Rosebud.
News on the March.
Legendary was the Xanadu...
...where Kubla Khan decreed
his stately pleasure dome.
Today almost as legendary
as Florida's Xanadu...
...the world's largest
private pleasure ground.
Here on the deserts of the Gulf Coast.
A private mountain...
...was commissioned and successfully built.
One hundred thousand trees.
Twenty thousand tons of marble...
...are the ingredients
of Xanadu's mountain.
Contents of Xanadu's palace:
Paintings. Pictures. Statues.
Various stones of other palaces.
A collection of everything.
So big it can never
be catalogued or appraised.
Enough for 10 museums.
The loot of the world.
Xanadu's livestock...
...the fowl of the air. The fish of the sea.
The beast of the field and jungle...
...two of each.
The biggest private zoo since Noah.
Like the Pharaohs...
...Xanadu's landlord leaves many stones
to mark his grave.
Since the Pyramids...
...Xanadu is the costliest monument...
...a man has built to himself.
Here in Xanadu last week...
...Xanadu's landlord was laid to rest.
A potent figure of our century...
...America's Kubla Khan:
Charles Foster Kane.
Its humble beginnings.
In this ramshackle building. A dying daily.
Kane's empire. In its glory...
...held dominion over 37 newspapers.
Two syndicates...
...a radio network.
An empire upon an empire.
The first of grocery stores. Paper mills...
...apartment buildings.
Factories. Forests. Ocean liners.
An empire through which for 50 years...
...flowed in an unending stream...
...the wealth of the Earth's
third richest gold mine.
Famed in American legend
is the origin of the Kane fortune.
How. To boarding housekeeper Mary Kane.
By a defaulting boarder. In 1868...
...was left the supposedly worthless deed
to an abandoned mineshaft:
The Colorado Lode.
Fifty-seven years later.
Before a congressional investigation...
...Walter P. Thatcher.
Grand old man of Wall Street...
...for years chief target
of Kane papers' attacks on trusts...
...recalls a journey he made as a youth.
My firm had been appointed trustee
by Mrs. Kane...
...for a large fortune she recently acquired.
It was her wish that I take charge
of this boy, Charles Foster Kane.
Chief, is it not, that on this occasion,
Charles Foster Kane...
...personally attacked you after striking you
in the stomach with a sled?
I shall read to the committee
a prepared statement...
...which I have brought with me,
and then refuse to answer questions.
Mr. Charles Foster Kane,
in every essence of his social beliefs...
...and by the dangerous manner
he has persistently attacked...
...American traditions of private property...
...initiative and opportunity
for advancement...
...is, in fact, nothing more or less
than a communist.
That same month in Union Square...
The words "Charles Foster Kane"...
...are a menace
to every workingman in this land.
He is today what he has always been
and always will be: A fascist.
And still another opinion...
Kane urged his country's entry
into one war...
...opposed participation in another.
Won the election
to one American president at least.
Spoke for millions of Americans.
Was hated by as many more.
For 40 years appeared in Kane newsprint...
...no public issue
on which Kane papers took no stand.
No public man whom Kane himself
did not support or denounce.
Often support. Then denounce.
Twice married. Twice divorced.
First to a president's niece...
...Emily Norton. Who left him in 1916.
Died 1918 in a motor accident
with their son.
Sixteen years after his first marriage...
...two weeks after his first divorce...
...Kane married Susan Alexander...
...singer. At the Town Hall
in Trenton. New Jersey.
For wife two.
One-time opera-singing Susan Alexander...
...Kane built
Chicago's Municipal Opera House.
Cost: $3 million.
Conceived for Susan Alexander Kane.
Half-finished before she divorced him...
...the still unfinished...
...Xanadu.
Cost: No man can say.
Kane. Molder of mass opinion
though he was...
...in all his life
was never granted elective office...
...by the voters of his country.
But Kane papers were once strong indeed...
...and once the prize seemed almost his.
In 1916. as independent candidate
for governor...
...the best elements of the state
behind him...
...the White House seemingly the next
easy step in a lightning political career...
...then suddenly. Less than one week
before election...
...defeat.
Shameful. Ignominious.
Defeat that set back for 20 years
the cause of reform in the U. S...
...forever cancelled political chances
for Charles Foster Kane.
Then. In the first year
of the Great Depression...
...a Kane paper closes.
For Kane. In four short years. Collapse.
Eleven Kane papers merged.
More sold. Scrapped.
Is that correct?
Don't believe everything you hear
on the radio.
- Read the Inquirer.
- How were business conditions in Europe?
How did I find business conditions
in Europe, Mr. Bones?
With great difficulty.
Are you glad to be back?
I'm always glad to be back.
I'm an American.
Always been an American. Anything else?
When I was a reporter,
we asked them quicker than that.
What do you think
of the chances for war in Europe?
I talked with the responsible leaders
of England, France, Germany and Italy.
They're too intelligent
to embark on a project...
...that would mean the end of civilization.
You can take my word for it,
there will be no war.
Kane helped to change the world...
...but Kane's world now is history...
...and the great yellow journalist himself
lived to be history...
...outlived his power to make it.
Alone in his never-finished.
Already decaying pleasure palace...
...aloof. Seldom visited.
Never photographed...
...an emperor of newsprint
continued to direct his failing empire.
Vainly attempted to sway. As he once did...
...the destinies of a nation
that had ceased to listen to him...
...ceased to trust him.
Then last week. As it must to all men...
...death came to Charles Foster Kane.
News on the March.
That's it.
Stand by.
I'll tell you if we want to run it again.
- How about it, Mr. Rawlston?
- How do you like it, boys?
- Seventy years in a man's life.
- That's a lot to try to get into a newsreel.
It's a good short,
but what it needs is an angle.
All we saw on that screen
was that Charles Foster Kane is dead.
I know that. I read the papers.
It isn't enough to tell us what a man did...
...you've got to tell us who he was.
Wait a minute.
What were Kane's last words?
Do you remember, boys?
What were the last words
he said on Earth?
Maybe he told us about himself
on his deathbed.
- Maybe he didn't.
- All we saw was a big American.
How did he differ from Ford,
Hearst or John Doe?
I tell you, a man's dying words...
What were they?
You don't read the papers.
When Charles Foster Kane died,
he said one word:
"Rosebud. "
That's all he said? Tough guy.
Yes, "Rosebud. " Just that one word.
- But who is she?
- What was it?
Here's a man
who could've been president...
...who was as loved,
hated and talked about...
...as any man in our time,
but when he dies...
...something is on his mind called Rosebud.
- What does that mean?
- A racehorse he bet on once.
- That didn't come in.
- But what was the race?
Rosebud.
- Thompson.
- Yes.
Hold this up a week, two if you must.
Don't you think right after he's dead...
Find out about Rosebud. Get in touch
with anybody who knew him...
...or knew him well.
That manager of his...
Bernstein. His second wife.
She's still living.
Susan Alexander Kane.
- She runs a nightclub in Atlantic City.
- That's right.
See them all. Get in touch with everybody
that ever worked for him...
...whoever loved him,
whoever hated his guts.
I don't mean go through
the city directory of course.
I'll get on it right away.
Good. Rosebud, dead or alive.
It will probably turn out to be
a very simple thing.
Miss Alexander.
This is Mr. Thompson, Miss Alexander.
I want another drink, John.
Right away.
Will you have something, Mr. Thompson?
- I'll have a highball, please.
- Who told you you could sit down?
I thought maybe we could have a talk.
Think again.
Can't you people leave me alone?
I'm minding my own business,
you mind yours.
If I could just have a talk with you,
Miss Alexander. I'd...
Get out of here.
Get out!
- Sorry.
- Get out.
- Maybe some other time.
- Get out.
Gino.
Get her another highball.
She just won't talk to nobody,
Mr. Thompson.
Okay.
- Another double?
- Yeah.
