What does the sled symbolize in Citizen Kane?
“Rosebud is the trade name of a cheap little sled on which Kane was playing on the day he was taken away from his home and his mother. In his subconscious it represented the simplicity, the comfort, above all the lack of responsibility in his home, and also it stood for his mother’s love, which Kane never lost.”
What do the statues in Citizen Kane represent?
For Kane, statues are nothing more than images of people, easily controlled—he can place them where he wants and even ignore them if he chooses. Over his statues, Kane has power: to acquire, to own, and to control. Statues eventually replace living people in Kane’s life, and he dies surrounded by these figures.
What is the story line of Citizen Kane?
When a reporter is assigned to decipher newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane’s (Orson Welles) dying words, his investigation gradually reveals the fascinating portrait of a complex man who rose from obscurity to staggering heights. Though Kane’s friend and colleague Jedediah Leland (Joseph Cotten), and his mistress, Susan Alexander (Dorothy Comingore), shed fragments of light on Kane’s life, the reporter fears he may never penetrate the mystery of the elusive man’s final word, “Rosebud.”
Citizen Kane/Film synopsis
What film techniques are used in Citizen Kane?
Terms in this set (11)
- Deep focus. a new camera lens enabled the camera to keep objects in the foreground and in the distant background in focus at the same time.
- Dissolve.
- Long take.
- Montage.
- Wipe.
- Camera set-up from floor level.
- Covered sets.
- Vertical boom shot.
Why was Citizen Kane so controversial?
It was said Hearst was particularly angry over the movie’s depiction of a character based on his companion, Marion Davies, a former showgirl whom he had helped become a popular Hollywood actress.
What made Citizen Kane so great?
For many critics and film fans, Citizen Kane can lay claim to the title of the greatest movie ever made precisely because, even if only in the form of in-camera effects and a wealthy, lonely anti-villain, Welles’ movie even influenced the direction of Rotten Tomatoes’ highest-rated movie, 2017’s Paddington 2.
Why did Kane’s mother gave him up?
Mrs. Kane makes the extraordinary decision to give her son over to the custody of a banker so that he can be educated. At the end of the film, it is revealed that “Rosebud” is the name of the sled Charles Kane was playing with as a boy on that day that his mother told him she would be sending him away.
What were Citizen Kane’s last words?
Kane’s last word, we learn, was “Rosebud”.
Why does Citizen Kane use deep focus?
Deep focus is especially tricky because movies are two-dimensional, and so you need visual guideposts to determine the true scale of a scene. Toland used this fact as a way to fool the audience’s eye on two delightful occasions in the film.
Was Citizen Kane a flop?
When Citizen Kane finally opened in May 1941, it was a failure at the box office. Although reviews were favorable, and it was nominated for nine Academy Awards, Welles was booed at that year’s Oscar ceremony, and RKO quietly archived the film.
What is considered the greatest movie of all time?
The 100 Greatest Films of All Time
- Vertigo. Alfred Hitchcock, USA 1958.
- Citizen Kane. Orson Welles, USA 1941.
- Tokyo Story. Ozu Yasujiro, Japan 1953.
- La Règle du jeu. Jean Renoir, France 1939.
- Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans. F.W. Murnau, USA 1927.
- 2001: A Space Odyssey.
- The Searchers.
- Man with a Movie Camera.
Why did Kane hate Thatcher?
Kane resents Thatcher for ripping him away from his family, and spends most of his early adult life rebelling against him. To finance the fledgling Inquirer, Kane uses his personal resources, reasoning that this would allow him to operate it, even at a million-dollar annual loss, for 60 years.