Why I Like Citizen Kane Like All the Other Filmmakers (take 1)

One of the most discussed and highly acclaimed films, Citizen Kane,  is known as a classic. The 1941 film was directed by Orson Welels is also regarded as one of the greatest films of all times. I too agree. I would like to take a moment and discuss what I feel emulates what a great film is and then go into detail about why Citizen Kane falls under that title. 

Every year movies are made for the enjoyment of audiences, but what constitutes a great film. There are several levels of answers for this question:

 (Before I mention this, I would like to make maybe somewhat controversial statement: the number of Academy Awards that a film receives or even if it receives an Academy Award is should not determine if a film is great. These is no standard  for these awards to be given on and since I do see filmmaking a team effort, I feel that if an award should be given, it should be the best picture award should be the only on offered.  I will now get off of my soap box.)

  The first definition is that the movie should be ground breaking. It should push the film industry in a way that thats never been done before. For example, Star Wars invented technology in order to achieve storytelling for the film. The best word to describe what I mean is “risk”. A lot of movies in American Cinema don’t take artistic risks anymore. A majority of movies out today are what will get the most money and word of mouth in the opening weekend. The American cinema has always been a business rather than artistic atmosphere but I will not get to in depth about how I feel about that right now. 

Secondly, a movie should withstand the test of time and be accepted by multiple generations.  A movie that was meaningful to one generation may not necessarily able to be enjoyable to another. It should be enjoyable to an audience and not seem excessively out dated. 

Third, I feel that the term “greatest movie” is a term that is way over used to discuss a film and the term is even tainted for it is so overly applied.

 Fourth, a movie that is able to be enjoyable and be more revealing even time it is watched makes a film great. I will go more in-depth later in this blog but Citizen Kane does this for me. 

Finally, I feel that the greatest movies are able to impact who we are internally. Great movies don’t make us the viewers watch them but live them. This is why I feel there could never be a universal “greatest movie ever made” because it is the experience of the movie that is the strongest factor. In addition, it may be difficult to agree with other with what they feel is a great film because they may have different expectations. For example, I enjoy watching movies. It is simple and a given. However, the movies that I think are among the greats is the ones that if I have a horrible day or want a challenge, I put in one of my very selective movies. While that DVD or VHS tape plays, I forget the world and I put myself with the characters. This is actually more difficult for me to do because I tend to watch films objectively. I watch film more for the muse-en-scene, cinematography, and many other fundamentals of filmmaking. To not notice the mechanics of the film mean that they are doing a good job, which is not distracting from the story. I think a beautiful example of this is in the end of the movie The Fall, when the patients of a hospital sit together and laugh as old silent movie clips are shown on a screen, they are able to enjoy and this scene it impacting the viewers themselves.

Why do I think Citizen Kane deserves to be given the title of “a great film”. When the film came out, it was at the height of the Second World War. In a film class that I am in, my professor tell us that it is an interesting thing to notice that this film came out within a year of another famous film, Casablanca. My professor is right in pointing this out because it shows a very strong but artistic difference between the two films. Stanley Kubrick says that the most important thing is to go out and make. Casablanca was made to a formula, Citizen Kane was made by those who, for the most part, didn’t know the formula. They just made a movie. When this film was made, the cast was almost entirely made of radio voice actors and individuals that were inexperienced in film. It is evident that it was a group of inexperience individuals by a few mistake for instance, often the cuts between shots the mouth of the actor or the motions don’t match out with the prior cut as well as a lot of the then crafting Hollywood styles were being broken. I am a very big fan of  long takes and this film have plenty of them. This is one of the reasons why it is a great film because, even today, the cuts during a film are short. In Citizen Kane, the cuts go almost for an entire scene this give the cinematographer, Gregg Toland,  chance to shine in his camera movements. 

Gregg Toland Cinematography was brilliant in this film. In addition with Welles’ theatrical directing style, Toland would use the concept of distance from the camera to give more emotion to a point. For example, when Kane is talking to Susan in Xanadu. Toland also seemed to break the tend have a rule at that time where it was ideal for the camera to remain at eye level with the actors. For example, a majority of the movie, the camera is either at an upper or lower angle. This helped to emphasis the power that Kane possesses for as the film would go one, the camera progressively got higher to signify the of power that Kane had. I felt that a majority of this movie is able to be told by the blocking and cinematography alone. For example, the distance shots are later in Kane’s life when he is more alone, while he is surrounded and very close to people in the beginning of his life. 

The muse-en-scene is simply put amazing. Every thing is so critical to the story for example, the lighting was both cinematic and theatrical. Two examples of this is the room after the Kane newsreel ran in the beginning of the film. The rays of light that were seen in the small windows and making the faces barely visible. Another is the similar technique is when the reporter goes into the room to read Mr. Thatcher’s journal. The steam of light that goes to the chair was simply beautiful. Last, thing is just the amazing sets that were made such as the interior of Xanadu. 

The acting was pretty well done. It was evident though that a majority of the actors were radio actors or theatrical actors because there was a bit of over acting that takes place. For example, any scene with Mr. Barker when he was young. I do however must say that Welles was made for this role. One of my favorite moments in all of cinema that I have scene is the opera scene. What happens is after the veiws of the film see a shot of an opera from one perspective, they then scene it from Kane’s prospect. While Kane’s spouse plays the lead role, the people around him and other talk about how horrible she is. Then when the applause comes Kane sits in silence with hands at his side. When the clapping starts to die down he starts to clap and give a standing ovation. The emotion on his face it just remarkable. 

The only criticism that I have with this film is the editing. It seemed very sloppy for me. A few times it was very too notice able that the audio and the shots were not in sync. I did like how the editor, Robert Wise, did make the choice to do a lot of dissolves in his transition. Some of which are great. For example, later in the movie, he had the dissolve linger on so the foreground characters would seem to be in the same “world” as the background story. This was to represent flash forwards to present time. For example, the later scenes with Susan Alexander Kane. Also, the dissolves would be a way of going through object to get a better look. For example, scene would dissolve through a door to see what was happening inside of a room. 

This movie is a “great move” because it took many creative risks. From complex shots to the story itself. Even though a lot of people, including myself, don’t like the film when they first see it, it is able to withhold the test of time for it is still highly received. I will admit that this being my fourth time watching it, I enjoyed it even more then the third. Everytime I watch this film, I notice that there is something different about it. This time I noticed the editing more then ever. Feel Free to comment about this blog. I would like to hear your views.