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Citizen Kane (1941) Synopsis

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The story of the life of newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane. As a child, Kane is plucked from the security of his modest home after receiving an inheritance thanks to the deeds to a mine which, initially believed to be worthless, unexpectedly yields a fortune. Kane grows into a carefree young man who finds himself thrown out of a number of America’s best schools before deciding to assume control of a small newspaper. With the help of Jedediah Leland and Bernstein, Kane builds the newspaper into a media empire. He marries Emily Norton, the niece of the president, but in the space of a few years, and despite the birth of a son, the marriage grows cold. Kane meets Susan Alexander, a girl of ordinary means, with whom he begins an affair. It is this affair that leads to his political downfall on the eve of a Senatorial election when his rival, a crooked union boss, exposes the affair. With his marriage to Emily finished as a result of the scandal, Kane marries Susan, and attempts to build her into an opera star, even though she clearly doesn’t possess the necessary talent. The pressures Kane brings to bear on Susan eventually results in the collapse of their marriage. Susan leaves him to live alone in his vast mansion, where he dies alone, an embittered and unloved old man.

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