НАЗВАНИЕ: Citizen Kane (1941)
ГОД: 1941
СЦЕНАРИСТ: Orson Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz
ИСТОЧНИК: ScriptSlug (PDF) — https://www.scriptslug.com/script/citizen-kane-1941
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СКАЧАНО: 2026-10-12 11:49
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    CITIZEN KANE



     Written by


Herman J. Mankiewicz

         &

    Orson Welles
                         PROLOGUE

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 silhouette 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.

                                                  DISSOLVE:

GOLF LINKS (MINIATURE)

Past which we move. The greens are straggly and overgrown,
the fairways wild with tropical weeds, the links unused and
not seriously tended for a long time.

                                              DISSOLVE OUT:

                                              DISSOLVE IN:
                                                         2.


WHAT WAS ONCE A GOOD-SIZED ZOO (MINIATURE)

Of the Hagenbeck type. All that now remains, with one
exception, are the individual plots, surrounded by moats, on
which the animals are kept, free and yet safe from each
other and the landscape at large. (Signs on several of the
plots indicate that here there were once tigers, lions,
giraffes.)

                                                 DISSOLVE:

THE MONKEY TERRACE (MINIATURE)

In the foreground, a great obscene ape is outlined against
the dawn murk. He is scratching himself slowly,
thoughtfully, looking out across the estates of Charles
Foster Kane, to the distant light glowing in the castle on
the hill.

                                                 DISSOLVE:

THE ALLIGATOR PIT (MINIATURE)

The idiot pile of sleepy dragons.   Reflected in the muddy
water - the lighted window.

THE LAGOON (MINIATURE)

The boat landing sags. An old newspaper floats on the
surface of the water - a copy of the New York Enquirer." As
it moves across the frame, it discloses again the reflection
of the window in the castle, closer than before.

THE GREAT SWIMMING POOL (MINIATURE)

It is empty.   A newspaper blows across the cracked floor of
the tank.

                                                 DISSOLVE:

THE COTTAGES (MINIATURE)

In the shadows, literally the shadows, of the castle. As we
move by, we see that their doors and windows are boarded up
and locked, with heavy bars as further protection and
sealing.

                                             DISSOLVE OUT:

                                             DISSOLVE IN:

A DRAWBRIDGE (MINIATURE)
                                                         3.


Over a wide moat, now stagnant and choked with weeds. We
move across it and through a huge solid gateway into a
formal garden, perhaps thirty yards wide and one hundred
yards deep, which extends right up to the very wall of the
castle. The landscaping surrounding it has been sloppy and
causal for a long time, but this particular garden has been
kept up in perfect shape. As the camera makes its way
through it, towards the lighted window of the castle, there
are revealed rare and exotic blooms of all kinds. The
dominating note is one of almost exaggerated tropical
lushness, hanging limp and despairing. Moss, moss, moss.
Ankor Wat, the night the last King died.

                                                 DISSOLVE:

THE WINDOW (MINIATURE)

Camera moves in until the frame of the window fills the
frame of the screen. Suddenly, the light within goes out.
This stops the action of the camera and cuts the music which
has been accompanying the sequence. In the glass panes of
the window, we see reflected the ripe, dreary landscape of
Mr. Kane's estate behind and the dawn sky.

                                                 DISSOLVE:

INT. KANE'S BEDROOM - FAINT DAWN -

A very long shot of Kane's enormous bed, silhouetted against
the enormous window.

                                                 DISSOLVE:

INT. KANE'S BEDROOM - FAINT DAWN - SNOW SCENE.

An incredible one. Big, impossible flakes of snow, a too
picturesque farmhouse and a snow man. The jingling of
sleigh bells in the musical score now makes an ironic
reference to Indian Temple bells - the music freezes -

                       KANE'S OLD OLD VOICE
          Rosebud...

The camera pulls back, showing the whole scene to be
contained in one of those glass balls which are sold in
novelty stores all over the world. A hand - Kane's hand,
which has been holding the ball, relaxes. The ball falls
out of his hand and bounds down two carpeted steps leading
to the bed, the camera following. The ball falls off the
last step onto the marble floor where it breaks, the
fragments glittering in the first rays of the morning sun.
This ray cuts an angular pattern across the floor, suddenly
crossed with a thousand bars of light as the blinds are
pulled across the window.
                                                         4.


The foot of Kane's bed. The camera very close. Outlined
against the shuttered window, we can see a form - the form
of a nurse, as she pulls the sheet up over his head. The
camera follows this action up the length of the bed and
arrives at the face after the sheet has covered it.

                                                 FADE OUT:

                                                 FADE IN:

INT. OF A MOTION PICTURE PROJECTION ROOM

On the screen as the camera moves in are the words:

"MAIN TITLE"

Stirring, brassy music is heard on the soundtrack (which, of
course, sounds more like a soundtrack than ours.)

The screen in the projection room fills our screen as the
second title appears:

"CREDITS"

NOTE: Here follows a typical news digest short, one of the
regular monthly or bi-monthly features, based on public
events or personalities. These are distinguished from
ordinary newsreels and short subjects in that they have a
fully developed editorial or storyline. Some of the more
obvious characteristics of the "March of Time," for example,
as well as other documentary shorts, will be combined to
give an authentic impression of this now familiar type of
short subject. As is the accepted procedure in these short
subjects, a narrator is used as well as explanatory titles.

                                                 FADE OUT:

                      NEWS DIGEST NARRATOR
            Legendary was the Xanadu where
            Kubla Kahn decreed his stately
            pleasure dome -
                (with quotes in his
                 voice)
            "Where twice five miles of fertile
            ground, with walls and towers were
            girdled 'round."