Hello, I want New York City.
Courtland 79970.
This is Atlantic City 46827. All right.
She's...
She'll snap out of it.
Why, until he died, she'd just as soon
talk about Mr. Kane as any...
- Hello.
- Sooner.
This is Thompson. Let me talk to the chief.
Mr. Rawlston? She won't talk.
The second Mrs. Kane.
About Rosebud or anything else.
I'm calling from Atlantic City.
Tomorrow I'll go to Philadelphia,
to Thatcher Library, to see his diary.
They're expecting me.
Then I've a meeting with his
general manager in New York. Bernstein.
Then I'm coming back here.
Yeah, I'll see everybody that's still alive.
Goodbye.
- Hey...
- John.
You just might be able to help me.
When she used to talk about Mr. Kane,
did she ever mention Rosebud?
"Rosebud"?
Thank you, Mr. Thompson, thanks.
As a matter of fact, just the other day,
when the papers were full of it...
...I asked her.
She never heard of Rosebud.
The directors of the Thatcher Memorial
Library have asked me to remind you...
...about the conditions
under which you may...
...inspect certain portions
of Mr. Thatcher's unpublished memoirs.
- I remember them.
- Yes, Jennings, I'll bring him in.
- All I want is an hour...
- Under no circumstances...
...are direct quotes from his manuscript
to be used by you. You may follow me.
That's all right. I'm just looking for...
Jennings.
Thank you, Jennings.
You will be required to leave this room
at 4:30 promptly.
You will confine yourself,
it is our understanding...
...to the chapters in Mr. Thatcher's
manuscript regarding Mr. Kane.
That's all I'm interested in.
Thank you.
Pages 83 to 142.
Come on, boys.
Be careful, Charles.
Mrs. Kane.
Pull your muffler around your neck,
Charles.
Mrs. Kane,
I think we'll have to tell him now.
Yes, I'll sign those papers now,
Mr. Thatcher.
You people seem to forget
that I'm the boy's father.
It's going to be done
exactly the way I've told Mr. Thatcher.
There's nothing wrong with Colorado.
I don't see why we can't raise our son...
...just 'cause we came into money.
If I want to, I can go to court.
A father has a right to.
A boarder that beats his bill
and leaves worthless stock behind...
That property is as much my property
as anybody's...
...now that it's valuable.
And if Fred Graves had any idea...
...this would happen, he'd have made out
the certificates in both our names.
- But they're made out to Mrs. Kane.
- He owed the money to both of us.
- "The bank's decision in all matters... "
- I don't hold with giving Charles to a bank...
- Stop this nonsense.
- We're a bit uneducated...
"The bank's decision
concerning his education...
"... his places of residence, is to be final. "
- The idea of a bank being the guardian...
- Stop this nonsense, Jim.
"We will assume full management
of the Colorado Lode"...
...which I repeat, Mrs. Kane,
you are the sole owner.
- Where do I sign, Mr. Thatcher?
- Right here.
Mary, I'm asking you for the last time.
You'd think I hadn't been
a good husband or father...
The sum of $50,000 a year...
...is to be paid to you
and Mr. Kane as long as you both live...
...and thereafter to the survivor.
- Let's hope it's all for the best.
- It is.
Why I can't raise my own boy
is more than I can understand.
Go on, Mr. Thatcher.
Everything else, the principal,
as well as all monies earned...
...is to be administered by the bank in trust
for your son, Charles Foster Kane...
...until he reaches his 25th birthday,
at which time...
...he is to come into complete possession.
Charles!
Go on, Mr. Thatcher.
It's almost 5:00.
Don't you think I'd better meet the boy?
I've got his trunk all packed.
I've had it packed for a week now.
I've arranged for a tutor
to meet us in Chicago.
I'd have brought him here with me, but...
- Charles.
- Look, Mom.
You'd better come inside.
- That's quite a snowman.
- I took the pipe out of his mouth.
Did you make it yourself?
Maybe I'll make some teeth and whiskers.
This is Mr. Thatcher, Charles.
- Hello.
- How do you do, Charles?
He comes from the East.
- Pa.
- Hello, Charlie.
Charles.
Yes, Mommy.
Mr. Thatcher is going to take you
on a trip with him tonight.
You'll be leaving on number 10.
That's the train with all the lights on it.
You going, Mom?
No. Your mother won't be going
right away, but she'll...
Where am I going?
You're going to see Chicago and New York
and Washington, maybe. Ain't he?
He certainly is.
I wish I were a boy going on a trip
like that for the first time.
- Why aren't you coming with us, Mom?
- We have to stay here, Charles.
You're gonna live with Mr. Thatcher
from now on, Charlie.
You're gonna be rich. Your ma figures,
well, that is...
...me and her decided this ain't the place
for you to grow up in.
You'll probably be
the richest man someday...
...and you ought to get...
- You won't be lonely.
Lonely, of course not. We're going to have
fine times together, we are.
Let's shake hands. Come.
I'm not that frightening, am I?
- What do you say? Let's shake.
- Why, Charles.
- Why, you almost hurt me.
- Charlie!
Sleds aren't to hit people,
but to sleigh with.
Mom!
- You got to go.
- Jim!
I'm sorry, Mr. Thatcher.
What the kid needs is a good thrashing.
- That's what you think, is it?
- Yes.
That's why he's going to be brought up
where you can't get at him.
Well, Charles...
...Merry Christmas.
- Merry Christmas.
And a happy New Year.
In closing...
...may I remind you your 25th birthday,
which is now approaching...
...marks your complete independence
from the firm...
...of Thatcher & Company,
as well as acquiring the full responsibility...
...for the world's sixth largest
private fortune.
- Got that?
- "The world's sixth largest private fortune. "
I don't think you realize the full importance
of the position you are to occupy.
I am therefore enclosing
for your consideration...
...a list of your holdings,
extensively cross-indexed.
- "Dear Mr. Thatcher. "
- It's from Mr. Kane.
- Go on.
- "Sorry, I'm not interested in gold mines...
"... oil wells, shipping or real estate. "
Not interested?
"One item on your list intrigues me:
The New York Inquirer.
"A little newspaper we acquired
in a foreclosure proceeding.
"Don't sell it.
I am coming back to take charge.
"I think it would be fun
to run a newspaper.
"I think it would be fun
to run a newspaper. "
"Traction Trust exposed. "
"Traction Trust bleeds public white. "
"Traction Trust smashed by Inquirer. "
"Landlords refuse to clear slums. "
"Inquirer wins slum fight. "
"Wall Street backs copper swindle. "
"Copper robbers indicted. "
"Galleons of Spain off Jersey Coast. "
Is that really your idea
of how to run a newspaper?
I don't know how to run a newspaper.
I try everything I can think of.
You know there's not
the slightest proof this...
...Armada's off the Jersey Coast.
- Hello, Mr. Bernstein.
Can you prove it isn't?
Mr. Bernstein,
I'd like you to meet Mr. Thatcher.
- Mr. Leland.
- Hello.
Mr. Thatcher, my ex-guardian.
We have no secrets from our readers.
Thatcher is one of our devoted readers.
He knows what's wrong with every copy
of the Inquirer since I took over. Read.
"Girls delightful in Cuba. Stop.
Could send you prose poems...
"... about scenery but don't feel right
spending your money. Stop.
"There is no war in Cuba. "
Signed "Wheeler. " Any answer?
Yes. Dear Wheeler: You provide
the prose poems, I'll provide the war.
- That's fine.
- I like it myself. Send it right away.
I came to see you
about this campaign of yours.
The Inquirer's campaign against
the Public Transit Company.
Do you know anything
we can use against them?
You're still the college boy, eh?
I was expelled from college, a lot
of colleges, you remember? I remember.
I think I should remind you of a fact
you have forgotten.
You're one of the largest stockholders
in the Public Transit Company.
