Citizen Kane (1941)

Roger Ebert did audio commentary for the DVDs of only six films:

Casablanca (1942)

Dark City (1998)

Crumb (1994)

Floating Weeds (1959)

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970)

Citizen Kane (1941) 

Why just those six? I'd be curious to know, especially because for 30 years, he used to go through movies frame by frame with students at the University of Colorado. I don't know how many of those sessions were recorded, if any. 

Watching the typical "audio commentary" feature on a DVD isn't something I often do, usually because: I've just watched the movie, and I don't have the time or motivation to immediately watch it again with the commentary on. Unfortunately, I find that when I don't watch the commentary immediately after watching the movie, I don't. 

So, when I finished re-watching the film this time, I immediately started watching the Ebert commentary. I watched about the first 25-30 minutes and found it to be excellent. The same DVD also has the Peter Bogdanovich audio commentary. I'd love to watch both, but honestly, it would probably be easier for me if I could just read the transcripts of what each has to say. 

At this point, I've paused listening to Ebert because I want to write up my own thoughts and go to bed. 

Orson Welles is only 25. It's his first film. RKO gave him complete final-cut authority. And this is what he produced. Amazing, of course. And of course he had a great team supporting him. Cinematographer Gregg Toland, genius. Composer Bernard Hermann, genius. And so on. 

Great structure to the film. Beginning with Kane's death. Letting the newsreel "capture" the outline of his life. Then, using his "last words" as the method to trying to understand not just what he did, but who he was, if possible. 

Among viewers, there seems to be debate on what "Rosebud" means, and if it means anything. The movie develops Kane's story through five people who were close to Kane telling what they knew about him. They're not necessarily unreliable narrators, but they all have very limited knowledge about Kane, and the relationship they had with him shapes the way they view him. None of them knew, or could know, what rosebud meant. They seem to conclude his final word meant nothing. 

Rosebud was his childhood sled, a sled he was forced to leave behind. I believe he got another sled for Christmas a little later, but it wasn't his rosebud sled. It was just another sled, and at that point, his childhood had been taken from him. Like I say, none of the people being interviewed can really speak to this, but we do see him removed from his mother and his childhood, and that, to me, is the significance of his final word. 

Kane was an idealist who became cynical over time. He probably did believe in his principles at the beginning, but then what happened? He fell short, as all men do. Did he love his wife? Why did he take a mistress?  When his wife left him, he ended up marrying his mistress. Why? When his ex-wife and son die in a car crash, how did that affect him? Why did he eventually go into seclusion and force his second wife to go into seclusion with him? The movie leaves us with more questions than it answers. Maybe rosebud isn't the key to understanding who Kane was, but Kane does suggest that he might have been happier without the money, and since he's buying and creating a new world with Xanadu, maybe it's simply his search for something he can't get back -- not just his sled, but his childhood... his innocence. 

Great, great movie. #1 of all time? Probably not for me, but I do highly appreciate it. I love the montages; I love how believable Welles is at playing Kane at different ages... this is a movie that makes me wish we couldn't have gotten more out of Welles. Yes, he has a few more films, but it's too bad he didn't direct and/or act in another 50 films. For me, this and The Third Man are enough to secure Welles' greatness, but it would be nice to have a few dozen Welles films of that caliber. 

Rating: 5/5 stars