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Citizen Kane


The final version of the breakfast scene shows them not talking to one another at all and reading newspapers---Kane is reading the newspaper that he publishes and his wife is reading the rival newspaper. What a wonderful way of communicating a tremendous amount about his principal character in just a few brief moments. That is what great movie making is all about. It is more than words; it is a visual art form. Yes, words are usually necessary; however, it is far more important how you use silence, how you juxtapose and cut from one scene to the next---and Wells taught us all how he was a master at using film.
             There are many other examples of these techniques throughout the movie. When Kane, Leland and Bernstein are looking at the picture of the rival Chronicle's reporters in the window, for instance - the camera moves closer to the photo, then we hear Kane's voice saying that six years ago he was looking at this picture. Suddenly he walks across the screen. The photo has become reality - Kane has bought the Chronicle's reporters for the Inquirer and there they sit, six years later, having their picture taken at a celebration. This sequence employs a similar compression of time and combines it with a visual trick which is amusing in its very artificiality - or rather its theatricality. The audience laughs not only at the fact that Kane has bought out the competition, but at the technique itself, the audio and visual switcheroo with which Welles makes his point. .
             In the scene where Kane meets Susan Alexander for the first time we can see how the elements of the film are made to work on different levels. Kane talks about going to visit the warehouse where his mother's things are stored. At one point, Susan says, "Well, you know how mothers are," and we see Kane saying "Yes" very softly. At the same time the musical theme for the scene is the same as that for the scene where Kane's mother signs him away to Thatcher, except quieter.


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