Rosebud! CITIZEN KANE at The Wildey Theater in Edwardsville Tuesday January 4th

“That’s all he ever wanted out of life… was love. That’s the tragedy of Charles Foster Kane. You see, he just didn’t have any to give.”

Nothing’s more fun than The Wildey’s Tuesday Night Film Series CITIZEN KANE (1941) will be on the big screen when it plays at The Wildey Theater in Edwardsville, IL (252 N Main St, Edwardsville, IL 62025) at 7:00pm Tuesday January 4th. Tickets are only $3  Tickets available starting at 3pm day of movie at Wildey Theatre ticket office.  Cash or check only. (cash, credit cards accepted for concessions)  Lobby opens at 6pm.

Is CITIZEN KANE the greatest film ever made? On a technical level, it may as well be. It’s at least the most groundbreaking film ever made. On a storytelling level, it’s an amazing achievement itself in that Orson Welles used such avant-garde techniques yet maintained an engrossing story. It’s a film full of contradictions and works perfectly because of them. Its over-the-top yet subtle, experimental yet accessible, quickly paced yet requiring of patience. Its considered the greatest film because of how it incorporates all these trademarks and the fact it basically reinvented the rules on how to make a movie. This must be credited to both Gregg Toland’s cinematography and Robert Wise’s editing as much as Orson Welles’ direction. This is probably the first film that could be considered so visually dense it required multiple viewings.

Oddly enough, in spite of the vast array of technical advances introduced in this film, it’s the story that one remembers. Welles is so often praised as a director, it’s easy to overlook the fact he was an accomplished actor also. Because of his multi-layered performance, Kane is a sympathetic individual instead of a cold hearted capitalist stock character. The screenplay by Herman J. Mankiewicz is so superb many argue he deserves as much credit as Welles. The hype on this one is really deserved. It really may as well be the greatest film of all time and now you’ll have the opportunity to see it on the big screen when it screens Tuesday January 4th at The Wildey.