As I understand it, Orson Welles was approached by the RKO studio (who also produced the original KING KONG) after his extremely successful and rather controversial radio play of "War of the Worlds". Welles was then given free range to choose his actors, crew and basically have final cut of his film...
A brave choice for the studio, but they obviously saw something in the 25 yr old (holy fuck I have nothing to show for my life) and he eventually cast himself in the lead role, along with writing and directing responsibilities.
If you're not familiar with the story, it's quite simple... a dying man utters his last word... "Rosebud.." and because this man happened to be like, the richest man in the world... the news is MASSIVE... Enter news reporter Jerry Thompson, who tries to discover who this man was... based on his dying word. The film flashes back to key moments of Kane's life as Thompson interviews key figures from the tycoon's life.
What impressed me most about this movie, was how current it still was. It is simply and purely, classic story-telling. One thing that stood out, was the photography. I remember being back in high school and my teacher telling me stories about how Welles used the camera and the use of focus... At the time I wasn't really interested but I wish now I was paying attention. His use of lighting and technical skills with the camera, I'm assuming would've been quite groundbreaking at the time... The use of low angles in this film resulted in Welles digging a trench in the studio to allow the camera to be right underneath his characters.
Ultimately Kane is a treasure, and if you haven't seen it, I would suggest you get around to it. There are some fascinating stories about the making of this film and included on the DVD is a 2 hour documentary (not viewed) that sheds some light on this film and the man behind it.
Oh, and if you don't know what Rosebud is already... watch the film, it's a rather sweet reveal.
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