my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Community   » Film-Yak   » Citizen Kane: Is it wrecked if you know the ending? (Page 1)

This topic comprises 2 pages: 1  2

Author Topic: Citizen Kane: Is it wrecked if you know the ending? Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-10-2014 02:13 PM                        So I've never seen "Citizen Kane" and I keep reading about how it's the best movie in the history of movies, so I would like to see it, but I've heard thousands of times over the years about how the word "Rosebud" is whispered at the end, and it refers to a sled, and so on. My question: Is the movie ruined by me knowing this info? Am I going to watch it and say "That's IT? WTF?" Or will it still be a worthwhile investment of time to watch it? I know if you watched "The Sixth Sense" knowing the ending, it would spoil that movie, so...  |  IP: Logged Rick Raskin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1100 From: Manassas Virginia Registered: Jan 2003 posted 03-10-2014 02:31 PM                     I don't think knowing Rosebud will ruin it for you. The movie is far more involved than that.  |  IP: Logged Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 03-10-2014 02:45 PM                    You know how Hitch spoke of his movies having a "MacGuffin," the thing that was the center of everyone's attention? Well, Rosebud is sort of a MacGuffin for this film. The search for what it meant ends up telling the story but it, itself is sort of meaningless. BTW, as Kane is to some extent about William Randolph Hearst, it is said that "Rosebud" was his nickname for a certain part of the anatomy of his mistress, actress Marion Davies.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 03-10-2014 02:55 PM                     I don't think knowing the significance of what "Rosebud" meant would ruin the entire movie. It does give away an important reveal in Kane's character. There is more to how that part of the story is resolved. Citizen Kane is indeed one of the greatest movies ever made. However, I do not expect someone watching the movie for the first time in this current time to come away thinking it was a really kick ass movie. People who really know film history will have a far greater appreciation of Citizen Kane than any average viewer who rarely if ever watches classic movies. Citizen Kane is one of the most innovative and extremely influential movies ever made. The movie did a lot to re-write the "language" of film making. Citizen Kane was Orsen Welles first feature film and he was only 25 when he co-wrote and directed it.  |  IP: Logged Edward Havens Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 614 From: Los Angeles, CA Registered: Mar 2008 posted 03-10-2014 02:59 PM                     Rosebud is, as Hitchcock coined, a MacGuffin. The movie uses Rosebud as a device to propel the story forward, but it's not really integral. Knowing what Rosebud going in should not hurt your viewing expereince, but it being THE MOST IMPORTANT MOVIE EVER MADE might hurt your viewing experience if you put too much expectation on it. Just try to watch it with an open mind, and if you don't like it, that's cool too.  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 03-10-2014 03:32 PM                        quote: Edward Havens but it being THE MOST IMPORTANT MOVIE EVER MADE might hurt your viewing experience I can't tell you how many movies have left me disappointed after watching them with the knowledge of their greatness. This is especially the case when watching movies years, or decades, after they came out. Seeing a movie out of context, changes the whole experience of the movie. In the case of movies that were revolutionary for some technical reason, the whole experience can change after seeing the technical "trick" employed in many other movies that followed. For example, how much different would it be watching The Matrix for the first time today - 15 years after it was released. Fortunately it's a good movie regardless of the technical wizardry, but the various camera tricks would seem kind of tired today.  |  IP: Logged Mark Ogden Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 943 From: Little Falls, N.J. Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-10-2014 03:42 PM                     If for no other reason, see it for the cinematography. Gregg Toland was a master of lighting, composition and use of focus. Wells considered him so important to the picture that he gave him equal credit. Truth be told, though, the film isn't holding up well. It was seen as pretty significant when in the latest "Sight and Sound" critics poll, it was knocked off the top by Vertigo. It's awfully theatrical and a little over the top at times, but still important to the history of cinema. The most important movie ever made? Well, except for Birth of a Nation, Sunset, The Last Laugh, The Passion of Joan of Arc, Battleship Potemkin, Breathless and a few more, all of which were more influential than Kane ever was.  |  IP: Logged Justin Hamaker Film God Posts: 2253 From: Lakeport, CA USA Registered: Jan 2004 posted 03-10-2014 03:46 PM                        As for the most important movie ever made, what about more modern movies for their impact on animation and technical achievements. Star Wars, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Toy Story, The Polar Express, The Lord of the Rings, Avatar, etc.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 03-10-2014 03:55 PM                     I think Citizen Kane is a great movie just in terms of the conventional story. The movie does have some great lines, none of which I'll repeat here until Mike watches it. Film buffs who like watching lots of movies from the 1930's and 1940's could go into a lot of detail in how Citizen Kane threw out a lot of film making conventions. Lots of movies from the 1920's and 1930's were shot as if they were viewing a stage play. Lots of static, eye-level conventional camera angles. You almost never saw the ceilings in a set. The cinematography, lighting and production design of Citizen Kane was very expressive. High depth of field "deep focus" cinematography was becoming possible. The story had a layered, non-linear narrative -not a simple beginning, middle and end. One obvious bit of style: Citizen Kane is the first movie I know of that simply flashed the title only at the beginning and got into the movie, leaving all the credits for the end. Movies like Star Wars, Robocop and many other contemporary movies revived that style. Citizen Kane is available on DVD and Blu-ray in numerous editions. The physical disc versions have some great extras (documentaries, informative commentary tracks, etc.). If you have Amazon Prime you can stream Citizen Kane (and a LOT of other classic movies) for free. The video quality probably won't be on par with the physical discs though.  |  IP: Logged Frank Cox Film God Posts: 2234 From: Melville Saskatchewan Canada Registered: Apr 2011 posted 03-10-2014 04:45 PM                        I personally prefer the older style of movie credits where they give you the title, a few screens of credits and then the action starts. At the end, it's THE END, and we're all done here folks. That style provides some discipline in terms of how many credits they could put on-screen, unlike today's 20-minute credit roll at the end of the movie. And people actually saw those credits. 100% of the audience is long gone down the street and probably working on their second beer by the time the credits finish scrolling on most of the movies that I play here. I really don't see the point of having a million credits on the end of a movie when almost nobody will see them anyway. And even if you're one of the extremely rare people who sits through them, who could actually read and understand that wall-of-text when they put 20 names at a time on-screen for five seconds per card anyway?  |  IP: Logged Rick Raskin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1100 From: Manassas Virginia Registered: Jan 2003 posted 03-10-2014 05:10 PM                     There is a famous tracking shot near the beginning of the film where the camera moves along a rooftop then drops down a skylight into the cavernous interior of the mansion. It really was a departure from the standards of the day (as Bobby mentioned above). Is it the best film ever made? Probably not, but it was one of those discussed and screened in a college course I took called "The Art of the film".  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-10-2014 05:41 PM                     One of the shots of Xanadu was actually a process shot from King Kong the famous shot of the long pan and then down through the skylight was also interesting as it was a minature shot as well  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-10-2014 06:19 PM                        The problem with watching Citizen Kane now is that everything in it is a cliche. It wasn't at the time, but that's what happens after 70 years of being the most influential movie in history. Nonetheless, watch it.  |  IP: Logged Pravin Ratnam Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 844 From: Atlanta, GA,USA Registered: Sep 2002 posted 03-10-2014 06:56 PM                     Rosebud was a bigger deal decades ago. But so many movies have borrowed that concept of a powerful guy yearning for something trivial but sentimental from his old simple life that it really won't be a big part of your enjoyment of the movie. So go ahead and watch it. And don't even worry about Rosebud. Enjoy the great filmmaking and acting.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 03-10-2014 07:47 PM                     And don't watch it at home. Run it at the Roxy!  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 2 pages: 1  2

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.