Line #146 Film/CitizenKane


1	%%
2	%%
3	%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExamples are not permitted on the Wiki. All such examples have been commented out.
4	%% Please do not t uncomment them unless you provide proper context.
5	%%
6	%%
7	%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=17044313600.92694000
8	%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.
9	%%
10	![[Administrivia/SpoilersOff All spoilers are unmarked]]. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned!
11	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/citizenkaneposter_9.png]]
12	%%
13	->''"Rosebud..."''
14	-->-- '''Charles Foster Kane'''
15
16	''Citizen Kane'' is a 1941 film, produced by Creator/RKOPictures and Mercury Films. It is Creator/OrsonWelles' first feature, and he produced, co-wrote (with Herman J. Mankiewicz), directed and played the leading role of Charles Foster Kane.
17
18	Inside his unfinished [[BigFancyHouse palatial mansion]], media mogul Charles Foster Kane lies DyingAlone, having lived in seclusion from the world for many years. With his final breath, he utters the word "Rosebud." The movie unfolds in flashback as IntrepidReporter Jerry Thompson tries to unravel the significance of Kane's dying declaration through interviewing those who knew him. However, no one he talks to knows just who or what Rosebud was; the closest answer he gets is from Kane's butler who concludes he was just saying a nonsense word. Thompson never does solve the mystery, though [[ItWasHisSled the answer]] is shown to the audience in the final scene. [[AnAesop The conclusion?]] It is indeed LonelyAtTheTop.
19
20	Welles was known as an avant-garde theatre director and radio star at the time of making ''Citizen Kane''. The film was the product of a unique contract that granted him full AuteurLicense and "final cut" approval, a rare privilege unheard of for a first-time director back then and even today. The end result of this was a technical breakthrough in cinematic storytelling with pioneering achievements in cinematography, editing, narrative structure, music, set design, special effects, and even film promotion[[note]]Its trailer famously doesn't show any footage from the film itself, instead being an original pseudo-documentary about its production[[/note]]. (When Welles was once asked in an interview where he found the confidence to direct such an innovative work, he famously replied, "Ignorance … sheer ignorance. There is no confidence to equal it.") The film was also controversial for its protagonist's [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed thinly-veiled resemblance]] to real-life media mogul William Randolph Hearst, who subsequently [[https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/mar/28/scale-of-hearst-plot-to-discredit-orson-welles-and-citizen-kane-revealed moved to sabotage its release]].
21
22	''Citizen Kane'' represented the film debut and StarMakingRole not just of Welles but of most of his Mercury Theatre troupe that came with him to Hollywood. Creator/JosephCotten, who plays Kane's best friend Jed Leland, became a major star. Creator/AgnesMoorehead, who went on to enjoy a long career as a character actress, plays young Kane's mother in the opening sequence. Music/BernardHerrmann, who was the composer for Welles' ''Radio/TheMercuryTheatreOnTheAir'' radio show, became one of the most famous composers in Hollywood history. Future A-lister Creator/AlanLadd can be seen as the reporter smoking a pipe (he's talking with Thompson in the last scene). Creator/RobertWise, who later enjoyed a hugely successful career as a director, did the editing. Gregg Toland (''Film/TheGrapesOfWrath'') was the director of photography, and his contribution was so essential to the film that Welles put Toland's name on the same title card as his director credit.
23
24	It is also the TropeCodifier and [[WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy indirect]] {{Trope Namer\|s}} for ItWasHisSled.
25
26	----
27	!!This film provides examples of:
28
29	[[index]]
30	* CitizenKane/TropesAToD
31	* CitizenKane/TropesEToM
32	* CitizenKane/TropesNToZ
33	[[/index]]

Context Film / CitizenKane