THE ASTOR REVIEW

Orson Welles’ greatest achievement and a landmark of cinema history. The story charts the rise and fall of a newspaper publisher whose wealth and power ultimately isolates him in his castle-like refuge. The film’s protagonist, Charles Foster Kane, was based on a composite of billionaire Howard Hughes and newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, so much so that Hearst tried to have the film suppressed. Every aspect of the production marked an advance in film language: the deep focus and deeply shadowed cinematography, the discontinuous narrative, relying heavily on flashbacks and newsreel footage, (edited by Robert Wise) the innovative use of sound and score (music by Bernard Herrmann). Every moment of the film, every shot, has been choreographed to perfection. The film is essential viewing, quite possibly the greatest film ever made and, along with THE BIRTH OF A NATION, certainly the most influential. GF

IMDB SYNOPSIS

A group of reporters who are trying to decipher the last word ever spoke by Charles Foster Kane, the millionaire newspaper tycoon: Rosebud. The film begins with a news reel detailing Kane's life for the masses, and then from there, we are shown flashbacks from Kane's life. As the reporters investigate further, the viewers see a display of a fascinating man's rise to fame, and how he eventually fell off the top of the world.