1

The

“Third Revised Final”

script of Citizen Kane: Orson Welles and the roadmap to a masterpiece

(For the full script of Citizen Kane, with an overlay of edits, additions, and deletions to show the final film, see page 10.)  __________

By Harlan Lebo leboprojects@gmail.com

 Harlan Lebo is the author of Citizen Kane

 – 

 

 A Filmmaker’s Journey

 

(St Martin’s Press)

 , which explores the full story of the creation

of Orson Welles’ masterpiece.

 Lebo has also written books on the making of Casablanca and The Godfather.  __________

The authorship of

Citizen Kane

 has been one of the most disputed questions in the history of film

 – 

 almost from the moment the script was completed. The controversy began soon after the final draft was submitted in July 1940. Herman Mankiewicz, who had been assigned by Orson Welles to write the script, believed Welles would try to seek sole credit for writing (in addition to directing, producing, and starring in the film.) As the stature of

Citizen Kane

 as a cinema masterpiece continued to grow, the debate about the script has also continued.

Mankiewicz or Welles or both?

Conflicting views

remain about who is “mo

st

responsible” for writing

Citizen Kane.

There is general agreement

 – 

 if not unanimous -- that Welles and Mankiewicz worked together in discussions about plot and characters before writing began, Mankiewicz wrote the initial draft with the assistance of editor John Houseman, and Welles edited the draft scripts as they evolved and wrote new scenes as well. T

he Writer’s Guild later confirmed

 joint credits for both Mankiewicz and Welles -- credits that earned each of them an Academy Award for the Best Original Screenplay of 1941.

 

2

The real question remains...

Regardless of who wrote the draft scripts for

Citizen Kane

, the discussion misses a larger and more important issue:

 The final film of Citizen Kane is significantly different from any of the  scripts prepared before production of the film began.

 Between February and July 1940, seven official draft scripts were produced

 – 

 each dated and copied on RKO stationery for use by the production team. The script designated

“Final”

was released on June 18, 1940. The

“Second Revised Final” was distributed on Ju

ly 9. The

“Third Revised Final” – 

 the last formal script

 – 

 was released on July 16. In addition, an unusual

“

Correction S

cript” – 

 undated, typed on plain paper, and arranged in a note-like format -- was produced at an unknown time after July 16

(more on the “Correction Script” later)

. All of the script drafts

 – 

 even the Third Revised Final and the Correction Script

 – 

 contain a large amount of superfluous material, and several major scenes lack focus on the topics that would eventually become the core of

Welles’ vision for the final film

 

(for examples, see #2 below).

 But more important:

 several key scenes in the final film are not part of the Third Revised  Final script

 – 

 the last draft that was completed before Mankiewicz left the project on July 27 and not long before the official shooting schedule began on July 30, 1940 (a few shots had  been completed earlier).

Welles at a crossroads

After filming began, Welles still had to deal with several lingering issues in the script that had not been resolved. Earlier in 1940, script cuts had been ordered because of budget restrictions. As a result, by the time Kane is shown as a young man for the first time in the Third Revised Final script -- what would have been more than 20 minutes into the film if shot as written -- viewers would have known little about

Kane’s

character early in his adult life

.

 

 

3

And key scenes had not been written yet that Welles believed were needed so viewers would appreciate Kane as a crusading public servant

and 

 an unscrupulous publisher 

.

 Welles also wanted to show how the Dep

ression destroyed Kane’s empire

(see #9).

 Of particular importance to Welles, the Third Revised Final script still contained scenes that show Kane trying to

explain

 his own behavior

 – 

 an issue that Welles would address not only for Citizen Kane, but in his subsequent films as well

(see #1)

. The story of how Welles modified the script during production is explored in detail in my  book,

Citizen Kane: A Filmmaker’s Journey

.

 But in brief, here is how Welles continued his work on the script, and what this process accomplished.

Rewriting and more rewriting

As filming proceeded in August 1940, and with gaps remaining and several sections of the script still not as Welles wanted them,

Welles’

writing continued throughout the shooting

schedule. Welles’

assistant Kathryn Trosper recalled taking dictation for script additions as early as 2 a.m. while Welles was in extended makeup sessions. Associate producer Richard Baer also recalled a frenetic pace to the rewriting:

“It is

 not

 possible,” Baer said

 years later 

, “to fix the actual number of complete redrafts by Welles,

 as changes were being continuously made on portions that had previously been

written.”

 

How did Citizen Kane change in

Welles’ revisions and

additions to the script?

Unfortunately, no examples of scripts for these late scenes still exist, and Welles never described precisely how he prepared and shot those scenes.

The “Correction Script” includes some of Welles’

edits, but none of the additions that were still to come. And no records exist

that explain the role of the “Correction Script” in the production.

 As an alternative to first-hand historical evidence, this document explores the creation of

Citizen Kane

 as shown through an overlay on top of the Third Revised Final script that shows

Welles’

edits, deletions, and additions as filming proceeded.

Editing “final” scripts is routine in filmmaking, but Welles’ revisions to the Third Revised

Final script for

Citizen Kane

 were extensive; as you will see in this document,

Welles’

work