Welcome to Scripts.com!

Scripts.com is a huge collection of movie scripts, screenplays and transcripts from famous and not-so-famous screen writers from around the world — collaboratively published by amateur script writers and contributing editors.

Navigate through our scripts database alphabetically or simply search by keywords. You can submit a new script, discuss and rate existing scripts, and even translate pieces to many common and not-so-common languages.

Synopsis: When a reporter is assigned to decipher newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane's (Orson Welles) dying words, his investigation gradually reveals the fascinating portrait of a complex man who rose from obscurity to staggering heights. Though Kane's friend and colleague Jedediah Leland (Joseph Cotten), and his mistress, Susan Alexander (Dorothy Comingore), shed fragments of light on Kane's life, the reporter fears he may never penetrate the mystery of the elusive man's final word, "Rosebud."
Genre: Drama, Mystery
Year:
1941
850,748 Views


FADE IN:

EXT. XANADU - FAINT DAWN - 1940 (MINIATURE)

Window, very small in the distance, illuminated.

All around this is an almost totally black screen. Now, as

the camera moves slowly towards the window which is almost a

postage stamp in the frame, other forms appear; barbed wire,

cyclone fencing, and now, looming up against an early morning

sky, enormous iron grille work. Camera travels up what is now

shown to be a gateway of gigantic proportions and holds on the

top of it - a huge initial "K" showing darker and darker against

the dawn sky. Through this and beyond we see the fairy-tale

mountaintop of Xanadu, the great castle a sillhouette as its

summit, the little window a distant accent in the darkness.

DISSOLVE:

A SERIES OF SET -UPS, EACH CLOSER TO THE GREAT WINDOW, ALL

TELLING SOMETHING OF:

The literally incredible domain of CHARLES FOSTER KANE.

Its right flank resting for nearly forty miles on the Gulf

Coast, it truly extends in all directions farther than the eye

can see. Designed by nature to be almost completely bare and

flat - it was, as will develop, practically all marshland when

Kane acquired and changed its face - it is now pleasantly

uneven, with its fair share of rolling hills and one very good-

sized mountain, all man-made. Almost all the land is improved,

either through cultivation for farming purposes of through

careful landscaping, in the shape of parks and lakes. The

castle dominates itself, an enormous pile, compounded of several

genuine castles, of European origin, of varying architecture -

dominates the scene, from the very peak of the mountain.

Rate this script:2.5 / 6 votes

Herman J. Mankiewicz

Herman Jacob Mankiewicz was an American screenwriter, who, with Orson Welles, wrote the screenplay for Citizen Kane. Earlier, he was the Berlin correspondent for the Chicago Tribune and the drama critic for The New York Times and The New Yorker. more…

All Herman J. Mankiewicz scripts | Herman J. Mankiewicz Books

0 fans

Submitted by acronimous

Discuss everything about Scripts.com with the community:

0 Comments

    Translation

    Translate and read this script in other languages:

    Select another language:

    • - Select -
    • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
    • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
    • Español (Spanish)
    • Esperanto (Esperanto)
    • 日本語 (Japanese)
    • Português (Portuguese)
    • Deutsch (German)
    • العربية (Arabic)
    • Français (French)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
    • 한국어 (Korean)
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Gaeilge (Irish)
    • Українська (Ukrainian)
    • اردو (Urdu)
    • Magyar (Hungarian)
    • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
    • Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Italiano (Italian)
    • தமிழ் (Tamil)
    • Türkçe (Turkish)
    • తెలుగు (Telugu)
    • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
    • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
    • Čeština (Czech)
    • Polski (Polish)
    • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Românește (Romanian)
    • Nederlands (Dutch)
    • Ελληνικά (Greek)
    • Latinum (Latin)
    • Svenska (Swedish)
    • Dansk (Danish)
    • Suomi (Finnish)
    • فارسی (Persian)
    • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
    • հայերեն (Armenian)
    • Norsk (Norwegian)
    • English (English)

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this script to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "Scripts.com" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 18 Mar. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/>.

    We need you!

    Help us build the largest writers community and scripts collection on the web!

    Watch the movie trailer

    Citizen Kane

    The Marketplace:

    Sell your Script !

    Get listed in the most prominent screenplays collection on the web!


    Browse Scripts.com

    The Studio:

    ScreenWriting Tool

    Write your screenplay and focus on the story with many helpful features.