As the tagline suggested, Citizen Kane presented Orson Welles in "the movie Hollywood said he'd never make." The year was 1941, the infamous studio system at its height.
And a young gentleman named Orson Welles, all of 25 then, wanted to make movies on his own terms.The maverick had directed his first movie at age 19. After two not-so-memorable attempts at direction, the big break came.
Citizen Kane released without much hype, and the little publicity it got was negative. Most of that coming from erstwhile media tycoon, William Randolph Hearst, on whose life the film is loosely based. It did not particularly help that Citizen Kane was released by financially the shakiest of the Big Five studios of Hollywood - RKO Studios. Hearst was hated, yet favored by many Hollywood actors and directors because he was known to entertain celebrities at 'Hearst Castle', but only as long as they revealed secrets to him that would be published in his paper the following week.
The movie tells the story of Charles Foster Kane, a media tycoon, whose work was born of social service but was steadily transformed into a ruthless pursuit of power. It is rumored that on hearing of the making of the film Hearst offerred $800,000 to RKO Studios to destroy all its prints. He was particularly upset with the portrayal of his mistress. But a headstrong Welles held fort. He even prevented officials from RKO films from visiting his sets. He shot the movie with a cast of debutantes (apparently because no big star wanted to rub Hearst the wrong way) but finally managed to pull it off. Citizen Kane was ready for release. On hearing this, Hearst was so furious, he banned even the mention of the movie in his media conglomerate.
CK was shot principally in flashbacks - one of the earliest movies to do so. As it smoothly glides back and forth in time we get to see some of the most innovative work in camera-effects including the Deep Focus where objects in the background and foreground are seen with equal sharpness. This was done by shooting the foreground first with the background kept dark, then rewinding the reel to shoot again, this time with the background lit and the foreground dark. The two shots would then be pasted over one another. Another innovation was the low-angle camera where the shot would be taken pointing the camera upwards to make the ceiling visible (especially in conversation scenes). This had not been done in movies before because, most sets did not have a ceiling worth shooting.
Although critics gave Citizen Kane a thumbs-up, negative publicity did it in. It wasn't a commercial success - making just enough money to Cover costs. However, when the movie was released in Europe after the Second World War, it gained considerable praise, especially in France. Gradually, an understanding of the movie grew worldwide. Orson Welles lived to see the honour of his masterpiece restored. That's when he made the statement, "I started at the top and spent the rest of my life working my way down."
People, at times, lament that they didn't really 'enjoy' Citizen Kane. Well, in the first place, Citizen Kane is not meant for the average "Dilwale Dulhaniya" moviegoer. Neither is it a classic entertainer like Casablanca or Roman Holiday. It's a lesson in moviemaking. It is meant for those who want to learn how to make movies. To know what Citizen Kane gave the world of moviemaking, on mustn't compare it with movies released hence, as these movies use the very techniques innovated by Welles in his masterpiece. One must compare it to the movies released before it to see the difference.
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