The trouble is, you don't realize
you're talking to two people.
As Charles Foster Kane
who owns 82,364 shares...
...of Public Transit Preferred. See,
I do have a general idea of my holdings.
I sympathize with you.
Kane is a scoundrel...
...his paper should be closed,
a committee formed to boycott him.
If you can form such a committee,
put me down for a contribution of $1,000.
On the other hand,
I am the publisher of the Inquirer.
As such it's my duty, I'll let you in
on a little secret. It is also my pleasure...
...to see that the working people of this
community aren't robbed by a pack...
...of money-mad pirates, just because...
...they have no one
to look after their interests.
I'll let you in on another little secret,
Mr. Thatcher:
I think I'm the man to do it.
You see, I have money and property.
If I don't look after the interests
of the underprivileged, somebody else will.
Maybe somebody
without money or property.
That would be too bad.
I saw your financial statement today.
- Oh, did you?
- Tell me, honestly...
...don't you think it's rather unwise
to continue this philanthropic enterprise...
...this Inquirer, that is costing you
$1 million a year?
Yes. I did lose $1 million last year.
I expect to lose $1 million this year.
I expect to lose $1 million next year.
At the rate of $1 million a year...
...I'll have to close this place in 60 years.
"With respect to the said newspapers...
"... the said Charles Foster Kane...
"... hereby relinquishes all control thereof...
"... and of the syndicates
pertaining thereto...
"... and any and all other newspaper, press
and publishing properties of any kind...
"... and agrees to abandon
all claim thereto... "
- Which means we're bust all right.
- Well, out of cash.
All right, Mr. Bernstein.
I've read it, Mr. Thatcher,
just let me sign it and go home.
You're too old
to call me Mr. Thatcher, Charles.
You're too old to be called anything else.
You were always too old.
"In consideration thereof,
Thatcher & Company agrees...
"... to pay to Charles Foster Kane,
as long as he lives... "
My allowance.
"You will continue to maintain
over your newspapers a large...
"... measure of control.
Measure of control. "
And we shall seek your advice.
This depression is temporary.
There's always the chance
that you'll die richer than I will.
It's a cinch I'll die richer than I was born.
We never lost as much as we made.
Yes, yes, but your methods.
You know, Charles...
...you never made a single investment.
You always used money to...
To buy things.
To buy things.
My mother should have chosen
a less reliable banker.
I always gagged on that silver spoon.
You know, Mr. Bernstein...
...if I hadn't been very rich...
...I might have been a really great man.
Don't you think you are?
I think I did pretty well
under the circumstances.
What would you like to have been?
Everything you hate.
I beg your pardon, sir? What did you say?
- It's 4:30. Isn't it, Jennings?
- Yes, ma'am.
You have enjoyed a very rare privilege,
young man.
- Did you find what you were looking for?
- No.
- You're not Rosebud, are you?
- What?
Rosebud, and your name is Jennings,
isn't it?
Goodbye, everybody.
Thanks for the use of the hall.
Who's a busy man, me?
I'm chairman of the board.
I got nothing but time.
What do you want to know?
We thought maybe... If we could
find out what he meant by his last words...
...as he was dying.
- That "Rosebud"?
Maybe some girl?
There were a lot of them in the early days.
It's hardly likely that Mr. Kane
could have met someone casually...
...and then 50 years later, on his deathbed...
Well, you're pretty young, Mr. Thompson.
A fellow will remember a lot of things
you wouldn't think he'd remember.
You take me.
One day, back in 1896,
I was crossing over to Jersey on the ferry...
...and as we pulled out,
there was another ferry pulling in...
...and on it there was a girl
waiting to get off.
A white dress she had on.
She was carrying a white parasol.
I only saw her for one second.
She didn't see me at all,
but I'll bet a month hasn't gone by since...
...that I haven't thought of that girl.
- Who else have you been to see?
- Well, I went down to Atlantic City.
Susie?
Thank you.
I called her myself the day after he died.
I thought maybe somebody ought to.
- She couldn't even come to the phone.
- I'll be seeing her again in a couple of days.
About Rosebud, Mr. Bernstein.
If you'd talk about anything connected
with Mr. Kane that you can remember.
You were with him from the beginning.
From before the beginning, young fellow.
And now it's after the end.
Have you tried to see anybody
except Susie?
I haven't seen anybody else, but I've
been through Walter Thatcher's journal.
- That man was the biggest fool I ever met.
- He made an awful lot of money.
Well, it's no trick to make a lot of money...
...if all you want is to make a lot of money.
You take Mr. Kane.
It wasn't money he wanted.
Thatcher never did figure him out.
Sometimes even I couldn't.
You know who you ought to see?
Mr. Leland.
He was Mr. Kane's closest friend.
They went to school together.
Harvard?
Oh, Harvard, Yale, Princeton,
Cornell, Switzerland.
He was thrown out of a lot of colleges.
Mr. Leland never had a nickel.
One of those families
where the father is worth $10 million...
...then one day he shoots himself,
and it turns out there's nothing but debts.
He was with Mr. Kane and me...
...the first day Mr. Kane took over
the Inquirer.
Take a good look at it, Jedediah.
It's going to look a lot different
one of these days. Come on.
There ain't no bedrooms in this joint.
That's a newspaper building.
You're getting paid, mister,
for opinions or for hauling?
- Jedediah.
- After you, Mr. Kane.
Excuse me, sir, but I...
Welcome, Mr. Kane.
Welcome to the Inquirer, Mr. Kane.
I am Herbert Carter, the editor-in-chief.
- Thank you, Mr. Carter. This is Mr. Leland...
- How do you do, Mr. Leland?
Our new dramatic critic.
I hope I haven't made a mistake.
- It is dramatic critic, right?
- That's right.
- Are they standing for me?
- You? Oh, Mr. Kane.
Standing?
- How do you do?
- How do you do?
I thought it would be a nice little gesture.
- Ask them to sit down, will you, please.
- The new publisher.
- You may resume your duties, gentlemen.
- Thank you.
- I didn't know your plans.
- I don't know my plans myself.
- Matter of fact, I haven't got any plans.
- No?
Except to get out a newspaper.
- Mr. Bernstein.
- Yes, Mr. Kane.
Mr. Carter, this is Mr. Bernstein.
- Mr. Bernstein is my general manager.
- How do you do, Mr. Carter?
- Mr. Carter.
- How do you do?
- Yes, Mr. Bernstein.
- Stein.
- Kane.
- Mr. Carter, is this your office?
My little private sanctum
is at your disposal.
- Excuse me.
- But I don't think I understand.
Mr. Carter, I'm going to live right here
in your office as long as I have to.
Live here? Yes?
- Excuse me.
- But a morning newspaper, after all...
Excuse me.
We're practically closed for 12 hours a day.
That's one of the things
that's going to have to be changed here.
- The news goes on for 24 hours a day.
- 24?
- That's right.
- Excuse me.
It's impossible...
I've drawn that cartoon.
I'm no good as a cartoonist.
You certainly aren't.
You're the dramatic critic, Leland.
- You still eating?
- I'm still hungry.
Here's a front-page story in the Chronicle...
...about a Mrs. Harry Silverstone
in Brooklyn who's missing.
She's probably murdered. Why isn't
there something about it in the Inquirer?
We're running a newspaper...
- I'm absolutely starving to death.
... not a scandal sheet.
That's all right.
Mr. Carter, here is a three-column headline
in the Chronicle.
Why hasn't the Inquirer
a three-column headline?
The news wasn't big enough.
Mr. Carter, if the headline is big enough,
it makes the news big enough.
- That's right!
- The murder of Mrs. Harry Silverstone...
There's no proof
that she was murdered, or dead.
It says she's missing.
The neighbors are getting suspicious.
It's not our function
to report the gossip of housewives.
If we were interested in that kind of thing,
we could fill the paper twice over, daily.
