CITIZEN KANE

1)             Relate what was discussed in class or the text to the screening.

Citizen Kane was known as the best American Film of all times, crowned by the American Film Institute in1998. This was surprising because in 1941 the film was a commercial failure that almost didn’t occur. Citizen Kane was directed and written by Orsen Wells (Herman Mankiewicz also helped write the film). Orsen Wells started to make Citizen Kane when he was at the age of 24, and was given the opportunity to have complete control over the script. The film was directed by Orsen Wells who also starred in the film as a young man, a middle-aged man, and an old man. He used what is known as “auteur” because he was the one man in charge. The film was nominated for nine Oscars, but only received an award for best screenplay. After so much failure within Citizen Kane, Orsen Wells was never given the opportunity to have that much control over another film. Orsen Wells was mostly known for his 1938 radio broadcast of “War of the Worlds. The main character of the story was Charles Foster Kane and his life was based on the life of William Randolph Hearst. There were many similarities of the two; like they both were newspaper journalist, and both were married. However, there were some differences such as; Susan Alexander Kane leaves Kane later in their life; however, Hurst and Marion never ended their marriage. This film was ahead of its time, and is the reason why it was so badly criticized at the time of its release, but after the industry many changes and growth people started to understand it, making it become known as the best film.

 

2)      Find a related article and summarize the content. 

 

Citizen Kane begins in a deserted Florida estate known as Xanadu. The film was about the life of William Randolph Hearst, and was different from the movies of its time. Mainly because it was made by Orsen Wells, a man who had no previous experience in film making, but had the money to be granted total control of the film. One important key of the film was when he uttered Rosebud at the beginning of the film. This was important because that was his last words before he passed away. After he died, the news reel producer Raulsten sends Jerry Thompson out to discover the reason why those were his last words. The soon found out he was disowned by his parents because instead of choosing the career path they wanted him to, he decided to become the owner of the largest and most influential newspaper chain in America. He married Emily Norton, the niece of a former President of the United States. This film only received an award for Best Screenwriter which was shared with Herman Mankiewicz. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/citizen_kane/

 

3)             Apply the article to the film screened in class.

 

After watching the film I was surprised to know that Orsen Wells was criticized so badly on the movie. It wasn’t my favorite, but I did not think it was bad.  I was not aware that this had been his first time working. For the time of film history back then, they made it seem as though he was overly boring and the film was so horrible, when that wasn’t the case at all. It was a lot of gloomy scenes, but that was the environment of society at the time.  I was interested throughout the entire movie to find out what was the meaning behind Rosebud, and was shocked to know the history behind his family.

 

 

4)     Write a critical analysis of the film

 

This film to me was a good one. The characters are well written and credible. The story was very interesting and easy to comprehend now, although when the film was created, and no one understood the meaning of it. One thing that I did dislike about the film was the way it made time go longer than actual. It was good, but at times it felt like it was so boring and never going to end. The actors played their roles very well and entertaining. I feel like they could have put a little more excitement into the story like to keep the audience enthused by it.

 

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/citizen_kane/

CHECKLIST FOR PLAGIARISM

 

1) (X) I have not handed in this assignment for any other class.

 

2) (X) If I reused any information from other papers I have written for other classes, I clearly explain that in the paper.

 

3) (X) If I used any passages word for word, I put quotations around those words, or used indentation and citation within the text.

 

4) (X) I have not padded the bibliography. I have used all sources cited in the bibliography in the text of the paper.

 

5) (X) I have cited in the bibliography only the pages I personally read.

 

6) (X) I have used direct quotations only in cases where it could not be stated in another way. I cited the source within the paper and in the bibliography.

 

7) (X) I did not so over-use direct quotations that the paper lacks interpretation or originality.

 

8) (X) I checked yes on steps 1-7 and therefore have been fully transparent about the research and ideas used in my paper.

 

Name:     Nabilah Smith             Date: 04.15.13