istic nature, with characters talking simultaneously
and often trailing off into silence without finishing sentences. The ending of the script is
also somewhat unusual, "[departing] somewhat the usual practice of the classical
Hollywood narrative by leaving some motivations ambiguous",[3] not least the fact that
the full significance of 'rosebud'[4] is never fully explained. These are all traits that were
relatively uncommon in the classical period, especially prior to the 1940s.
Unusual the start certainly is, verging at times on the Expressionist film-making
of the previous decades rather than the more staid Hollywood styles. Frequently fading
ominous gothic construction that is Xanadu, followed by a series of extreme close-ups,
reflected images and a series of shots with falling snow superimposed onto them, mim-
icking the falling snow inside the paperweight. As if this first sequence were not star-
tling and disorienting enough, the film swiftly shifts its entire narrative style, changing
into a newsreel, with bombastic music, melodramatic text announcements and a suit-
ably excitable narrator. The whole style and direction of the film alters once again when
the newsreel becomes a projected film-within-the-film, viewed by the film's characters,
rather than the main object of the frame itself, viewed by Citizen Kane's audience. It is
only at this point that the film's main narrative begins, although this is to be interrupted
throughout by the flashbacks and visual techniques such as the newspaper headlines
and temporal editing. The narrative style becomes a little more restrained and conven-
tional for the remainder of the film, the visual strategies employed remain ever-innova-
tive and intriguing. There are subtle effects that a modern audience would not even
notice, such as the use of sophisticated frame wipes to achieve various spe...