That's the kind of thing we are going to be
interested in from now on.
I want you to send your best man
to see Mr. Silverstone.
Have him tell Mr. Silverstone if he doesn't
produce his wife, Mrs. Silverstone...
...the Inquirer will have him arrested.
Tell Mr. Silverstone
he's a detective from...
- Central Office.
- The Central Office.
If Mr. Silverstone gets suspicious
and asks to see your man's badge...
...your man is to get indignant
and call Mr. Silverstone an anarchist.
Loudly, so the neighbors can hear.
You ready for dinner, Jedediah?
I can't see that the function
of a respectable newspaper...
Thank you so much, Mr. Carter. Goodbye.
Goodbye.
Paper! Read all about it!
Read all about it
in the early morning Chronicle.
The mystery of the lady
that vanished in Brooklyn.
Read all about it
in the early morning Chronicle.
We'll be on the street soon,
Charlie, another 10 minutes.
Three hours and 50 minutes late,
but we did it.
- Tired?
- A tough day.
- A wasted day.
- Wasted?
You only made the paper over
four times tonight, that's all.
I've changed the front page a little,
Mr. Bernstein. That's not enough.
There's something I've got to get into
this paper besides pictures and print.
I've got to make the New York Inquirer
as important to New York...
...as the gas in that light.
What are you going to do, Charlie?
My Declaration of Principles.
Don't smile, Jedediah.
I've got it all written out here.
You don't want to make any promises
you don't want to keep.
These'll be kept.
"I'll provide the people of this city...
"... with a daily paper
that will tell all the news honestly.
- "I will also provide... "
- That's two sentences starting with "I."
People will know who's responsible...
...and they'll get the truth in the Inquirer,
quickly, simply and entertainingly.
No special interests will be allowed
to interfere with that truth.
"I will also provide them with a fighting
and tireless champion of their rights...
"... as citizens and as human beings. "
Signed:
"Charles Foster Kane. "
- Can I have that, Charlie?
- I'm going to print it.
Solly!
Yes, Mr. Kane?
I want you to run this editorial
in a box on the front page.
This morning's front page?
That's right, Solly,
that means we'll have to remake again.
- Yes.
- Go down and tell them.
All right.
When you're through with that,
I'd like to have it back.
I'd like to keep that particular
piece of paper myself.
I have a hunch it might turn out
to be something pretty important.
- A document...
- Sure.
...like the Declaration of Independence
and the Constitution...
...and my first report card at school.
I know you're tired, gentlemen,
but I brought you here for a reason.
- This little pilgrimage will do us good.
- The Chronicle's a good newspaper.
Chronicle's a good idea for a newspaper.
Notice the circulation.
495,000.
But look who's working for the Chronicle.
- With them, it's no trick to get circulation.
- You're right.
You know how long it took the Chronicle
to get that staff together?
- Twenty years.
- Twenty years?
Six years ago, I looked at a picture
of the world's greatest newspaper men.
I felt like a kid in front of a candy store.
Tonight, six years later,
I got my candy, all of it.
Welcome, gentlemen, to the Inquirer.
Make an extra copy of that picture
and mail it to the Chronicle.
It'll make you all happy to learn
that our circulation this morning...
...was the greatest in New York: 684,000.
Right.
I hope you'll forgive my rudeness
in taking leave of you.
I'm going abroad next week for a vacation.
I've promised my doctor for sometime
that I would leave when I could.
I now realize I can't.
Say, Mr. Kane,
as long as you're promising...
...there's a lot of pictures and statues
in Europe you ain't bought yet.
You can't blame me, Mr. Bernstein.
They've been making statues
for 2,000 years.
And I've only been buying for five.
- Promise me, Mr. Kane.
- I promise, Mr. Bernstein.
- Thank you.
- Mr. Bernstein?
You don't expect me to keep
any of those promises, do you?
And now, gentlemen!
Your complete attention, if you please.
Are we going to declare war on Spain?
Oh, mama, here they come.
Shoot me while I'm happy.
I said, "Are we going to declare
war on Spain, or are we not? "
The Inquirer already has.
You long-faced, overdressed anarchist.
I'm not overdressed.
You are, too.
Mr. Bernstein, look at his necktie.
Let's have the song about Charlie.
- Is there a song about Charlie?
- Is there a song about you, Mr. Kane?
You buy a bag of peanuts in this town,
you get a song written about you.
I've seen that fellow. He's good.
Good evening, Mr. Kane.
"There is a man, a certain man
"And for the poor you may be sure
that he'll do all he can
"Who is this one? This favorite son
"Just by his action
has the traction magnates on the run
"Who loves to smoke, enjoys a joke
"Who wouldn't get a bit upset
if he were really broke
"With wealth and fame he's still the same
"I'll bet you $5 you're not alive
if you don't know his name
"What is his name?
"It's Charlie Kane, it's Mister Kane!
"He doesn't like that Mister
He likes good old Charlie Kane"
- Isn't it wonderful? Such a party.
- Yes.
What's the matter?
"Who says a miss was made to kiss
"And when he meets one
always tries to do exactly this
"Who buys the food, who buys the drinks
"Who thinks that dough was made
to spend and acts the way he thinks
"Now is it, Joe, no, no, no"
Bernstein, these men
who are now with the Inquirer...
...who were with the Chronicle
until yesterday...
Oh, mama, please.
- Give me that.
- What? The blonde?
- No, the brunette.
- Where did you learn that, Charlie?
Bernstein, these men
who were with the Chronicle...
...weren't they just as devoted
to the Chronicle policy...
...as they are now to our policies?
Sure, they're just like anybody else.
They got work to do, they do it.
Only they happen to be
the best men in the business.
Do we stand for the same things
the Chronicle stands for?
Certainly not.
Listen, Mr. Kane, he'll have them changed
to his kind of newspapermen in a week.
There's always a chance, of course,
that they'll change Mr. Kane.
Without his knowing it.
Mr. Leland, I got a cable from Mr. Kane!
- I got a cable here from Mr. Kane.
- What?
- From Paris, France.
- What?
- From Paris, France.
- Come on in.
"Who by his action
has the traction magnates on the run"
It's a good thing he promised
not to send back any more statues.
Look, he wants to buy
the world's biggest diamond.
Why didn't you go to Europe with him?
He wanted you to.
I wanted Charlie to have fun,
with me along...
Bernstein, am I a stuffed shirt?
Am I a horse-faced hypocrite?
Am I a New England schoolmarm?
Yes.
If you thought I'd answer you different
from what Mr. Kane tells you, I wouldn't.
"World's biggest diamond. "
I didn't know Charlie
was collecting diamonds.
He ain't.
He's collecting somebody
that's collecting diamonds.
Anyway, he ain't only collecting statues.
"Welcome home, Mr. Kane...
"... from 467 employees
of the New York Inquirer. "
Here he comes!
Welcome, Mr. Kane.
- I know I've a moustache.
- It looks awful.
Have we got a society editor?
- Right here, Mr. Kane.
- Miss Townsend is the society editor.
Miss Townsend,
this is Mr. Charles Foster Kane.
Miss Townsend, I've been away so long.
I don't know your routine.
I got a little social announcement.
I wish you wouldn't treat this
any differently than you would any other...
...social announcement.
Mr. Kane, on behalf of all the employees
of the Inquirer...
Mr. Bernstein,
thank you very much, everybody, I...
I'm sorry, I can't accept it now.
Goodbye.
Say, he was in an awful hurry.
Hey, everybody, look out here.
Let's go to the window.
- Mr. Leland! Mr. Bernstein!
- Yes, Ms. Townsend?
This announcement:
"Mr. And Mrs. Thomas Monroe Norton...
"... announce the engagement
of their daughter, Emily Monroe Norton...
"... to Mr. Charles Foster Kane. "
Come on.
Emily Monroe Norton, she's the niece
of the President of the United States.