                      (DROPPING THE QUOTES)
            Today, almost as legendary is
            Florida's XANADU - world's largest
            private pleasure ground.
                                                        5.


          Here, on the deserts of the Gulf
          Coast, a private mountain was
          commissioned, successfully built
          for its landlord. Here in a private
          valley, as in the Coleridge poem,
          "blossoms many an incense-bearing
          tree." Verily, "a miracle of rare
          device."

U.S.A.

CHARLES FOSTER KANE

Opening shot of great desolate expanse of Florida coastline

(1940 - DAY)

                                                DISSOLVE:

Series of shots showing various aspects of Xanadu, all as
they might be photographed by an ordinary newsreel cameraman
- nicely photographed, but not atmospheric to the extreme
extent of the Prologue (1940).

                    NARRATOR
              (dropping the quotes)
          Here, for Xanadu's landlord, will
          be held 1940's biggest, strangest
          funeral; here this week is laid to
          rest a potent figure of our Century
          - America's Kubla Kahn - Charles
          Foster Kane. In journalism's
          history, other names are honored
          more than Charles Foster Kane's,
          more justly revered. Among
          publishers, second only to James
          Gordon Bennet the First: his
          dashing, expatriate son; England's
          Northcliffe and Beaverbrook;
          Chicago's Patterson and McCormick;

TITLE:

TO FORTY-FOUR MILLION U.S. NEWS BUYERS, MORE NEWSWORTHY THAN
THE NAMES IN HIS OWN HEADLINES, WAS KANE HIMSELF, GREATEST
NEWSPAPER TYCOON OF THIS OR ANY OTHER GENERATION.

Shot of a huge, screen-filling picture of Kane. Pull back
to show that it is a picture on the front page of the
"Enquirer," surrounded by the reversed rules of mourning,
with masthead and headlines. (1940)

                                                DISSOLVE:
                                                         6.


A great number of headlines, set in different types and
different styles, obviously from different papers, all
announcing Kane's death, all appearing over photographs of
Kane himself (perhaps a fifth of the headlines are in
foreign languages). An important item in connection with
the headlines is that many of them - positively not all -
reveal passionately conflicting opinions about Kane. Thus,
they contain variously the words "patriot," "democrat,"
"pacifist," "war-monger," "traitor," "idealist," "American,"
etc.

TITLE:

TO 1940 - ALL OF THESE YEARS HE COVERED, MANY OF THESE

YEARS HE WAS.

Newsreel shots of San Francisco during and after the fire,
followed by shots of special trains with large streamers:
"Kane Relief Organization." Over these shots superimpose
the date -



Artist's painting of Foch's railroad car and peace
negotiators, if actual newsreel shot unavailable. Over this
shot sumperimpose the date - 1918.

                    NARRATOR
          Denver's Bonfils and Sommes; New
          York's late, great Joseph Pulitzer;
          America's emperor of the news
          syndicate, another editorialist and
          landlord, the still mighty and once
          mightier Hearst. Great names all
          of them - but none of them so
          loved, hated, feared, so often
          spoken - as Charles Foster Kane.
          The San Francisco earthquake. First
          with the news were the Kane papers.
          First with Relief of the Sufferers,
          First with the news of their Relief
          of the Sufferers. Kane papers scoop
          the world on the Armistice -
          publish, eight hours before
          competitors, complete details of
          the Armistice teams granted the
          Germans by Marshall Foch from his
          railroad car in the Forest of
          Compeigne. For forty years
          appeared in Kane newsprint no
          public issue on which Kane papers
          took no stand.
                                                        7.


          No public man whom Kane himself did
          not support or denounce - often
          support, then denounce. Its humble
          beginnings, a dying dailey -

Shots with the date - 1898 (to be supplied)

Shots with the date - 1910 (to be supplied)

Shots with the date - 1922 (to be supplied)

Headlines, cartoons, contemporary newreels or stills of the
following:

WOMAN SUFFRAGE

The celebrated newsreel shot of about 1914.

PROHIBITION

Breaking up of a speakeasy and such.

T.V.A.

LABOR RIOTS

Brief clips of old newreel shots of William Jennings Bryan,
Theodore Roosevelt, Stalin, Walter P. Thatcher, Al Smith,
McKinley, Landon, Franklin D. Roosevelt and such. Also,
recent newsreels of the elderly Kane with such Nazis as
Hitler and Goering; and England's Chamberlain and Churchill.

Shot of a ramshackle building with old-fashioned presses
showing through plate glass windows and the name "Enquirer"
in old- fashioned gold letters. (1892)

                                                DISSOLVE:

                    NARRATOR
          Kane's empire, in its glory, held
          dominion over thirty-seven
          newpapers, thirteen magazines, a
          radio network. An empire upon an
          empire. The first of grocery
          stores, paper mills, apartment
          buildings, factories, forests,
          ocean-liners - An empire through
          which for fifty years flowed, in an
          unending stream, the wealth of the
          earth's third richest gold mine...
          Famed in American legend is the
          origin of the Kane fortune...
                                                        8.


          How, to boarding housekeeper Mary
          Kane, by a defaulting boarder, in
          was left the supposedly worthless
          deed to an abandoned mine shaft:
          The Colorado Lode. The magnificent
          Enquirer Building of today.

- a map of the USA, covering the entire screen, which in
animated diagram shows the Kane publications spreading from
city to city. Starting from New York, minature newboys
speed madly to Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, Los Angeles, San
Francisco, Washington, Atlanta, El Paso, etc., screaming
"Wuxtry, Kane Papers, Wuxtry."

