"Citizen Kane" Analysis

“Citizen Kane,” which is thought to be based on the life of newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, depicts millionaire Charles Foster Kane’s (Orson Welles) transition from humble beginnings to a life of glamour, fortune and, ultimately, despair. When Kane is just a young boy, his parents discover a massive gold mine on their property in rural Colorado and, in turn, become millionaires. Kane’s mother resolves to send him to live on the East Coast, where he can receive a top-notch education. Throughout adolescence and early adulthood, Kane repeatedly demonstrates a disdain for authority figures and institutions, getting kicked out of several prestigious colleges across the East Coast. In an attempt to defy his childhood guardian and banker, Walter Parks Thatcher (George Coulouris), Kane invests a large sum of money in a small newspaper called “The Inquirer”. Through outrageous displays of yellow journalism, Kane manages to bring “The Inquirer” into wide circulation and earn a name for himself. He proceeds to marry the president’s niece, Emily (Ruth Warrick), with whom he has a son. However, as Kane becomes increasingly involved in running “The Inquirer” and organizing his campaign for governor, his relationship with Emily falters. He has an affair with Susan Alexander (Dorothy Comingore), which ultimately leads to his downfall. His main political opponent, Jim Gettys (Ray Collins), catches wind of the affair and threatens to leak the story to the press unless Kane drops out of the election. Kane is too proud to step down, so he allows Gettys to taint his public image and thereafter divorces Emily and marries Susan. Desperate to repair his image, Kane tries to mold Susan into a respected opera singer. Instead, he humiliates Susan, who opts to leave him, accusing him of throwing money at problems instead of fixing them. Thus, Kane is left in solitude with an enormous mansion, a vast collection of statues and very few true friends.

Kane essentially realizes the American dream. He rises from an undesirable socioeconomic background, receives an education and builds a lucrative financial empire. However, Kane’s final word, “Rosebud,” reveals that he was far happier with the simple, quaint lifestyle he had before he acquired wealth. Rosebud is the name of his childhood sled, which he last played with on the day that his mother sent him to live on the East Coast. Kane’s life reveals that, in pursuing the American dream, one often sacrifices sincere, simple happiness in favor of money and success. Kane achieved immense financial success in his lifetime, but died a very lonely, miserable person because he had no genuine friends to share his accomplishments with. Thus, “Citizen Kane” offers the crucial message that, in the search for success, one should be sure to maintain his friendships and relationships at all costs.

"The Maltese Falcon" Analysis

The 1941 film noir “The Maltese Falcon” outlines a hardboiled private detective’s swift efforts to determine who murdered his business partner. Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) immediately launches an investigation when he discovers that his partner Miles Archer (Jerome Cohan) has been shot and killed during a routine investigation. After a little digging, he discovers that the man Miles had been tailing the night he died, Floyd Thursby, was killed shortly after Miles. The woman who requested that Miles follow Thursby, Brigid O’Shaughnessy (Mary Astor), admits to Sam that her initial story was false and that Thursby was actually her business partner and a dangerous man. She pays Sam to investigate the circumstances surrounding Thursby’s death. Sam then comes into contact with Joel Cairo (Peter Lorre), who cryptically refers to an apparently valuable bird. He eventually discovers that a rich socialite, Kasper Gutman (Sydney Greenstreet) is searching for “the Maltese falcon.” Gutman ultimately reveals to him that the Maltese falcon is a very valuable jewel-encrusted bird covered in black lacquer, and offers to pay Sam if he locates it. In the end, Sam ends up with the bird that Gutman believes to be the Maltese falcon. He uses it as a bargaining chip against Gutman, only to discover that Brigid has been lying about her involvement in the hunt for the falcon. She and Thursby were hired by Gutman to procure the bird, but Brigid had resolved to keep the bird for herself and therefore tried to evade Thursby by hiring Miles to intimidate him. However, when she realized that Thursby could not be intimidated, she killed Miles in hopes of framing Thursby. Thereafter, Gutman hired someone to kill Thursby to scare Brigid into returning the falcon. As it turns out, the falcon that Sam has is fake, so Gutman and Cairo set out to continue to search for the real falcon. In spite of his budding romance with Brigid, Sam decides to turn her in to the police.

Although Sam is clearly depicted as the protagonist of the film, he exhibits numerous harrowing qualities. For example, he does not appear particularly grief-stricken when he first learns that Miles was murdered. Although one might reason that Sam instead translates his pain into a desperate search to find Miles’ killer, the idea that Sam simply did not care about Miles is further supported by the fact that he had been having an affair with Miles’ wife before he died. Moreover, although Sam claimed to love Brigid, he coldly turns her in to the police at the end of the movie. Overall, Sam appears to be an indifferent and calculated—qualities that do not customarily characterize a movie’s protagonist. Perhaps Sam’s withdrawn personality is intended to reflect his masculinity. He is firm and composed while Brigid can’t keep her story straight and acts overly emotional. This would certainly seem consistent with film noir’s attempts to depict women harshly.