President's niece?
Before he's through,
she'll be a president's wife.
The way things turned out,
I don't need to tell you.
Miss Emily Norton was no rosebud.
It didn't end very well, did it?
It ended.
Then there was Susie. That ended, too.
You know, Mr. Thompson, I was thinking...
...this Rosebud
you're trying to find out about...
Yes?
Maybe that was something he lost.
Mr. Kane was a man who lost
almost everything he had.
You ought to see Jed Leland.
Of course, he and Mr. Kane
didn't exactly see eye to eye.
You take the Spanish-American war.
I guess Mr. Leland was right.
That was Mr. Kane's war.
We didn't really have anything
to fight about.
Do you think if it hadn't been for that war
of Mr. Kane's...
...we'd have the Panama Canal?
I wish I knew where Mr. Leland was.
A lot of the time now
they don't tell me these things.
Maybe even he's dead.
In case you'd like to know...
...he's at the Huntington Memorial Hospital
on 180th Street.
You don't say. I had...
Nothing particular the matter with him,
they tell me, just...
Just old age.
It's the only disease that you don't
look forward to being cured of.
I can remember absolutely everything,
young man.
That's my curse.
That's one of the greatest curses
ever inflicted on the human race: Memory.
I was his oldest friend, and as far as
I was concerned, he behaved like a swine.
Not that Charlie was ever brutal.
He just did brutal things.
Maybe I wasn't his friend,
but if I wasn't, he never had one.
Maybe I was what you nowadays
call a stooge.
You were about to say something
about Rosebud.
Do you happen to have a good cigar?
I've got a young physician here
who thinks I'm going to give up smoking.
No, I'm afraid I haven't. Sorry.
I changed the subject, didn't I?
What a disagreeable old man
I have become.
You're a reporter and you want to know
what I think about Charlie Kane.
I suppose he had some private sort
of greatness.
But he kept it to himself.
He never gave himself away.
He never gave anything away.
He just left you a tip.
He had a generous mind.
I don't suppose anybody
ever had so many opinions.
But he never believed in anything
except Charlie Kane.
He never had a conviction
except Charlie Kane in his life.
I suppose he died without one.
That must have been pretty unpleasant.
Of course, a lot of us check out without
having any special convictions about death.
But we do know what we're leaving.
We do believe in something.
Are you absolutely sure
you haven't got a cigar?
- Sorry, Mr. Leland.
- Never mind.
- What do you know about Rosebud?
- "Rosebud"?
His dying words: "Rosebud. "
I saw that in the Inquirer.
I never believed anything
I saw in the Inquirer.
Anything else?
I can tell you about Emily.
I went to dancing school with Emily.
I was very graceful.
- We were talking about the first Mrs. Kane.
- What was she like?
She was like all the girls I knew
in dancing school.
Very nice girl. Emily was a little nicer.
After the first couple of months...
...she and Charlie didn't see much
of each other except at breakfast.
It was a marriage
just like any other marriage.
- You're beautiful.
- I can't be.
Yes, you are. You're very beautiful.
I've never been to six parties
in one night before.
- I've never been up this late.
- It's a matter of habit.
- What will the servants think?
- That we enjoyed ourselves.
Why do you have to go straight off
to the newspaper?
You never should've married a
newspaperman, they're worse than sailors.
I absolutely adore you.
Charles, even newspapermen
have to sleep.
I'll call Mr. Bernstein and have him
put off my appointments till noon.
What time is it?
I don't know. It's late.
It's early.
Charles...
Do you know how long
you kept me waiting last night...
...when you went to the newspaper
for 10 minutes?
What do you do in a newspaper
in the middle of the night?
My dear, your only correspondent
is the Inquirer.
Sometimes I think I'd prefer a rival
of flesh and blood.
I don't spend that much time
on the newspaper.
It isn't just the time.
It's what you print, attacking the President.
- You mean Uncle John.
- I mean the President of the United States.
He's still Uncle John
and a well-meaning fathead...
...who's letting a pack of high-pressure
crooks run his administration.
- This whole oil scandal...
- He happens to be the President, not you.
That's a mistake that will be corrected
one of these days.
Your Mr. Bernstein sent Junior
the most incredible atrocity yesterday.
I simply can't have it in the nursery.
Mr. Bernstein is apt to pay a visit
to the nursery now and then.
Does he have to?
Yes.
- Really, Charles, people will think...
- What I tell them to think.
Wasn't he ever in love with her?
He married for love.
Love.
That is why he did everything.
That's why he went into politics.
It seems we weren't enough.
He wanted all the voters to love him, too.
All he wanted out of life was love.
That's Charlie's story. How he lost it.
You see, he just didn't have any to give.
He loved Charlie Kane, of course.
Very dearly.
And his mother,
I guess he always loved her.
- How about his second wife?
- Susan Alexander?
You know what Charlie called her?
The day after he'd met her,
he told me about her.
He said she was
"a cross-section of the American public. "
I guess he couldn't help it.
She must have had something for him.
That first night, according to Charlie...
...all she had was a toothache.
What are you laughing at, young lady?
- What's the matter with you?
- Toothache.
- What?
- Toothache.
Toothache?
You mean you've got a toothache.
- What's funny about that?
- You're funny, mister.
- You've got dirt on your face.
- Not dirt, it's mud.
Do you want some hot water?
I live right here.
What's that, young lady?
I said, if you wanted some hot water...
...I could get you some... hot water.
All right, thank you very much.
Do I look any better now?
- This medicine doesn't do a bit of good.
- What you need is to get your mind off it.
Excuse me, but my landlady
prefers me to keep this door open...
...when I have a gentleman caller.
- All right.
You have got a toothache, haven't you?
- I surely have.
- Why don't you try laughing at me again?
- What?
- I'm still pretty funny.
I know, but you don't want me
to laugh at you.
I don't want your tooth to hurt, either.
Look at me.
See that?
What are you doing?
I'm wiggling both my ears
at the same time.
That's it, smile.
It took me two solid years at the best
boys' school in the world to learn that.
The fellow who taught me
is now president of Venezuela.
That's it!
- Is it a giraffe?
- No, not a giraffe.
- I bet it is.
- What?
Well, then it's an elephant.
- It's supposed to be a rooster.
- A rooster!
You know an awful lot of tricks.
Are you a professional magician?
- No, I'm not a magician.
- I was just joking.
You really don't know who I am?
You told me your name, Mr. Kane,
but I'm awfully ignorant.
I guess you caught on to that.
I bet I've heard your name a million times.
You really like me, though,
even though you don't know who I am?
I surely do. You've been wonderful.
Without you I don't know
what I would have done.
I had a toothache,
and I don't know many people.
I know too many people.
I guess we're both lonely.
Want to know what I was going to do
before I ruined my best Sunday clothes?
I bet they're not your best Sunday clothes.
You probably have more.
I was just joking.
I was on my way
to the Western Manhattan Warehouse...
...in search of my youth.
You see, my mother died a long time ago.
Her things were put in storage out West.
There wasn't any other place to put them.
I thought I'd send for them now.
Tonight I was going to take a look at them.
A sort of sentimental journey.
I run a couple of newspapers.
What do you do?
Me?
- How old did you say you were?
- I didn't say.
If you had, I wouldn't have asked you.
- How old?
- Pretty old.
- How old?
- Twenty-two in August.
That's a ripe old age. What do you do?
I work at Seligman's.
I'm in charge of the sheet music.
- Is that what you want to do?
- No, I wanted to be a singer, I guess.
- That is, I didn't. My mother did for me.
- What happened to the singing?
Mother always thought, she always talked
about grand opera for me.
Imagine.
But my voice isn't that kind.
It's just, you know what mothers are like.
Yes.
- Have you got a piano?
- A piano?
Yes, there's one in the parlor.
- Would you sing for me?
- You wouldn't want to hear me sing.
