Citizen Kane

Rating Scale

My rating scale will be from 0 to 10 at .5 increments so it will start at 0 then the next rank is .5, 1, 1.5 and so on until 9.5, and finally 10. I will judge based on acting performance, graphics (for the time), genre (it has to appeal to a wide group of people), and the plot. All of these will be taken into consideration as I give my score.

Citizen Kane

What can be said about the infamous or famous mister Kane? Well in my opinion the acting wasn’t the greatest like the dimwitted Susan Alexander Kane (played by Dorithy Cormingore) who struck me as too gullible to exist. The directing by Orsen Welles was okay and the plot was excellent in my opinion. The plot always left you thinking. Then to top it off there was some excellent cinematography going on in this movie. I will give citizen Kane a 7.5 out of 10.

Acting:

• The acting in this movie left me a little depressed I just wasn’t convinced that they were playing their parts at their best. Like I mention earlier Susan was depressing, not in the actual depressed sense either. She had no idea who Kane was even though he was a millionaire, was in the paper numerous times, owned a large paper, and was running for governor of her state. Now this could be a plot issue or a directing problem but I think she took the meaning of being unaware way too seriously. She was nearly, "…everything [I] would have hated]." Then there was Charles Foster Kane (Orsen Welles) who was convincing at times and less in others. For example when Kane was with his wife and it doesn’t matter which one because he was the same in both marriages. He seemed a little absentminded and I don’t think he took it seriously, while when conflicts arose like with Leland. I never questioned his identity. These are just a few reasons I questioned his acting.
  

Plot:

• Oh my lanta the plot was great and almost reached the Rhett Butler "level". You see happy endings are nice and belong in some movies like any Disney movies, however; the real world isn’t always happy and for there to be an ending like this just makes me laugh myself into tears. Mostly because everyone wants a happy ending, and I’m that one guy everybody hates because I’m waiting for something tragic and terrible to happen. Then when it finally does happen in a movie I become happy and everybody else is mad and says this movie was terrible. When in truth it was quite good because they enjoyed everything up to the ending. I mean who doesn’t love watching a child defend himself from an adult with a sled? Then as Kane got older he did things that made everyone else mad. People could relate to it because he did whatever he wanted too due to the fact he had the money. Like he said, "…and I plan on losing another million next year. You know, Mr. Thatcher, at the rate of a million dollars a year, I’ll have to close this place in… 60 years." That is nearly everyone’s dream, to do whatever they want without worry. Then to finish with the sled being rosebud was marvelous because it did represent the story of Kaner’s life. I give the plot 10 out of 10, just a superb story.
  

Symbolism:

• I know I didn’t mention it in my introduction but I feel the need to address it. The symbolism in the movie was fantastic not only were there object but the words were also symbols. Take "rosebud" for example. It represented Kane who never had a chance to blossom and the sled which was where he parted ways with the chance to lead a normal life. Then there were the big posters which in my opinion represented a Hitler mentality. He wanted everyone to love him and follow him just like Hitler there was no room for anyone else. It was to be on his terms and that was final. Then there were the statues which could have represented many things. It could represent friends he never had, an empire that he could control completely, or an insanely crazy love for statues. Then lets not forget the snow globe, which represented his house when he was a child. It was his only safe place.
  

• Finally, to wrap this saga all together. I was a little disappointed in the mom, I think she just didn’t love Charles and his dad was the one who really loved him. The symbolism and plot was excellent, bravo. How many stories turn out to be about a sled? Just awesome! As I mentioned earlier I questioned the ability of certain characters for the play but I’m sure they did the best they could. Overall the movie was well designed and kept people interested when they examined memories of people by going into flashbacks. This was an interesting film and honestly was one I wouldn’t have thought to choose. The name alone sounds boring until you get into it and realize its really quite something.