"The Awful Truth" Analysis

“The Awful Truth” is a fast-paced screwball comedy that chronicles an estranged couple’s comical attempts to outwit each other as they go through a divorce. Jerry Warriner (Cary Grant) is convinced that his wife Lucy (Irene Dunn) is having an affair with her voice coach Armand Duvalle (Alexander D’Arcy), while Lucy is equally certain that Jerry lied about his whereabouts when he claimed to be on a business trip in Florida. Resolute in their convictions that the other has been unfaithful, Lucy and Jerry resolve to get a divorce. Lucy moves into an apartment with her Aunt Patsy (Cecil Cunningham) and takes Mr. Smith, the dog she and Jerry previously shared, with her. Jerry uses his visitation rights with Mr. Smith as a means of gaining insight into Lucy’s love life. He is flabbergasted by Lucy’s apparent interest in Dan Leeson (Ralph Bellamy), her uncultured Southern neighbor. Lucy eventually realizes that she is still in love with Jerry, but inadvertently ruins their chances at reconciliation by giving Jerry reason to suspect that she is seeing Armand in addition to Dan. When Jerry starts seeing heiress Barbara Vance (Molly Lamont), Lucy becomes determined to win Jerry back. She sabotages his chances with Barbara by pretending to be his sister and leading Barbara’s parents to believe that Jerry is from humble roots. Ultimately, Jerry and Lucy put their differences aside and reconnect a few minutes before their divorce becomes finalized.

Although “The Awful Truth” depicts Lucy as a strong, independent woman in certain respects, the movie’s ending ultimately promotes the view that women are subordinate to men. At the beginning of the movie, Lucy eagerly meets Jerry’s challenge to file for divorce. She moves out of the apartment they share with her head held high. She is cool and composed in court, and craftily gains custody of Mr. Smith. However, after Lucy gets settled in her new apartment, it becomes apparent that she feels unfulfilled without a man in her life. She mopes around the apartment, lacking the motivation to go out. When Dan shows interest in her, she immediately jumps on the opportunity to make Jerry jealous. She even appears to temporarily convince herself that she is genuinely attracted to Dan, although she eventually realizes she is still enamored by Jerry. After an incident in which Lucy accidentally gives Jerry the impression that she is seeing Armand and leads Dan and his mother to believe that she is concealing affairs with Armand and Jerry, Lucy loses both Jerry and Dan’s affection. At this point, she becomes desperate. She makes a bold attempt to end Jerry’s budding relationship with Barbara, and ultimately wins Jerry back. Lucy clearly demonstrates a slew of admirable qualities; she is creative, witty and determined. However, these characteristics are not applied to ambitious endeavors. Instead, Lucy applies them solely to her various efforts to maintain relationships with men. Thus, “The Awful Truth” implies that women are defined by the men in their lives, and not by their own personal achievements.

"42nd Street" Analysis

Andi Hubbell

The 1933 film “42^nd Street” outlines the financial and personal struggles that the cast, crew and producers of a Broadway musical face as they aspire to create a successful show. Julian Marsh (Warner Baxter) is a demanding but brilliant director who aims to earn enough money from ticket sales for “42^nd Street” to be able to live comfortably in spite of his worsening sickness. He gains financial support for the play from millionaire Abner Dillon (Guy Kibbee), whose sole interest in the show is in the chorus girls it includes. In exchange for backing the play, Abner insists that its star, Dorothy Brock (Bebe Daniels), date him. Dorothy does so although she is clearly still enamored by her former musical mentor Pat Denning (George Brent). When Dorothy informs Pat that she believes that they should stop seeing one another, he appears to take interest in an inexperienced chorus girl in the musical named Peggy Sawyer (Ruby Keeler). Peggy, although rough around the edges, proves both lovable and talented. Throughout the rigorous five weeks of rehearsal that precede “42^nd Street”’s opening night, Peggy draws attention from numerous other suitors and easily makes friends with fellow chorus girls. Unfortunately, a few days before the show’s premiere, Dorothy spots Peggy with Pat and grows extremely jealous. She unleashes her fury the night before the show, when she insults an intoxicated Abner and fractures her ankle in a fit of rage when Peggy enters Pat’s hotel room. Just when the odds of putting on the opening night performance seem very bleak, Peggy’s quirky friend Ann Lowell (Ginger Rogers) convinces Julian to allow Peggy to assume Dorothy’s role. With Dorothy’s blessing, Peggy graces the stage and leaves a stellar impression on the audience. Dorothy, who realizes that she has been neglecting the possibility of having true love in favor of maintaining her stardom, becomes engaged to Pat.

In spite of its inconsistent, at times lacking storyline, “42^nd Street” proves a successfully executed film because it appeals to the dominant values of the society and time period in which it was produced. The musical fails to construct coherent romances between characters; Pat appears to have discarded his feelings for Dorothy in favor of pursuing Peggy, but ultimately disregards his developing romance with Peggy when Dorothy decides she wants to get married. Similarly, Peggy seems to be interested in Pat, but still shamelessly flirts with Billy Lawler (Dick Powell), who took a liking to Peggy the moment he met her. Moreover, the musical barely scrapes the surface of the immense financial problems most individuals had during the Great Depression. The only time economic hardships are mentioned is when the creative team frets about maintaining Abner’s financial support, and when Julian asserts that he must make a substantial profit from the show in order to be able to support himself. Nonetheless, “42^nd Street” was likely very appealing to audiences when it was released in 1933 because it played on the Great Depression era values of maintaining a hard work ethic and collaborating with others to achieve success. Viewers saw the cast and crew’s efforts to attain prosperity as congruent to American society’s struggles to overcome financial hardship and find success. In 1933, the expression of these values was probably more crucial to the success of a film than the depth and coherence of its storyline. The extravagant stage scenes that the movie revealed also probably enraptured impoverished audience members.