This is an annotated bibliography containing sources relevant to Orson Welles' classic film "Citizen Kane." The sources cited, when read together, provide a more thorough understanding of the film with a specific focus on the historical circumstances surrounding the film, including information about Welles' early career and the conflict that arose over the film between Welles and newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst. Also, the evidence compiled here could be used to make a compelling argument that the success of Citizen Kane was not merely a function of Welles' individual genius, but a collaborative effort of brilliant creative minds combined with unprecedented levels of media attention surrounding the film before its release.

Carringer, Robert L. "Citizen Kane." Journal of Aesthetic Education 9 (1975): 32-49. JStor. 8 Apr. 2008.

This article gives a great summary of many different issues surrounding the making of Citizen Kane, including the life of the major creative agents of the film, insight into the back story of William Randolph Hearst, and the historical significance of the film. The article begins with a characterization of Welles’ style as a director, mentioning that though this film initially has many of the elements of a traditional Hollywood film, the way in which Welles incorporates many different techniques in ways previously unseen makes this film groundbreaking and timeless. It further mentions some of the events in Welles’ life that led to the making of the film, the roles that writer Herman Mankiewicz and composer Bernard Hermann played in the film, and briefly discusses the role that Hearst played in unwillingly inspiring the character of Kane. Perhaps most importantly, this article does a great job of comparing this film to other work that Welles did following Citizen Kane and pointing out trends in Welles’ style as a director and as an actor.

This article is relevant to the film because it does an excellent job of tying together the many different elements that shaped Citizen Kane and outlining the significance that many different people played in the creation of this film. For one, this article gave insight into how Welles’ previous experiences on the stage and in radio inspired him to make this film and suggests that he may not have been as ‘solely responsible’ as he came to suggest. Lastly, this article touched upon Welles interactions with the major film studios during the making of this film and his subsequent tumbling from success, starting with the making of The Magnificent Ambersons.

Salt, Barry. "Film Style and Technology in the Forties." Film Quarterly 31 (1977): 46-57. JStor. 9 Apr. 2008.

This article discusses the technical side of films in the late 1930s through the end of the 1940s and gives great insight into what was common technique in the era and what was groundbreaking in terms of filmic technique and style. There is a large segment of the article dedicated to the style and technique used in Citizen Kane, with special attention given to Gregg Toland - the cinematographer of Citizen Kane who was largely responsible for the look and feel of the film through his use of special lighting techniques and coated lenses.

Specifically, Gregg Toland was responsible for innovating techniques to increase the range of objects that were in focus in any given shot – a technique called deep-focus. The prevalent use of deep-focus shots throughout the film was rare for its time, and as such Citizen Kane is often credited for starting the trend of heavy use of deep focus with more shallow focus limited to certain close shots in films since. Furthermore, the use of wide angle lenses to give more dynamic framing to the characters was innovative in this film, and is believed to have heavily influenced the look of The Maltese Falcon less than a year later.

Lastly, this article mentions that the average shot length in Citizen Kane is not significantly longer than other films of the period, even though this is not commonly believed to be the case. Citizen Kane has an A.S.L. of about 12 seconds, compared to an average A.S.L. for other films of the period, and Kane only has a few shots that last up near 2 minutes.

 

This is a great source that gives the reader the opportunity to see Welles, as himself, talking objectively about the projects in his life that immediately follow the completion of Citizen Kane, including his return to England, a few of his subsequent projects in cinema, and his return to the theatre. This article is particularly interesting because, in contrast to other sources explored in this project, it captures Welles in a period when he is coming down from the rush of his early career. Here, Welles was just finishing a film version of Shakespeare’s Othello after his financial backers abandoned him and he decided to pour much of his own money into the project to ensure its completion. As a result, Welles expresses a great deal of frustration with the film industry and, somewhat sarcastically questions whether the effort required to make a film is actually worth it to express one’s vision.

