`KANE' ARCANA

`Rosebud": The most famous word in the history of cinema. Itexplains everything, and nothing. Who, for that matter, actuallyheard Charles Foster Kane say it before he died? The butler says,late in the film, that he did. But Kane seems to be alone when hedies, and the reflection on the shard of glass from the brokenpaperweight shows the nurse entering the room.

Gossip has it that the screenwriter, Herman J. Mankiewicz,used "rosebud" as an inside joke, because as a friend of Hearst'smistress, Marion Davies, he knew "rosebud" was the old man's pet namefor the most intimate part of her anatomy.

Deep focus: Everyone knows that Orson Welles and cinematographerGregg Toland used deep focus in "Kane." But what is deep focus, andwere they using it for the first time? The term refers to a strategyof lighting, composition and lens choice that allows everything inthe frame, from the front to the back, to be in focus at the sametime. With the lighting and lenses available in 1941, this was justbecoming possible, and Toland had experimented with the technique inJohn Ford's "The Long Voyage Home" a few years earlier.

In most movies, the key elements in the frame are in focus,and those closer or farther away may not be. When everything is infocus, the filmmakers must give a lot more thought to how they directthe viewer's attention, first here and then there. What the Frenchcall mise en scene - the movement within the frame - becomes moreimportant.

Optical illusions: Deep focus is especially tricky becausemovies are two-dimensional, and so you need visual guideposts todetermine the true scale of a scene. Toland used this fact as a wayto fool the audience's eye on two delightful occasions in the film.

One comes when Kane is signing away control of his empire inThatcher's office. Behind him on the wall are windows that look ofnormal size and height. Then Kane starts to walk into the backgroundof the shot, and we realize with surprise that the windows are huge,and their lower sills are more than 6 feet above the floor. As Kanestands under them, he is dwarfed - which is indeed appropriate, sincehe has just lost great power. Later in the film, Kane walks over tostand in front of the great fireplace in Xanadu, and we realize it,too, is much larger than it first seemed.

Visible ceilings: In almost all movies before "CitizenKane," you couldn't see the ceilings in rooms because there weren'tany. That's where you would see the lights and microphones. Welleswanted to use a lot of low-angle shots that would look up towardceilings, and so Toland devised a strategy of cloth ceilings thatlooked real but were not. The microphones were hidden immediatelyabove the ceilings, which in many shots are noticeably low.

Matte drawings: These are drawings by artists used to createelements that aren't really there. Often, they are combined with"real" foregrounds. The opening and closing shots of Kane's greatcastle, Xanadu, are examples. No exterior set was ever built for thestructure. Instead, artists drew it, and used lights behind it tosuggest Kane's bedroom window. "Real" foreground details such asKane's lagoon and private zoo were added.

Invisible wipes: A "wipe" is a visual effect that wipes oneimage off the screen while wiping another into view. Invisible wipesdisguise themselves as something else on the screen that seems to bemoving, so you aren't aware of the effect. They are useful in"wiping" from full-scale sets to miniature sets.

For example: One of the most famous shots in "Kane" shows SusanAlexander's opera debut, when, as she starts to sing, the cameramoves straight up to a catwalk high above the stage, and onestagehand turns to another and eloquently reviews her performance byholding his nose. Only the stage and the stagehands on the catwalkare real. The middle portion of this seemingly unbroken shot is aminiature, built in the RKO model workshop. The model is invisiblywiped in by the stage curtains, as we move up past them, and wipedout by a wooden beam right below the catwalk. Another example: InWalter Thatcher's library, the statue of Thatcher is a drawing, andas the camera pans down, it wipes out the drawing as it wipes in theset of the library.

Invisible furniture moving: In the early scene in the Kane'scabin in Colorado, the camera tracks back from a window to a tablewhere Kane's mother is being asked to sign a paper. The cameratracks right through where the table would be, after which it isslipped into place before we can see it. But a hat on the table isstill trembling from the move. After she signs the paper, the camerapulls up and follows her as she walks back toward the window. If youlook sharply, you can see that she's walking right through where thetable was a moment before.

The neatest flash-forward in "Kane": Between Thatcher's words"Merry Christmas" and " . . . a very Happy New Year," two decadespass.

From model to reality: As the camera swoops above the nightclub and through the skylight to discover Susan Alexander Kanesitting forlornly at a table, it goes from a model of the nightclubroof to a real set. The switch is concealed, the first time, by alightning flash. The second time we go to the nightclub, it's donewith a dissolve.

Crowd scenes: There aren't any in "Citizen Kane": It onlylooks like there are. In the opening newsreel, stock footage of apolitical rally is intercut with a low-angle shot showing one manspeaking on behalf of Kane. Sound effects make it sound like he's ata big outdoor rally. Later, Kane himself addresses a gigantic indoorrally. Kane and the other actors on the stage are real. Theaudience is a miniature, with flickering lights to suggest movement.

Slight factual discrepancies: In the opening newsreel, Xanadu isdescribed as being "on the desert coast of Florida." But Floridadoes not have a desert coast, as you can plainly see during thepicnic scene, where footage from an earlier RKO prehistoric adventurewas back-projected behind the actors, and if you look closely, thatseems to be a pterodactyl flapping its wings.

The Luce connection: Although "Citizen Kane" was widely seenas an attack on William Randolph Hearst, it was also aimed at HenryR. Luce and his concept of faceless group journalism, as thenevidenced by his Time magazine and "March of Time" newsreels. Theopening "News on the March" segment is a deliberate parody of theLuce newsreel, and the reason you can never see the faces of any ofthe journalists is that Welles and Mankiewicz were kidding with theidea of the anonymity of Luce's writers and editors.

An extra with a future: Alan Ladd can be glimpsed in theopening newsreel sequence, and again in the closing warehouse scene.

The most thankless job on the movie: It went to WilliamAlland, who plays Mr. Thompson, the journalist assigned to track downthe meaning of "Rosebud." He is always seen from behind, or inback-lit profile. You can never see his face. At the movie's worldpremiere, Alland told the audience he would turn his back so theycould recognize him more easily.

The brothel scene: It couldn't be filmed. In the originalscreenplay, after Kane hires away the staff members of the Chronicle,he takes them to a brothel. The Production Code office wouldn'tallow that. So the scene, slightly changed, takes place in theInquirer newsroom, still with the dancing girls.

The eyeless cockatoo: Yes, you can see right through theeyeball of the shrieking cockatoo, in the scene before the big fightbetween Kane and Susan. It's a mistake.

The most evocative shot in the movie: There are many can didates. My choice is the shot showing an infinity of Kanesreflected in mirrors as he walks past.

The best speech in "Kane": My favorite is delivered by Mr.Bernstein (Everett Sloane), when he is talking about the magic ofmemory with the inquiring reporter:

"A fellow will remember a lot of things you wouldn't thinkhe'd remember. You take me. One day, back in 1896, I was crossingover to Jersey on the ferry, and as we pulled out, there was anotherferry pulling in, and on it there was a girl waiting to get off. Awhite dress she had on. She was carrying a white parasol. I onlysaw her for one second. She didn't see me at all, but I'll bet amonth hasn't gone by since, that I haven't thought of that girl."

Genuine modesty: In the movie's credits, Welles allowed hisdirector's credit and Toland's cinematography credit to appear on thesame card - an unprecedented gesture that indicated how gratefulWelles was.

False modesty: In the unique end credits, the members of theMercury Company are introduced and seen in brief moments from themovie. Then smaller parts are handled with a single card containingmany names. The final credit down at the bottom, in small type, sayssimply:

Kane: Orson Welles.