Yes, I would.
Don't tell me
your toothache is bothering you.
No, that's all gone.
All right.
Let's go to the parlor.
"Yes, Lindor shall be mine
"I have sworn it
"For weal or woe
"Yes, Lindor
"Lo giurai
"La vincer"
There is only one man
who can rid the politics...
...of this state of the evil domination
of Boss Jim Gettys.
I am speaking of Charles Foster Kane,
the fighting liberal...
...the friend of the workingman,
the next governor of this state...
...who entered upon this campaign...
...with one purpose only:
To point out
and make public the dishonesty...
...the downright villainy
of Boss Jim W. Gettys' political machine...
...now in complete control
of the government of this state.
I made no campaign promises...
...because. Until a few weeks ago.
I had no hope of being elected.
Now. However. I have something more
than a hope.
Jim Gettys has something less
than a chance.
Every straw vote...
...every independent poll shows
that I will be elected.
Very well.
Now I can afford to make some promises.
The workingman and the slum child...
...know they can expect
my best efforts in their interests.
The decent. Ordinary citizens know
that I'll do everything in my power...
...to protect the underprivileged.
The underpaid. And the underfed.
- Mother, is Pop governor yet?
- Not yet, Junior.
I'd make my promises now...
...if I weren't too busy
arranging to keep them.
But here's one promise I'll make...
...and Boss Jim Gettys knows I'll keep it.
My first official act
as governor of this state...
...will be to appoint a special district
attorney to arrange for the indictment...
...prosecution and conviction
of Boss Jim W. Gettys.
If the election were held today,
you'd be in by 100,000 votes.
- Gettys isn't even pretending.
- Pop.
- Hello, son.
- He isn't just scared, he's sick.
It's beginning to dawn on Jim Gettys
I mean what I say.
- Did you like your old man's speech?
- I could hear every word.
- Hello, Emily.
- Hold it.
- Great speech, Mr. Kane.
- Wonderful.
Will you get us a taxi?
I'm sending Junior home
in the car with Oliver.
Good night, Father.
Goodbye, son.
Why did you send Junior home in the car?
What are you doing in a taxi?
There's a call I want you to make with me.
- It can wait.
- No, it can't.
What's this all about, Emily?
It may not be about anything at all.
I intend to find out.
- Where are you going?
- I'm going to "185 West 74th Street. "
If you wish, you may come with me.
I'll come with you.
I had no idea you had this flair
for melodrama, Emily.
Come right in, Mr. Kane.
Charlie.
He forced me to send your wife that letter.
I didn't want to.
He's been saying the most terrible...
Mrs. Kane.
I don't suppose
anybody would introduce us.
I'm Jim Gettys.
Yes?
I made Miss Alexander send you the note,
Mrs. Kane.
She didn't want to at first. But she did it.
Charlie, the things he said to me...
He threatened to...
I won't wait until I'm elected.
To start with, I think I'll break your neck.
Maybe you can do it, and maybe you can't.
Your breaking this man's neck
would scarcely explain this note:
"Serious consequences for Mr. Kane,
for yourself and for your son. "
- He wanted to get her to come here...
- What does this note mean?
I'm Susan Alexander.
I know what you're thinking...
- What does this note mean, Ms. Alexander?
- She don't know.
She sent it because I told her
it wouldn't be smart not to.
- Emily, this gentleman...
- I'm not a gentleman.
Your husband is only trying to be funny
calling me one.
I don't even know what a gentleman is.
You see, my idea of a gentleman...
If I owned a paper and didn't like
the way somebody was doing things...
...some politician,
I'd fight him with all I had.
I wouldn't show him in a convict suit...
...so his family could see his picture
in the paper.
- You're a cheap, crooked grafter...
- We're talking now about what you are.
I'm fighting for my life,
not just my political life.
- He said unless you...
- That's what I said.
Here's the chance I'm willing to give him.
It's more of a chance than he'd give me.
Unless he decides by tomorrow that
he's so sick he has to go away for a year...
...Monday morning, all papers in the state,
except his, will carry the story I'll give.
What story?
- The story about him and Ms. Alexander.
- There isn't any story!
Shut up.
We've got evidence that would look bad
in the headlines.
Do you want me to give you the evidence?
I'd rather he withdrew
without having the story published.
Not that I care about him,
but I'd be better off that way.
So would you, Mrs. Kane.
What about me?
He said my name would be dragged
through the mud. That everywhere I went...
There seems to be only one decision
you can make, Charles.
I'd say that it'd been made for you.
You can't tell me the voters of this state...
I'm not interested in the voters
of this state right now.
I am interested in our son.
- Charlie, if they publish this story...
- They won't.
Good night, Mr. Gettys.
Are you coming, Charles?
No.
I'm staying here.
I can fight this all alone.
If you don't listen to reason,
it may be too late.
Too late? For what?
For you and this public thief...
...to take the love of the people
away from me?
You got other things to think about.
Your little boy.
You don't want him to read about you
in the papers.
There's only one person in the world
to decide what I'll do. And that's me.
You decided what you were going to do,
Charles, some time ago.
You're making a bigger fool of yourself
than I thought.
- I've got nothing to say to you.
- You're licked...
Get out. If you want to see me,
have the warden write me a letter.
If it was anybody else, I'd say what's going
to happen to you would be a lesson to you.
Only you're going to need
more than one lesson.
- And you'll get more than one lesson.
- Don't worry about me, Gettys.
Don't worry about me!
I'm Charles Foster Kane!
I'm no cheap, crooked politician
trying to save himself...
...from the consequences of his crimes!
Gettys! I'm gonna send you to Sing Sing.
Sing Sing, Gettys.
- Have you a car, Mrs. Kane?
- Yes, thank you.
- Good night.
- Good night.
Paper. Read all about it. Extra. Extra.
- Paper?
- No, thanks.
With a million majority
already against him...
...and the church counties
still to be heard from...
...I'm afraid we got no choice.
This one?
That one.
Good night again.
- Is there anything I can...
- No, thanks, Mr. Bernstein.
You better go home and get some sleep.
You, too.
Good night, Mr. Kane.
- Hello, Jedediah.
- I'm drunk.
If you've got drunk to talk to me about...
...Ms. Alexander, don't bother.
I'm not interested.
I've set back the sacred cause of reform,
is that it?
All right.
If that's the way they want it,
the people have made their choice.
It's obvious the people prefer
Jim Gettys to me.
You talk about the people
as though you owned them.
As though they belong to you. Goodness.
As long as I can remember, you've talked
about giving the people their rights...
...as if you could make them
a present of liberty...
...as a reward for services rendered.
- Jed.
- You remember the workingman?
I'll get drunk, too, Jedediah...
...if it'll do any good.
It won't do any good.
Besides you never get drunk.
You used to write an awful lot
about the workingman...
Go on home.
He's turning into something called
"organized labor. "
You won't like that one little bit
when you find out...
...it means your workingman expects
something as his right, and not your gift.
When your precious underprivileged
really get together...
Oh, boy...
That'll add up to something
bigger than your privilege...
...then I don't know what you'll do.
Sail away to a desert island probably
and lord it over the monkeys.
I wouldn't worry about it too much.
There'll probably be a few of them there
to tell me when I do something wrong.
You may not always be so lucky.
You're not very drunk.
Drunk, what do you care?
You don't care about anything except you.
You persuade people that you love them
so much that they ought to love you back.
Only you want love on your own terms.
It's something to be played your way,
according to your rules.
- Let me work on the Chicago paper.
- What?
You said you were looking for someone
to do dramatic "crimitism," criticism.
I am drunk.
I want to go to Chicago.
You're too valuable here.
- There's nothing left for me to do...
- All right, you can go to Chicago.
Thank you.
I guess I'd better try to get drunk anyway.
I warn you, Jedediah,
you won't like Chicago.
