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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.
 
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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
.
 
 
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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
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