Shot of a large mine going full blast, chimneys belching
smoke, trains moving in and out, etc. A large sign reads
"Colorado Lode Mining Co." (1940) Sign reading; "Little
Salem, CO - 25 MILES."

                                                DISSOLVE:

An old still shot of Little Salem as it was 70 years ago
(identified by copper-plate caption beneath the still).
(1870)

Shot of early tintype stills of Thomas Foster Kane and his
wife, Mary, on their wedding day. A similar picture of Mary
Kane some four or five years later with her little boy,
Charles Foster Kane.

                    NARRATOR
          Fifty-seven years later, before a
          Congressional Investigation, Walter
          P. Thatcher, grand old man of Wall
          Street, for years chief target of
          Kane papers' attack on "trusts,"
          recalls a journey he made as a
          youth...

Shot of Capitol, in Washington D.C.

Shot of Congressional Investigating Committee (reproduction
of existing J.P. Morgan newsreel). This runs silent under
narration. Walter P. Thatcher is on the stand. He is
flanked by his son, Walter P. Thatcher Jr., and other
partners. He is being questioned by some Merry Andrew
congressmen. At this moment, a baby alligator has just been
placed in his lap, causing considerable confusion and
embarrassment.

Newsreel close-up of Thatcher, the soundtrack of which now
fades in.
                                                      9.


                    THATCHER
          ... because of that trivial
          incident...

                    INVESTIGATOR
          It is a fact, however, is it not,
          that in 1870, you did go to
          Colorado?

                    THATCHER
          I did.

                    INVESTIGATOR
          In connection with the Kane
          affairs?

                    THATCHER
          Yes. My firm had been appointed
          trustees by Mrs. Kane for the
          fortune, which she had recently
          acquired. It was her wish that I
          should take charge of this boy,
          Charles Foster Kane.

                    NARRATOR
          That same month in Union Square -

                    INVESTIGATOR
          Is it not a fact that on that
          occasion, the boy personally
          attacked you after striking you in
          the stomach with a sled?

Loud laughter and confusion.

                    THATCHER
          Mr. Chairman, I will read to this
          committee a prepared statement I
          have brought with me - and I will
          then refuse to answer any further
          questions. Mr. Johnson, please!

A young assistant hands him a sheet of paper from a
briefcase.
                                                      10.


                    THATCHER
              (reading it)
          "With full awareness of the meaning
          of my words and the responsibility
          of what I am about to say, it is my
          considered belief that Mr. Charles
          Foster Kane, in every essence of
          his social beliefs and by the
          dangerous manner in which he has
          persistently attacked the American
          traditions of private property,
          initiative and opportunity for
          advancement, is - in fact - nothing
          more or less than a Communist."

Newsreel of Union Square meeting, section of crowd carrying
banners urging the boycott of Kane papers. A speaker is on
the platform above the crowd.

                    SPEAKER
              (fading in on soundtrack)
          - till the words "Charles Foster
          Kane" are a menace to every working
          man in this land. He is today what
          he has always been and always will
          be - A FASCIST!

                    NARRATOR
          And yet another opinion - Kane's
          own.

Silent newsreel on a windy platform, flag-draped, in front
of the magnificent Enquirer building. On platform, in full
ceremonial dress, is Charles Foster Kane. He orates
silently.

TITLE:

"I AM, HAVE BEEN, AND WILL BE ONLY ONE THING - AN AMERICAN."

CHARLES FOSTER KANE.

Same locale, Kane shaking hands out of frame.

Another newsreel shot, much later, very brief, showing Kane,
older and much fatter, very tired-looking, seated with his
second wife in a nightclub. He looks lonely and unhappy in
the midst of the gaiety.
                                                         11.


                    NARRATOR
          Twice married, twice divorced -
          first to a president's niece, Emily
          Norton - today, by her second
          marriage, chatelaine of the oldest
          of England's stately homes.
          Sixteen years after that - two
          weeks after his divorce from Emily
          Norton - Kane married Susan
          Alexander, singer, at the Town Hall
          in Trenton, New Jersey.

                                                  TITLE:

FEW PRIVATE LIVES WERE MORE PUBLIC.

Period still of Emily Norton (1900).

                                                DISSOLVE:

Reconstructed silent newsreel. Kane, Susan, and Bernstein
emerging from side doorway of City Hall into a ring of press
photographers, reporters, etc. Kane looks startled, recoils
for an instance, then charges down upon the photographers,
laying about him with his stick, smashing whatever he can
hit.

                    NARRATOR
          For wife two, one-time opera
          singing Susan Alexander, Kane built
          Chicago's Municipal Opera House.
          Cost: three million dollars.
          Conceived for Susan Alexander Kane,
          half-finished before she divorced
          him, the still unfinished Xanadu.
          Cost: no man can say.

Still of architect's sketch with typically glorified
"rendering" of the Chicago Municipal Opera House.

                                                DISSOLVE:

A glamorous shot of the almost-finished Xanadu, a
magnificent fairy-tale estate built on a mountain. (1920)

Then shots of its preparation. (1917)

Shots of truck after truck, train after train, flashing by
with tremendous noise.

Shots of vast dredges, steamshovels.

Shot of ship standing offshore unloading its lighters.
                                                        12.


In quick succession, shots follow each other, some
reconstructed, some in miniature, some real shots (maybe
from the dam projects) of building, digging, pouring
concrete, etc.

                    NARRATOR
          One hundred thousand trees, twenty
          thousand tons of marble, are the
          ingredients of Xanadu's mountain.
          Xanadu's livestock: the fowl of the
          air, the fish of the sea, the beast
          of the field and jungle - two of
          each; the biggest private zoo since
          Noah. Contents of Kane's palace:
          paintings, pictures, statues, the
          very stones of many another palace,
          shipped to Florida from every
          corner of the earth, from other
          Kane houses, warehouses, where they
          mouldered for years. Enough for ten
          museums - the loot of the world.