Also, this interview gives some insight into the mind of Welles that is quite surprising considering his great success with Citizen Kane. Such surprising insight includes Welles’ comment that “I definitely prefer to act on the stage than before the camera… Even so, I prefer acting to directing, and I prefer writing to anything.” This seems somewhat counterintuitive considering the role Welles played as the director and lead actor in Citizen Kane and the fact that, by many accounts, he played a lesser role in the actual writing of the screenplay. Welles takes this point further by explaining that he thinks that critics in general pay too much attention to the visual elements of a film and do not consider heavily the story, which is also surprising considering the acclaim Kane received for its visual perfection.

Churchill, Douglas. "ORSON WELLES SCARES HOLLYWOOD :His 'Citizen Kane' Draws the Fire of W.R. Hearst, and Thereby Hangs a Tale -- the Hays Censors Ride Again." New York Times 19 Jan. 1941. ProQuest. 9 Apr. 2008

This is an original article published in the heat of the controversy over the release of Citizen Kane when it is still uncertain what action William Randolph Hearst will take against Welles, RKO, and even Hollywood as an institution if the film was released. The article outlines the development in the first ten days of the controversy, and at that time, it was entirely uncertain whether or not Welles’ film would reach an audience.

According to the article, at this point William Randolph Hearst had threatened all of Hollywood with some “embarrassing publicity” and had already launched several private investigations into some of the major individuals responsible for the film, including Welles and the head of RKO. Hearst also mandated that all of his Hearst publications delete any and all mention of RKO and its product from its columns as a result of the controversy. Furthermore, as the result of Hearst’s threats against RKO and those that supported the film’s release, it is suggested in this article that some major players in Hollywood were considering turning against the film out of fear of retribution. This would pose further problems to RKO due to needed cooperation between studios in order to survive in Hollywood, claims the article.

"Radio Listeners in Panic, Taking War Drama as Fact." New York Times 31 Oct. 1938. ProQuest. 9 Apr. 2008.

This is an original article in the New York Times from 1938 that describes the widespread panic that follows Orson Welles radio show version of H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds on Halloween 1938. In the radio show, Orson Welles had done an entire show pretending that aliens had landed in New Jersey and were causing mass destruction throughout New Jersey and New York. Even though the radio station made several announcements to the effect that the show was just a performance, thousands upon thousands of people in the Northeast called their local authorities genuinely terrified and wondering what they could do to protect themselves and their families. Upon being reassured that the show was just a performance, many citizens did not know who to believe – Welles or the police. The telephone companies reported that they had never been so overrun with calls and streets all over New York and New Jersey were flooded with people running aimlessly with wet towels over their mouths trying to protect themselves from the alleged toxic gas.

This article is relevant to Citizen Kane because, aside from Citizen Kane, this stunt was perhaps Welles’ most renowned creative work and is a sort of tribute to his ability as an actor and his talents at emotionally affecting people. Even though the radio show ended up causing mass panic throughout much of New York and New Jersey, and even resulted in a number of people needing treatment for hysteria, Welles had never anticipated the effect his show would have, saying they almost didn’t do the stunt because they thought people would be too bored with something so unbelievable.

 

Carringer, Robert L. "Rosebud, Dead or Alive: Narrative and Symbolic Structure in Citizen." PMLA 91 (1976): 185-193. JStor. 9 Apr. 2008.

This article delves deeply into the role that Rosebud plays in the film, and challenges the significance of the sled as an important element of the story. On face value, the sled is the object that Thompson is out to find from the very beginning, and it can be interpreted at face value as a symbol of innocence lost, as could be suggested by Kane’s own quips about how “if I hadn't been very rich, I might have been a really great man.” However, this article delves far deeper and claims that there is much evidence to suggest that the sled is merely what Hitchcock came to call a MacGuffin – effectively an item of little intrinsic value to the story that allows the characters to stay motivated in their actions. The author sites as evidence the numerous changes between the original script and the final version of the film that steer the film away from focusing on Rosebud as a solution and play up the idea that, as Thompson suggests, that Rosebud is simply one piece in the very complicated portrait of Kane. Furthermore, we are reminded in this article that the character who associated the most importance to Rosebud in the first place, Thompson’s boss, is little more than a mockery of the typical Hollywood producer focused more on “angles” and “gimmicks” than he is about the truth.