The wind comes off the lake, and they've
probably never heard of Lobster Newburg.
Will Saturday after next be all right?
- Anytime you say.
- Thank you.
A toast to love on my terms.
Those are the only terms anybody knows:
His own.
Mr. Kane, I'm from the Inquirer.
- What's that, young man?
- Are you through with politics?
Am I through with politics?
I would say vice versa.
We're going to be an opera star.
Are you singing at the Metropolitan?
We certainly are.
Charlie said if I didn't,
he'd build me an opera house.
That won't be necessary.
No, no, no!
Places, please!
Mr. Leland is writing it
from the dramatic angle?
- And we've covered it from the news end.
- And the social.
How about the music notice?
Yes, it's already made up.
Mr. Mowan wrote a swell review.
- Enthusiastic?
- Yes, sir.
Mr. Kane. This is a surprise.
We've got two spreads of pictures.
The music notice on the front page?
But there's still one notice to come.
The dramatic.
The dramatic notice.
- Mr. Bernstein, that's Mr. Leland, isn't it?
- Yes, we're waiting for it.
- Where is he?
- Right in there, Mr. Kane.
Mr. Kane.
Mr. Leland and Mr. Kane...
...haven't spoken together for years.
- You don't suppose...
- There's nothing to suppose.
Excuse me.
Close the door.
He ain't been drinking before.
Never. We would have heard.
What does it say there?
The notice, what's he written?
"Miss Susan Alexander, a pretty
but hopelessly incompetent amateur...
"... last night opened
the new Chicago Opera House...
"... in a performance of... "
I still can't pronounce that name.
"Her singing, happily,
is no concern of this department.
"Of her acting,
it is absolutely impossible to... "
Go on.
That's all there is.
Of her acting it is absolutely
impossible to say anything except...
...that, in the opinion of this reviewer,
it represents a new low.
- In the opinion of this reviewer.
- I didn't see that.
It isn't here, Mr. Bernstein, I'm dictating it.
- Mr. Kane, I...
- Get me a typewriter.
I'm going to finish Mr. Leland's notice.
Hello, Bernstein.
- Hello.
- Hello, Mr. Leland.
Where's my notice, Bernstein?
I've got to finish my notice.
- Mr. Kane is finishing it for you.
- Charlie?
Charlie out there?
I guess he's fixing it up.
I knew I'd never get that through.
Mr. Kane's finishing your review
just the way you started it.
He's writing a bad notice
like you wanted it to be.
I guess that'll show you.
Hello, Jedediah.
Hello, Charlie.
I didn't know we were speaking.
Sure we're speaking, Jedediah.
You're fired.
Everybody knows that story. Mr. Leland.
But why did he do it?
- How could a man write a notice...
- You just don't know Charlie.
He thought that by finishing that notice
he'd show me he was an honest man.
He was always trying to prove something.
That whole thing about Susie
being an opera singer.
That was trying to prove something.
You know what the headline was
the day before the election?
"Candidate Kane found
in love nest with 'singer. "'
He was going to take
the quotes off the singer.
Hey, nurse!
Five years ago he wrote
from that place down there in the South.
What's it called, Shangri-la? El Dorado?
Sloppy Joe's? What's the name?
All right, Xanadu, I knew it all the time.
You caught on, didn't you?
I'm not that hard to see through.
Well, I never even answered his letter.
Maybe I should have.
I guess he was pretty lonely down there
in that coliseum all those years.
He hadn't finished it when she left him.
He never finished it.
He never finished anything
except my notice.
- Of course, he built the joint for her.
- That must have been love.
I don't know.
He was disappointed in the world
so he built his own, an absolute monarchy.
It was something bigger
than an opera house anyway.
- Nurse.
- Yes, Mr. Leland.
I'm coming.
- There's one thing you can do for me.
- Sure.
Stop at the cigar store on your way out,
and get me a couple of good cigars.
- Be glad to.
- Thank you.
One is enough.
When I was a young man, there was
an impression that nurses were pretty.
Well, it was no truer then than it is today.
- I'll take your arm.
- All right.
- You won't forget about those cigars?
- I won't.
Have them wrapped like toothpaste,
or they'll stop them at the desk.
You know that young doctor
I was telling you about, well...
...he's got an idea
he wants to keep me alive.
I'd rather you'd just talk.
Anything that comes into your mind...
...about yourself and Mr. Kane.
You don't want to hear what comes into
my mind about myself and Charlie Kane.
You know, maybe I shouldn't have sung
for Charlie that first time I met him.
But I did an awful lot of singing after that.
I sang for teachers at $100 an hour.
- The teachers got that, I didn't.
- What did you get?
I didn't get a thing, except music lessons.
That's all there was in it.
He married you, didn't he?
He didn't mention anything about marriage
until after it was over and...
...until it got in the papers about us...
...and he lost the election,
and that Norton woman divorced him.
He was really interested in my voice.
Why did he build that opera house?
I didn't want it. I didn't want a thing.
It was his idea.
Everything was his idea...
...except my leaving him.
"Don't forget"
Don't get nervous.
Please. Let's come back.
Look at me, Mrs. Kane, darling.
"Get the voice out of the throat
Place the tone right in the mask
"Diaphragm"
You're out of pitch.
Some people can sing. Some can't.
Impossible.
It's not your job to give your opinion
of Mrs. Kane's talents.
You're supposed to train her voice,
Signor Matiste. Nothing more.
Please continue with the lesson.
- But, Mr. Kane.
- Please.
I'll be the laughingstock
of the musical world. People will think...
You're concerned what people will think?
Perhaps I can enlighten you a bit.
I'm an authority on what people will think.
The newspapers for example.
I run several newspapers
between here and San Francisco.
It's all right, darling.
Signor Matiste is going to listen to reason.
- How can I persuade you...
- You can't.
It's all right, darling, go ahead.
I thought you'd see it my way.
No, no, no.
"Ah. Cruel
"Tu m'as trop entendue
"Les Dieux m'en sont tmoins
"Ces Dieux qui dans mon flanc
"Ont allum
"Le feu fatal
"A tout mon sang
"Dites-moi comment j'expie
"Ce pch si fort
"Toujours remplie
"Je ne peux pas rsister encore
"Oh Dieux. Arrachez-moi
"Ces feux fatals"
I think it's dreadful.
"Allument ma mort
"Voil mon cur
"Voil mon cur
"C'est I que ta main doit frapper
"Voil mon cur
"Frappe
"Prte-moi ton pe
"Frappe"
Stop telling me he's your friend.
A friend don't write that kind of review.
All these other papers panning me,
I could expect that.
But for the Inquirer to run a thing like that,
spoiling my whole debut.
Come in.
I'll get it.
Friend. Not the kind of friends I know...
...but I'm not high class like you.
And I never went to any swell schools.
That'll be enough, Susan.
From Mr. Leland, sir.
He wanted me to make sure
you got this personally.
Is that something from him?
Charlie!
As for you,
you ought to have your head examined.
Sending him a letter telling him he's fired...
...with a $25,000 check in it.
What kind of firing do you call that?
You did send him a check for $25,000,
didn't you?
Yes.
I sent him a check for $25,000.
What's that?
Declaration of Principles.
What?
What is it?
An antique.
You're awful funny, aren't you?
I'll tell you one thing you're not going
to be funny about, and that's my singing.
I'm through.
I never wanted to do it in the first place.
You'll continue with your singing, Susan.
I don't propose
to have myself made ridiculous.
You don't propose
to have yourself made ridiculous!
What about me?
I'm the one that has to sing.
I'm the one that gets the raspberries.
Why don't you leave me alone?
My reasons satisfy me, Susan.
You seem unable to understand them.
I will not tell them to you again.
You'll continue with your singing.
Get Dr. Corey.
Susan.
She'll be perfectly all right
in a day or two, Mr. Kane.
