CITIZEN KANE

Another black and white classic. The beginning of this movie goes so fast! I was trying to understand what Xanadu was and what Kubla Kahn had to do with this. Thankfully, as the movie progresses, everything is explained and I began to understand. I thought it was really interesting how all the major actors/actresses were new to the movie screen except Orson Welles. And as I understand it was the first time he directed a movie. I couldn't tell any of them were beginners. And, after watching the commentary at the end of the movie, I learned that it was based upon someone's real life and if I hadn't already deleted it from my DVR, I would tell you who. Apparently, the man thought his 2nd wife was portrayed wrongly. It seems like you either really appreciate this movie or don't like it at all. It came out a time when the US was about to enter into war and America couldn't really appreciate this kind of movie. Americans at that time wanted an inspirational, uplifting movie. I wouldn't say I liked it, but I didn't hate it either.

Anyway, another thing I wanted to note about this movie was how often people interrupted others, how often people ignored each other and how often they used a person's full title when addressing them. For example, "Mr. Carter, is this where your office is, Mr. Carter?" The whole movie was like that and once, I heard Leland informally address Mr. Kane and it caught me off guard. Maybe I missed this part, but at the beginning it tells how his first wife and son died in a car accident, but I didn't see that part explained. You see, at the beginning you see a movie-like summary of his life and then throughout the movie they explain each part. They are all looking for an explanation of Mr. Kane's final words: rosebud.  It's kind of like a puzzle they have to figure out. So, they interview everyone he was close to and they reflect on his life. They end up deciding that 'rosebud' is just another piece to the puzzle of his life. It was actually the name on his sled. When he was taken from his mother and father, he had to leave behind his sled. I guessed that the reason he was taken away from his parents was because his father would have been abusive? I'm not 100% sure. Mr. Thatcher, the man that raised him got him another one. I'm still trying to figure out why those were his last words. Maybe because they represented a time in his life that was happy? If you have ideas, let me know!

So, Citizen Kane was a man from humble beginnings who grew up to be very rich and unhappy. He had two wives that both left him. He ran for office and ran a newspaper office (The Inquirer) that often ran scandalous stories. Anyone else have thoughts?

And that's the way the story reads....