There's a kind of tension between two storytelling methods that continues to play out across the film. The first beginning is shrouded in secrecy, darkness and the mystery of Rosebud. Then the second one is so explanatory. We see a lot more than Thompson gets from any of his... Who's doing investigation? Yeah, and I think that's really crucial. It moved like one of his radio dramas, and that's new for Hollywood. But it's also what we now think of as Film Noir in Hollywood.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Orson Welles' film, released in 1941, which is widely acclaimed as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, films yet made. Welles plays the lead role of Charles Foster Kane, a newspaper magnate, and Welles directed, produced and co-wrote this story of loneliness at the heart of a megalomaniac. The plot was partly inspired by the life of William Randolph Hearst, who then used the power of his own newspapers to try to suppress the film’s release. It was to take some years before Citizen Kane reached a fuller audience and, from that point, become so celebrated.
The image above is of Kane addressing a public meeting while running for Governor.
With
Stella Bruzzi
Professor of Film and Dean of Arts and Humanities at University College London
Ian Christie
Professor of Film and Media History at Birkbeck, University of London
And
John David Rhodes
Professor of Film Studies and Visual Culture at the University of Cambridge
Producer: Simon Tillotson