More shots as before, only this time we see (in miniature) a
large mountain - at different periods in its development -
rising out of the sands.

Shots of elephants, apes, zebras, etc. being herded,
unloaded, shipped, etc. in various ways.

Shots of packing cases being unloaded from ships, from
trains, from trucks, with various kinds of lettering on them
(Italian, Arabian, Chinese, etc.) but all consigned to
Charles Foster Kane, Xanadu, Florida.

A reconstructed still of Xanadu - the main terrace. A group
of persons in clothes of the period of 1917. In their
midst, clearly recognizable, are Kane and Susan.

                    NARRATOR
          Kane urged his country's entry into
          one war, opposed participation in
          another. Swung the election to one
          American President at least, was
          called another's assassin. Thus,
          Kane's papers might never have
          survived - had not the President.

                                                  TITLE:

FROM XANADU, FOR THE PAST TWENTY-FIVE YEARS, ALL KANE
ENTERPRISES HAVE BEEN DIRECTED, MANY OF THE NATIONS
DESTINIES SHAPED.
                                                         13.


Shots of various authentically worded headlines of American
papers since 1895.

Spanish-American War shots. (1898)

A graveyard in France of the World War and hundreds of
crosses.

                    (1919)
          Old newsreels of a political
          campaign.

Insert of a particularly virulent headline and/or cartoon.

HEADLINE: "PRESIDENT SHOT"

                    NARRATOR
          Kane, molder of mass opinion though
          he was, in all his life was never
          granted elective office by the
          voters of his country. Few U.S.
          news publishers have been. Few,
          like one-time Congressman Hearst,
          have ever run for any office - most
          know better - conclude with other
          political observers that one man's
          press has power enough for himself.
          But Kane papers were once strong
          indeed, and once the prize seemed
          almost his. In 1910, as
          Independent Candidate for governor,
          the best elements of the state
          behind him - the White House
          seemingly the next easy step in a
          lightning political career -

NIGHT SHOT OF CROWD BURNING CHARLES FOSTER KANE IN EFFIGY.

THE DUMMY BEARS A GROTESQUE, COMIC RESEMBLANCE TO KANE. IT
IS TOSSED INTO THE FLAMES, WHICH BURN UP - AND THEN DOWN...
(1910)

                                                FADE OUT:

                                                   TITLE:

IN POLITICS - ALWAYS A BRIDESMAID, NEVER A BRIDE

Newsreel shots of great crowds streaming into a building -
Madison Square Garden - then shots inside the vast
auditorium, at one end of which is a huge picture of Kane.
(1910)
                                                         14.


Shot of box containing the first Mrs. Kane and young Howard
Kane, age five. They are acknowledging the cheers of the
crowd. (Silent Shot) (1910)

Newsreel shot of dignitaries on platform, with Kane,
alongside of speaker's table, beaming, hand upraised to
silence the crowd. (Silent Shot) (1910)

                    NARRATOR
          Then, suddenly - less than one week
          before election - defeat! Shameful,
          ignominious - defeat that set back
          for twenty years the cause of
          reform in the U.S., forever
          cancelled political chances for
          Charles Foster Kane. Then, in the
          third year of the Great
          Depression... As to all
          publishers, it sometimes must - to
          Bennett, to Munsey and Hearst it
          did - a paper closes! For Kane, in
          four short years: collapse!

Eleven Kane papers, four Kane magazines merged, more sold,
scrapped -

Newsreel shot - closeup of Kane delivering a speech...
(1910)

The front page of a contemporary paper - a screaming
headline. Twin phots of Kane and Susan. (1910)

Printed title about Depression.

Once more repeat the map of the USA 1932-1939. Suddenly,
the cartoon goes into reverse, the empire begins to shrink,
illustrating the narrator's words.

The door of a newspaper office with the signs: "Closed."

                    NARRATOR
          Then four long years more - alone
          in his never-finished, already
          decaying, pleasure palace, aloof,
          seldom visited, never photographed,
          Charles Foster Kane continued to
          direct his falling empire ...
          vainly attempting to sway, as he
          once did, the destinies of a nation
          that has ceased to listen to him
          ... ceased to trust him...
                                                        15.


                    SHOTS OF XANADU. (1940)
          Series of shots, entirely modern,
          but rather jumpy and obviously
          bootlegged, showing Kane in a bath
          chair, swathed in summer rugs,
          being perambulated through his rose
          garden, a desolate figure in the
          sunshine. (1935)

                    NARRATOR
          Last week, death came to sit upon
          the throne of America's Kubla Khan -
          last week, as it must to all men,
          death came to Charles Foster Kane.

                                                 DISSOLVE:

Cabinet Photograph (Full Screen) of Kane as an old, old man.
This image remains constant on the screen (as camera pulls
back, taking in the interior of a dark projection room.

INT. PROJECTION ROOM - DAY -

A fairly large one, with a long throw to the screen.   It is
dark.

The image of Kane as an old man remains constant on the
screen as camera pulls back, slowly taking in and
registering Projection Room. This action occurs, however,
only after the first few lines of encurring dialogue have
been spoken. The shadows of the men speaking appear as they
rise from their chairs - black against the image of Kane's
face on the screen.

NOTE: These are the editors of a "News Digest" short, and
of the Rawlston magazines. All his enterprises are
represented in the projection room, and Rawlston himself,
that great man, is present also and will shortly speak up.