Meanwhile, the author asserts that the object to which we should attach far more importance is the little snow globe in the beginning of the film. Kane was a rich man his entire life and worked ardently to craft for himself a world that suited him. He was displeased with the way that things were done, and used his power and influence to create his own world, as is found inside the snow globe, which was ultimately smashed into a number of pieces of glass, representing the different pieces of him that people saw.

Perez, Louis. "The Meaning of the Maine: Causation and the Historiography of the Spanish-American War." The Pacific Historical Review 58 (1989): 293-322. JStor. 8 Apr. 2008.

This article examines the causes of the Spanish-American War and the role that the sinking of the Maine battleship off the coast of Havana played in motivating the United States to enter into the war. The article cites many historians and military experts who seem to concur that the United States started the Spanish-American war largely because of the sinking of the battleship, which was attributed by many to foul play on the part of the Spanish. This opinion that Spain was to blame for deliberately sinking our ship near Havana was largely adopted by the public as a result of so-called “yellow journalism” on the part of William Randolph Hearst and his paper, New York Journal, along with competing newspaper New York World. In what many consider to have been sensationalist attempts to increase newspaper distribution, both of these papers and others across the United States motivated public outcry that left the government no choice but to declare war on Spain.

This is relevant to Citizen Kane because the film’s namesake, Charles Foster Kane, was based largely in part on the real-life newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, and Hearst went to great lengths to limit the release of Citizen Kane because of the unflattering way in which he was portrayed in the film. Perhaps the most memorable example of how Citizen Kane made Hearst look bad was the way in which Kane seemed to take great pleasure in instigating the war with Spain in the film. He famously dictated: “Dear Wheeler: you provide the prose poems. I'll provide the war,” and this article gives more insight into the real story behind Hearst and the Spanish-American war.

Ultimately, the chapter continues, Schaeffer holds a meeting outlining the importance of refusing Hearst’s offer and releasing what he expects may be the highest grossing movie of all time, as no film had ever received so much pre-release publicity.

Kosovsky, Robert. "[Untitled]." Rev. of Citizen Kane, the Magnificent Ambersons, by Bernard Hermann. American Music: 221-227.

 

Citizen Kane was the first film project on which Academy Award winning composer Bernard Hermann worked, and the music he created played an integral role in defining the characters of the film and crafting Citizen Kane as a creative work. This article explains the role that Bernard Hermann played in making Citizen Kane a great film, the relationship between Hermann and Welles, and explains the technical side of how Hermann made the different “cues” for the film.

As is mentioned in the article, Hermann and Welles both worked on radio in their early careers, where Hermann composed and arranged upwards of 2,500 shows for CBS. This is where Welles and Hermann met, both exploring their respective arts and collaborating occasionally on shows, including Welles’ famous rendition of War of the Worlds that sent thousands of people across the United States into hysterics. When Welles got his first film deal to make Citizen Kane, he insisted upon having Hermann do the music, giving Hermann his first opportunity to compose for a film. Hermann proved to be exceptional in this and his future projects because while he understood that the primary role of a film score was to complement the visuals of the film, his extensive experience in radio ensured that his scores could act as standalone pieces, as well.

Also, the article discusses the technical side of composing for cinema, explaining how Hermann used “leitmotifs” – a kind of recurring musical motif in reference to a character, location, or theme – to strengthen the relationship between the score and the visuals, creating leitmotifs for many of the films key players, Rosebud, and the various mental states that Kane experienced throughout the film.