Classical Hollywood Cinema: The “Citizen Kane” Film Essay

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Introduction

Citizen Kane, the first movie made by famous director Orson Welles and possibly his best work, came out in the theatres in 1942. The film is loosely based on real-life newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, who was very against the movie. The movie’s theme centralizes on the complications of assessing one’s life after their death. Its genre, however, is a drama, as it is centered on the more tragic and negative aspects of life. It accentuates the negative consequences of the misconception that money provides people with good things. The movie’s best aspects are its plot structure, cinematography, story, and editing, which made it one of the most iconic movies of all time.

Although it bombed at the box office, the film was relatively well received by the Academy Awards, earning nine nominations. The screenplay was written by Herman Mankiewicz, who also won for his black-and-white biopic, Mank, and Orson Welles, and they took home the award for best screenplay (Bordwell & Thompson, 2012). The film was almost forgotten until around ten years later when it was widely shown worldwide to acclaim from reviewers, including the great French film critic Andre Bazin.

The movie rapidly rose to the top of the charts, earning a place among the best films of all time and holding the number one spot for several decades. However, after nearly a century, most people still have not watched this movie. This leads them to wonder why Citizen Kane is considered the best movie. The two reasons that stand out for the film are the cinematography and the editing and structure of the work (Bordwell & Thompson, 2012). These were influential in developing new cinematic methods and editing styles that would shape the medium for decades.

The Structure and Editing of Citizen Kane

Before Citizen Kane, most films had rather conventional, linear plots. They moved forward in time with the main characters as they went from one event to the next (Bordwell & Thompson, 2012). However, Citizen Kane took a different tack to tell the story of Charles Foster Kane, Orson Welles using a non-linear narrative structure that reflected the perspectives of the persons who knew Kane best. This was a completely original approach to filming as a kind of narrative. One that can, and has, depicted its Macguffin with remarkable fidelity.

Welles can also be recognized by advancing a concept forerunner to contemporary Green. Such seemingly mundane scenes as a man peering down at a stage are, in fact, the result of some deft editing. Everything on the left is added in post-production, including the stage, the large portrait of Kane, the chairs, and the audience (Bordwell & Thompson, 2012). On the right was a man who seemed to be staring into nothing more than the void. After that, a second stage footage clip was added in post-production. Later, this method was utilized repeatedly to build the film’s more challenging and costly set pieces.

Moreover, Orson Welles promoted the concept of montage, which is Sergei Eisenstein’s technique, as a means of showing a sequence of images simultaneously. The narrator tells about Kane’s personal life and unsuccessful marriage to Emily in one of the POVs of the movie. To show the breakdown of their marriage, Welles implements a montage of the two having breakfast, instead of using long scenes (Bordwell & Thompson, 2012). As their relationship deteriorates, they become more and more distant around the breakfast table. Due to this, Welles was able to use the remaining running time for other sequences, and he was able to incorporate lovely symbolism for the passage of time and an honest but depressing portrayal of marriage.

The Cinematography of Citizen Kane

Gregg Toland is credited for being one of the best cinematographers with his extraordinary work on Citizen Kane, receiving an Oscars nomination in the category. The opening sequences depicting Charles Foster Kane’s death have stood out the most, both to audiences and over time (Bordwell & Thompson, 2012). Toland and his crew opted for a fish-eye lens to capture Kane’s final moments with the snow globe he held in his palm as he slowly passed away. As he goes by, Kane accidentally breaks the snow globe, revealing his body to one of his caregivers.

Toland acquired specialized lenses and equipment to enable his use of deep-focus photography techniques. In that age of Hollywood, using deep focus (which made practically everything in the camera’s vision apparent) was extremely rare (Bordwell & Thompson, 2012). Toland and special effects cinematographer Linwood Dunn sometimes composited two frames into one to create the illusion of deep focus, even though only a small fraction of the film used deep focus.

Classical Hollywood is known for various features in such aspects as the plot and camera angles. As mentioned earlier, most movies during followed a linear plot (OpenALG, 2020). Although it is one of the definitive features of this style, Citizen Kane does not conform to it, as it uses a non-linear plot. However, there is one feature that it does follow, which is the use of low angle camera shots as a means of demonstrating the character’s power and mystery (Canvas, 2018). Thus, the movie’s conformity towards the characteristics of the style is rather ambiguous.

Conclusion

Citizen Kane is recognized for many things, including its excellent storytelling. Still, its story and plot structure, editing, and cinematography set it apart to be called the best movie of all time. Generally speaking, Citizen Kane is famous for multiple achievements, including storytelling. Although this position has been visibly rocked in recent years, it is progressively being replaced by the techniques and styles that it originated and improved. These techniques and styles revolutionized the film industry and the film itself for the remainder of its history.

References

Bordwell, D., & Thompson, K. (2012). Film art: An introduction (10th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.

Canvas. (2018). Classical Hollywood Cinema: Style. Web.

OpenALG. (2020). . Web.

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IvyPanda. 2023. "Classical Hollywood Cinema: The "Citizen Kane" Film." December 27, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/classical-hollywood-cinema-the-citizen-kane-film/.

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