I can't imagine how Mrs. Kane
came to make such a foolish mistake.
The sedative Dr. Wagner gave her
was in a somewhat larger bottle.
The strain of preparing for the new opera
has excited and confused her.
Yes, I'm sure that was it.
No objections to my staying
with her are there?
No, not at all.
I'd like the nurse to be here, too.
Good night, Mr. Kane.
Charlie.
I couldn't make you see how I felt, Charlie.
But I couldn't go through
with the singing again.
You don't know what it means
to know that people...
That the whole audience doesn't want you.
That's when you got to fight them.
All right.
You won't have to fight them anymore.
It's their loss.
What are you doing?
Jigsaw puzzles?
Charlie, what time is it?
In New York?
I said what time is it in New York?
- 11:30.
- Night?
The Bulldog's just gone to press.
Well, hurray for the Bulldog.
Gee, 11:30. Shows are just getting up.
People are going to nightclubs
and restaurants.
Of course, we're different
because we live in a palace.
You always said you wanted
to live in a palace.
A person could go crazy in this dump.
Nobody to talk to,
nobody to have any fun with.
but scenery and statues.
I'm lonesome.
Until yesterday, we've had no less
than 50 of your friends at any one time.
I think if you look in the west wing...
...you'll probably find a dozen vacationists
still in residence.
You make a joke out of everything.
Charlie, I want to go to New York.
I'm tired of being a hostess.
I want to have fun. Please, Charlie.
Charlie, please.
Our home is here, Susan.
I don't care to visit New York.
What are you doing?
One thing I can never understand:
How do you know
you haven't done it before?
It makes a whole lot more sense
than collecting statues.
You may be right.
I sometimes wonder...
...but you get into the habit.
It's not a habit, I do it because I like it.
I thought we might have
a picnic tomorrow.
Invite everybody to spend the night
at the Everglades.
Invite everybody. Order everybody,
you mean, and make them sleep in tents.
Who wants to sleep in tents
when they've got their own room...
...with a bath, where they know
where everything is?
I thought we might have
a picnic tomorrow.
You never give me anything
I really care about.
"It can't be love
"For there is no true love
"I know I've played at the game
"Like a moth in a blue flame
"Lost in the end, just the same
"All these years
"My heart's been floating around
in a puddle of tears
"I wonder what it is"
Sure, you give me things,
but that don't mean anything to you.
You're in a tent, darling,
you're not at home.
I can hear you very well
if you speak in a normal tone of voice.
What's the difference between giving me
a bracelet or giving someone $100,000...
...for a statue you'll keep crated up
and never look at?
It's just money. It doesn't mean anything.
You never really gave me anything
that you care about.
I want you to stop this.
I'm not going to stop it.
You never gave me anything in your life.
You just tried to buy me
into giving you something.
"It can't be love"
Whatever I do, I do because I love you.
You don't love me.
You want me to love you.
Sure. "I'm Charles Foster Kane.
"Whatever you want,
just name it and it's yours.
"But you gotta love me. "
Don't tell me you're sorry.
I'm not sorry.
Mr. Kane?
Mrs. Kane would like to see you, sir.
Marie has been packing for her
since morning.
Tell Arnold I'm ready, Marie.
Tell him he can get the bags.
Yes, madame.
Have you gone completely crazy?
Don't you know that our guests,
that everyone will know about this?
Packed your bag, sent for the car...
And left you?
Of course they'll hear.
I'm not saying goodbye, except to you.
But I never imagined
people wouldn't know.
I won't let you go.
Goodbye, Charlie.
Susan.
Please don't go.
Please, Susan.
From now on, everything will be
exactly the way you want it to be.
Not the way I think you want it, but...
...your way.
You mustn't go.
You can't do this to me.
I see.
It's you that this is being done to.
It's not me at all.
Not what it means to me.
I can't do this to you?
Oh, yes, I can.
In case you haven't heard,
I lost all my money and it was plenty.
The last 10 years
have been difficult for many.
They haven't been tough on me.
I just lost all my money.
- You're going down to Xanadu?
- Monday, with boys from the office.
Mr. Rawlston wants
the whole place photographed.
We run a picture magazine.
If you're smart, you'll get in touch
with Raymond. He's the butler.
You'll learn a lot from him.
He knows where all the bodies are buried.
You know, all the same,
I feel kind of sorry for Mr. Kane.
Don't you think I do?
What do you know, it's morning already.
Come around and tell me the story
of your life sometime.
Rosebud?
I'll tell you about Rosebud.
How much is it worth to you?
$1,000?
Well, I'll tell you, Mr. Thompson.
- He acted funny sometimes, you know?
- No, I didn't.
Yes, he did crazy things sometimes.
I've been working for him 11 years now...
...in charge of the whole place,
so I ought to know.
- Rosebud.
- Yes.
Like I tell you, the old man
acted kind of funny sometimes...
...but I knew how to handle him...
- Need a lot of service?
But I knew how to handle him.
Like that time his wife left.
Rosebud.
I see.
And that's what you know about Rosebud?
I heard him say it that other time, too.
He just said:
"Rosebud. "
Then he dropped the glass ball
and it broke on the floor.
He didn't say anything after that,
and I knew he was dead.
He said all kinds of things
that didn't mean anything.
Sentimental fellow, aren't you?
- Yes and no.
- That isn't worth $1,000.
You can keep on asking questions
if you want to.
We're leaving tonight...
...when we're through taking pictures.
Allow yourself plenty of time.
The train stops at the junction on signal,
but they don't like to wait.
I can remember when they'd wait all day...
...if Mr. Kane said so.
Better get going.
- Can we come down?
- Yes, hurry up. We're leaving.
How much do you think
this is all worth, Mr. Thompson?
Millions.
If anybody wants it.
Well, at least he brought all this stuff
to America.
- What's that?
- Another Venus.
$25,000.
A lot of money to pay
for a dame without a head.
The banks are out of luck?
- They'll clear all right.
- He never threw anything away.
"Welcome home, Mr. Kane, from 467
employees of the New York Inquirer. "
"One stove from the estate of Mary Kane,
Little Salem, Colorado. Value: $2."
We're supposed to get everything,
junk as well as art.
He sure liked to collect things.
Anything and everything.
A regular crow, eh?
- Hey, look, a jigsaw puzzle.
- We got a lot of those.
A Burmese temple and three
Spanish ceilings down the hall.
Part of a Scotch castle...
...that needs to be unwrapped.
Put all this stuff together:
The palaces and the paintings,
and the toys and everything.
What would it spell?
- Charles Foster Kane?
- Or Rosebud.
- How about it, Jerry?
- What's Rosebud?
That's what he said when he died.
Did you ever find out what it means?
- No, I didn't.
- What did you find out about him?
Not much, really.
We'd better get started.
What have you been doing all this time?
Playing with a jigsaw puzzle.
If you'd discovered what Rosebud meant,
I bet it would've explained everything.
No, I don't think so.
No.
He was a man who got
everything he wanted, and then lost it.
Maybe Rosebud was something
he couldn't get or something he lost.
It wouldn't have explained anything.
I don't think any word
can explain a man's life.
No. I guess Rosebud is just a piece
in a jigsaw puzzle.
A missing piece.
Come on, everybody...
...we'll miss the train.
Throw that junk in.
Maybe I was what you nowadays
call a stooge.
Everything was his idea...
...except my leaving him.
I've got his trunk all packed.
I've had it packed for a week now.
Sometimes I think I'd prefer
a rival of flesh and blood.
You're gonna need more than one lesson.
And you'll get more than one lesson.
Who's a busy man, me?
I'm chairman of the board.
I got nothing but time.
What do you want to know?
We thought... If we could find out what he
meant by his last words as he was dying...
Sentimental fellow, aren't you?
Yes and no.
"I think it would be fun
to run a newspaper. "
"I think it would be fun
to run a newspaper. "