During the entire course of this scene, nobody's face is
really seen. Sections of their bodies are picked out by a
table light, a silhouette is thrown on the screen, and their
faces and bodies are themselves thrown into silhouette
against the brilliant slanting rays of light from the
projection room.

A Third Man is on the telephone.   We see a corner of his
head and the phone.

                    THIRD MAN
              (at phone)
          Stand by. I'll tell you if we want
          to run it again.
              (hangs up)
                                                      16.


                       THOMPSON'S VOICE
          Well?

A short pause.

                    A MAN'S VOICE
          It's a tough thing to do in a
          newsreel. Seventy years of a man's
          life -

Murmur of highly salaried assent at this. Rawlston walks
toward camera and out of the picture. Others are rising.
Camera during all of this, apparently does its best to
follow action and pick up faces, but fails. Actually, all
set-ups are to be planned very carefully to exclude the
element of personality from this scene; which is expressed
entirely by voices, shadows, silhouettes and the big, bright
image of Kane himself on the screen.

                    A VOICE
          See what Arthur Ellis wrote about
          him in the American review?

                       THIRD MAN
          I read it.

                    THE VOICE
              (its owner is already
               leaning across the table,
               holding a piece of paper
               under the desk light and
               reading from it)
          Listen: Kane is dead. He
          contributed to the journalism of
          his day - the talent of a
          mountebank, the morals of a
          bootlegger, and the manners of a
          pasha. He and his kind have almost
          succeeded in transforming a once
          noble profession into a seven
          percent security - no longer
          secure.

                    ANOTHER VOICE
          That's what Arthur Ellis is writing
          now. Thirty years ago, when Kane
          gave him his chance to clean up
          Detroit and Chicago and St. Louis,
          Kane was the greatest guy in the
          world. If you ask me -

                    ANOTHER VOICE
          Charles Foster Kane was a...
                                                      17.


Then observations are made almost simultaneous.

                    RAWLSTON'S VOICE
          Just a minute!

Camera moves to take in his bulk outlined against the glow
from the projection room.

                    RAWLSTON
          What were Kane's last words?

A silence greets this.

                    RAWLSTON
          What were the last words he said on
          earth? Thompson, you've made us a
          good short, but it needs character -

                    SOMEBODY'S VOICE
          Motivation -

                    RAWLSTON
          That's it - motivation. What made
          Kane what he was? And, for that
          matter, what was he? What we've
          just seen are the outlines of a
          career - what's behind the career?
          What's the man? Was he good or
          bad? Strong or foolish? Tragic or
          silly? Why did he do all those
          things? What was he after?
              (then, appreciating his
               point)
          Maybe he told us on his death bed.

                    THOMPSON
          Yes, and maybe he didn't.

                    RAWLSTON
          Ask the question anyway, Thompson!
          Build the picture around the
          question, even if you can't answer
          it.

                    THOMPSON
          I know, but -

                     RAWLSTON
              (riding over him like any
               other producer)
          All we saw on that screen was a big
          American -
                                                         18.


                     A VOICE
           One of the biggest.

                      RAWLSTON
               (without pausing for
                this)
           But how is he different from Ford?
           Or Hearst for that matter? Or
           Rockefeller - or John Doe?

                     A VOICE
           I know people worked for Kane will
           tell you - not only in the
           newspaper business - look how he
           raised salaries. You don't want to
           forget -

                     ANOTHER VOICE
           You take his labor record alone,
           they ought to hang him up like a
           dog.

                     RAWLSTON
           I tell you, Thompson - a man's
           dying words -

                     SOMEBODY'S VOICE
           What were they?

Silence.

                     SOMEBODY'S VOICE
               (hesitant)
           Yes, Mr. Rawlston, what were Kane's
           dying words?

                     RAWLSTON
               (with disgust)
           Rosebud!

A little ripple of laughter at this, which is promptly
silenced by Rawlston.

                     RAWLSTON
           That's right.

                     A VOICE
           Tough guy, huh?
               (derisively)
           Dies calling for Rosebud!

                      RAWLSTON
           Here's a man who might have been
           President.
                                                  19.


          He's been loved and hated and
          talked about as much as any man in
          our time - but when he comes to
          die, he's got something on his mind
          called "Rosebud." What does that
          mean?

                    ANOTHER VOICE
          A racehorse he bet on once,
          probably, that didn't come in -
          Rosebud!

                       RAWLSTON
          All right.     But what was the race?

There is a short silence.

                       RAWLSTON
          Thompson!

                       THOMPSON
          Yes, sir.

                    RAWLSTON
          Hold this thing up for a week. Two
          weeks if you have to...

                    THOMPSON
              (feebly)
          But don't you think if we release
          it now - he's only been dead four
          days it might be better than if -

                    RAWLSTON
              (decisively)
          Nothing is ever better than finding
          out what makes people tick. Go
          after the people that knew Kane
          well. That manager of his - the
          little guy, Bernstein, those two
          wives, all the people who knew him,
          had worked for him, who loved him,
          who hated his guts -
              (pauses)
          I don't mean go through the City
          Directory, of course -

The Third Man gives a hearty "yes-man" laugh.

                    THOMPSON
          I'll get to it right away, Mr.
          Rawlston.
                                                      20.


                       RAWLSTON
                 (rising)
             Good!

The camera from behind him, outlines his back against Kane's
picture on the screen.

                       RAWLSTON'S VOICE
             It'll probably turn out to be a
             very simple thing...

                                               FADE OUT:

NOTE: Now begins the story proper - the seach by Thompson
for the facts about Kane - his researches ... his interviews
with the people who knew Kane.

It is important to remember always that only at the very end
of the story is Thompson himself a personality. Until then,
throughout the picture, we photograph only Thompson's back,
shoulders, or his shadow - sometimes we only record his
voice. He is not until the final scene a "character". He is
the personification of the search for the truth about
Charles Foster Kane. He is the investigator.

                                                FADE IN:

EXT. CHEAP CABARET - "EL RANCHO" - ATLANTIC CITY - NIGHT -

(MINIATURE) - RAIN

The first image to register is a sign:

"EL RANCHO"

FLOOR SHOW

SUSAN ALEXANDER KANE

TWICE NIGHTLY

These words, spelled out in neon, glow out of the darkness
at the end of the fade out. Then there is lightning which
reveals a squalid roof-top on which the sign stands.
Thunder again, and faintly the sound of music from within.
A light glows from a skylight. The camera moves to this and
closes in. Through the splashes of rain, we see through the
skylight down into the interior of the cabaret. Directly
below us at a table sits the lone figure of a woman,
drinking by herself.

                                               DISSOLVE:
                                                      21.


INT. "EL RANCO" CABARET - NIGHT -

Medium shot of the same woman as before, finishing the drink
she started to take above. It is Susie. The music, of
course, is now very loud. Thompson, his back to the camera,
moves into the picture in the close foreground. A Captain
appears behind Susie, speaking across her to Thompson.

                     THE CAPTAIN
              (a Greek)
          This is Mr. Thompson, Miss
          Alexander.

Susan looks up into Thompson's face. She is fifty, trying
to look much younger, cheaply blonded, in a cheap,
enormously generous evening dress. Blinking up into
Thompson's face, she throws a crink into ther mouth. Her
eyes, which she thinks is keeping commandingly on his, are
bleared and watery.

                    SUSAN
              (to the Captain)
          I want another drink, John.

Low thunder from outside.

                    THE CAPTAIN
              (seeing his chance)
          Right away. Will you have
          something, Mr. Thompson?

                    THOMPSON
              (staring to sit down)
          I'll have a highball.

                     SUSAN
              (so insistently as to
                make Thompson change his
                mind and stand up again)
          Who told you you could sit down
          here?

                    THOMPSON
          Oh! I thought maybe we could have
          a drink together?

                    SUSAN
          Think again!

There is an awkward pause as Thompson looks from her to the
Captain.
                                                      22.


                    SUSAN
          Why don't you people let me alone?
          I'm minding my own business. You
          mind yours.

                    THOMPSON
          If you'd just let me talk to you
          for a little while, Miss Alexander.
          All I want to ask you...

                    SUSAN
          Get out of here!
              (almost hysterical)
          Get out! Get out!

Thompson looks at the Captain, who shrugs his shoulders.

                       THOMPSON
          I'm sorry.     Maybe some other time -

If he thought he would get a response from Susan, who thinks
she is looking at him steelily, he realizes his error. He
nods and walks off, following the Captain out the door.

                    THE CAPTAIN
          She's just not talking to anybody
          from the newspapers, Mr. Thompson.

                    THOMPSON
          I'm not from a newspaper exactly, I
          -

They have come upon a waiter standing in front of a booth.

                    THE CAPTAIN
              (to the waiter)
          Get her another highball.

                    THE WAITER
          Another double?

                       THE CAPTAIN
                 (after a moment,
                  pityingly)
          Yes.

They walk to the door.

                    THOMPSON
          She's plastered, isn't she?
                                                         23.


                    THE CAPTAIN
          She'll snap out of it. Why, until
          he died, she'd just as soon talk
          about Mr. Kane as about anybody.
          Sooner.

                    THOMPSON
          I'll come down in a week or so and
          see her again. Say, you might be
          able to help me. When she used to
          talk about Kane - did she ever
          happen to say anything - about
          Rosebud?

                     THE CAPTAIN
          Rosebud?

Thompson has just handed him a bill.     The Captain pockets
it.

                    THE CAPTAIN
          Thank you, sir. As a matter of
          fact, yesterday afternoon, when it
          was in all the papers - I asked
          her. She never heard of Rosebud.

                                                  FADE OUT:

                                                   FADE IN:

INT. THATCHER MEMORIAL LIBRARY - DAY -

An excruciatingly noble interpretation of Mr. Thatcher
himself executed in expensive marble. He is shown seated on
one of those improbable Edwin Booth chairs and is looking
down, his stone eyes fixed on the camera.

We move down off of this, showing the impressive pedestal on
which the monument is founded. The words, "Walter Parks
Thatcher" are prominently and elegantly engraved thereon.
Immediately below the inscription we encounter, in a medium
shot, the person of Bertha Anderson, an elderly, manish
spinnster, seated behind her desk. Thompson, his hat in his
hand, is standing before her. Bertha is on the phone.

                    BERTHA
              (into phone)
          Yes. I'll take him in now.
              (hangs up and looks at
               Thompson)
                                                         24.


          The directors of the Thatcher
          Library have asked me to remind you
          again of the condition under which
          you may inspect certain portions of
          Mr. Thatcher's unpublished memoirs.
          Under no circumstances are direct
          quotations from his manuscript to
          be used by you.

                    THOMPSON
          That's all right.

                    BERTHA
          You may come with me.

Without watching whether he is following her or not, she
rises and starts towards a distant and imposingly framed
door. Thompson, with a bit of a sigh, follows.

                                              DISSOLVE OUT:

                                              DISSOLVE IN:

INT. THE VAULT ROOM - THATCHER MEMORIAL LIBRARY - DAY -

A room with all the warmth and charm of Napolean's tomb.

As we dissolve in, the door opens in and we see past
Thompson's shoulders the length of the room. Everything
very plain, very much made out of marble and very gloomy.
Illumination from a skylight above adds to the general air
of expensive and classical despair. The floor is marble,
and there is a gigantic, mahogany table in the center of
everything. Beyond this is to be seen, sunk in the marble
wall at the far end of the room, the safe from which a
guard, in a khaki uniform, with a revolver holster at his
hip, is extracting the journal of Walter P. Thatcher. He
brings it to Bertha as if he were the guardian of a bullion
shipment. During this, Bertha has been speaking.

                    BERTHA
              (to the guard)
          Pages eighty-three to one hundred
          and forty-two, Jennings.

                    GUARD
          Yes, Miss Anderson.

                    BERTHA
              (to Thompson)
          You will confine yourself, it is
          our understanding, to the chapter
          dealing with Mr. Kane.
                                                         25.


                    THOMPSON
          That's all I'm interested in.

The guard has, by this time, delivered the precious journal.
Bertha places it reverently on the table before Thompson.

                    BERTHA
          You will be required to leave this
          room at four-thirty promptly.

She leaves. Thompson starts to light a cigarette. The
guard shakes his head. With a sigh, Thompson bends over to
read the manuscript. Camera moves down over his shoulder
onto page of manuscript.

Manuscript, neatly and precisely written:

"CHARLES FOSTER KANE

WHEN THESE LINES APPEAR IN PRINT, FIFTY YEARS AFTER MY
DEATH, I AM CONFIDENT THAT THE WHOLE WORLD WILL AGREE WITH
MY OPINION OF CHARLES FOSTER KANE, ASSUMING THAT HE IS NOT
THEN COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN, WHICH I REGARD AS EXTREMELY
LIKELY. A GOOD DEAL OF NONSENSE HAS APPEARED ABOUT MY FIRST
MEETING WITH KANE, WHEN HE WAS SIX YEARS OLD... THE FACTS
ARE SIMPLE. IN THE WINTER

                    OF 1870..."
          The camera has not held on the
          entire page. It has been following
          the words with the same action that
          the eye does the reading. On the
          last words, the white page of the
          paper

                                            DISSOLVES INTO:

EXT. MRS. KANE'S BOARDINGHOUSE - DAY -

The white of a great field of snow, seen from the angle of a
parlor window.

In the same position of the last word in above Insert,
appears the tiny figure of Charles Foster Kane, aged five
(almost like an animated cartoon). He is in the act of
throwing a snowball at the camera. It sails toward us and
over our heads, out of scene.

Reverse angle - on the house featuring a large sign reading:

MRS. KANE'S BOARDINGHOUSE
                                                      26.


HIGH CLASS MEALS AND LODGING

                    INQUIRE WITHIN
          Charles Kane's snowball hits the
          sign.

INT. PARLOR - MRS. KANE'S BOARDINGHOUSE - DAY -

Camera is angling through the window, but the window-frame
is not cut into scene. We see only the field of snow again,
same angle as in previous scene. Charles is manufacturing
another snowball. Now -

Camera pulls back, the frame of the window appearing, and we
are inside the parlor of the boardinghouse. Mrs. Kane, aged
about 28, is looking out towards her son. Just as we take
her in she speaks:

                    MRS. KANE
              (calling out)
          Be careful, Charles!

                    THATCHER'S VOICE
          Mrs. Kane -

                    MRS. KANE
              (Calling out the window
               almost on top of this)
          Pull your muffler around your neck,
          Charles -

But Charles, deliriously happy in the snow, is oblivious to
this and is running away. Mrs. Kane turns into camera and
we see her face - a strong face, worn and kind.

                    THATCHER'S VOICE
          think we'll have to tell him now -

Camera now pulls back further, showing Thatcher standing
before a table on which is his stove-pipe hat and an
imposing multiplicity of official-looking documents. He is
26 and, as might be expected, a very stuffy young man,
already very expensive and conservative looking, even in
Colorado.

                    MRS. KANE
          I'll sign those papers -

                    KANE SR.
          You people seem to forget that I'm
          the boy's father.

At the sound of Kane Sr.'s voice, both have turned to him
and the camera pulls back still further, taking him in.
                                                        27.


Kane Sr., who is the assistant curator in a livery stable,
has been groomed as elegantly as is likely for this meeting
ever since daybreak.

From outside the window can be heard faintly the wild and
cheerful cries of the boy, blissfully cavorting in the snow.

                    MRS. KANE
          It's going to be done exactly the
          way I've told Mr. Thatcher -

                    KANE SR.
          If I want to, I can go to court.
          father has a right to -

                    THATCHER
              (annoyed)
          Mr. Kane, the certificates that Mr.
          Graves left here are made out to
          Mrs. Kane, in her name. Hers to
          do with as she pleases -

                    KANE SR.
          Well, I don't hold with signing my
          boy away to any bank as guardian
          just because -

                    MRS. KANE
              (quietly)
          I want you to stop all this
          nonsense, Jim.

                    THATCHER
          The Bank's decision in all matters
          concerning his education, his place
          of residence and similar subjects
          will be final.
              (clears his throat)

                     KANE SR.
          The idea of a bank being the
          guardian -

Mrs. Kane has met his eye. Her triumph over him finds
expression in his failure to finish his sentence.

                    MRS. KANE
              (even more quietly)
          I want you to stop all this
          nonsense, Jim.
                                                        28.


                    THATCHER
          We will assume full management of
          the Colorado Lode - of which you,
          Mrs. Kane, are the sole owner.

Kane Sr. opens his mouth once or twice, as if to say
something, but chokes down his opinion.

                    MRS. KANE
              (has been reading past
               Thatcher's shoulder as he
               talked)
          Where do I sign, Mr. Thatcher?

                    THATCHER
          Right here, Mrs. Kane.

                    KANE SR.
              (sulkily)
          Don't say I didn't warn you.

Mrs. Kane lifts the quill pen.

                    KANE SR.
          Mary, I'm asking you for the last
          time - anyon'd think I hadn't been
          a good husband and a -

Mrs. Kane looks at him slowly.   He stops his speech.

                    THATCHER
          The sum of fifty thousand dollars a
          year is to be paid to yourself and
          Mr. Kane as long as you both live,
          and thereafter the survivor -

Mrs. Kane puts pen to the paper and signs.

                    KANE SR.
          Well, let's hope it's all for the
          best.

                     MRS. KANE
          It is.   Go on, Mr. Thatcher -

Mrs. Kane, listening to Thatcher, of course has had her
other ear bent in the direction of the boy's voice.
Thatcher is aware both of the boy's voice, which is counter
to his own, and of Mrs. Kane's divided attention. As he
pauses, Kane Sr. genteelly walks over to close the window.
                                                      29.


EXT. MRS. KANE'S BOARDINGHOUSE - DAY -

Kane Jr., seen from Kane Sr.'s position at the window. He
is advancing on the snowman, snowballs in his hands,
dropping to one knee the better to confound his adversary.

                    KANE
          If the rebels want a fight boys,
          let's give it to 'em!

He throws two snowballs, missing widely, and gets up and
advances another five feet before getting on his knees
again.

                    KANE
          The terms are unconditional
          surrender. Up and at 'em! The
          Union forever!

INT. PARLOR - MRS. KANE'S BOARDINGHOUSE - DAY -

Kane Sr. closes the window.

                    THATCHER
              (over the boy's voice)
          Everything else - the principal as
          well as all monies earned - is to
          be administered by the bank in
          trust for your son, Charles Foster
          Kane, until his twenty-fifth
          birthday, at which time he is to
          come into complete possession.

Mrs. Kane rises and goes to the window.

                    MRS. KANE
          Go on, Mr. Thatcher.

Thatcher continues as she opens the window. His voice, as
before, is heard with overtones of the boy's.

EXT. KANE'S BOARDINGHOUSE - DAY -

Kane Jr., seen from Mrs. Kane's position at the window. He
is now within ten feet of the snowman, with one snowball
left which he is holding back in his right hand.

                    KANE
          You can't lick Andy Jackson!    Old
          Hickory, that's me!

He fires his snowball, well wide of the mark and falls flat
on his stomach, starting to crawl carefully toward the
snowman.
                                                          30.


                    THATCHER'S VOICE
          It's nearly five, Mrs. Kane, don't
          you think I'd better meet the boy -

INT. PARLOR - MRS. KANE'S BOARDINGHOUSE - DAY -

Mrs. Kane at the window.      Thatcher is now standing at her
side.

                    MRS. KANE
          I've got his trunk all packed -
              (she chokes a little)
          I've it packed for a couple of
          weeks -

She can't say anymore. She starts for the hall day.       Kane
Sr., ill at ease, has no idea of how to comfort her.

                    THATCHER
          I've arranged for a tutor to meet
          us in Chicago. I'd have brought
          him along with me, but you were so
          anxious to keep everything secret -

He stops as he realizes that Mrs. Kane has paid no attention
to him and, having opened the door, is already well into the
hall that leads to the side door of the house. He takes a
look at Kane Sr., tightens his lips and follows Mrs. Kane.
Kane, shoulders thrown back like one who bears defeat
bravely, follows him.

EXT. MRS. KANE'S BOARDINGHOUSE - DAY -

Kane, in the snow-covered field. With the snowman between
him and the house, he is holding the sled in his hand, just
about to make the little run that prefaces a belly-flop.
The Kane house, in the background, is a dilapidated, shabby,
two-story frame building, with a wooden outhouse. Kane
looks up as he sees the single file procession, Mrs. Kane at
its head, coming toward him.

                       KANE
          H'ya, Mom.

Mrs. Kane smiles.

                    KANE
              (gesturing at the
               snowman)
          See, Mom? I took the pipe out of
          his mouth. If it keeps on snowin',
          maybe I'll make some teeth and -
                                      31.


          MRS. KANE
You better come inside, son. You
and I have got to get you all ready
for - for -

          THATCHER
Charles, my name is Mr. Thatcher -

          MRS. KANE
This is Mr. Thatcher, Charles.

          THATCHER
How do you do, Charles?

          KANE SR.
He comes from the east.

           KANE
Hello.   Hello, Pop.

          KANE SR.
Hello, Charlie!

          MRS. KANE
Mr. Thatcher is going to take you
on a trip with him tonight,
Charles. You'll be leaving on
Number Ten.

          KANE SR.
That's the train with all the
lights.

          KANE
You goin', Mom?

          THATCHER
Your mother won't be going right
away, Charles -

          KANE
Where'm I going?

          KANE SR.
You're going to see Chicago and New
York - and Washington, maybe...
Isn't he, Mr. Thatcher?

          THATCHER
    (heartily)
He certainly is. I wish I were a
little boy and going to make a trip
like that for the first time.
                                                      32.


                    KANE
          Why aren't you comin' with us, Mom?

                    MRS. KANE
          We have to stay here, Charles.

                    KANE SR.
          You're going to live with Mr.
          Thatcher from now on, Charlie!
          You're going to be rich. Your Ma
          figures - that is, re - she and I
          have decided that this isn't the
          place for you to grow up in. You'll
          probably be the richest man in
          America someday and you ought to -

                    MRS. KANE
          You won't be lonely, