System would promote it
   • as an “arthouse” film
   • as it would be promoted upon re-release today.
3. Construct an interview with Orson Welles which reveals the film’s background and his thoughts on how it suffered controversy. With a small group, act out the scripted interview and record it, using filming techniques used in the interviews of Citizen Kane.

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