Citizen Kane is a film that was released in 1941. Described as an American drama, it was directed by Orson Welles, who also starred in it. Even today, moguls in the movie industry consider ‘CK’ to be one the greatest films of all time. It is particularly acclaimed for its narrative technique, music, and its inventive cinematography.

Prior to the making of CK, Orson Welles had been enjoying personal acclaim after his success with the Mercury Players. In 1938 his controversial radio show, War of the Worlds, caught the attention of Hollywood. The film studio, RKO Pictures, subsequently signed a contract with Welles in 1939.

Although he was a complete rookie when it came to directing, the studio gave him free rein to develop a screenplay and to choose the crew and cast. He was even allowed the privilege of ‘final cut’. After making two unsuccessful attempts, he collaborated with Herman Mankiewicz and the screenplay for Citizen Kane was born.

The film was shot in 1940 and released by RKO Pictures in 1941. It was nominated in no less than 9 categories in the Academy Awards. Much to the delight of Welles and Mankiewicz, it won the award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay).

The film is a roman a clef, a story about real events and real people under the disguise of fictional characters. It looks at the life of Charles Foster Kane whose character is based on newspaper mogul, William Randolph Hearst, as well as on Welles’ life. When CK was released, Hearst was so irate that his newspapers were prohibited from even mentioning it.

Kane started a career in the publishing industry because of his journalistic enthusiasm. However, as the years went by, his enthusiasm turned into an unrelenting search for power. CK is narrated with the clever use of flashbacks. The story is uncovered by a reporter who is trying to unravel the mystery of Kane’s one and only dying word – ‘Rosebud’.

Although the film enjoyed critical acclaim, it was a box office flop. It faded into insignificance until, some years later, it caught the attention of French critics. This led to renewed interest and, in 1956, the film enjoyed an amazing American revival. Once again, film critics unofficially agreed it was the greatest film of all time. For the next 50 years, CK remained on all the leading film polls.

The cinematography was seen by film historians and scholars as Welles’ way of creating a new method of film making. The most unique aspect of CK was the prolonged use of deep focusing. In almost every scene, the background, foreground, and all in between, are in focus. This was achieved by the cinematographer after experimenting with lights and lenses.

Another unusual element in the film was the manner in which low angle shots were utilized. This enabled ceilings to be visible in the background of many scenes. Because films were shot on sound stages at the time, it was not possible to show ceilings simply because sound stages had no ceilings.

The crew of Citizen Kane achieved this by draping muslin on the top of the set to create the effect of a room with a ceiling. The microphones were hidden on top of the muslin. Trenches were dug in the floor so that low angle shots could be used in the scene where Kane and Leland meet when after the elections. The role of Kane was played by Welles.

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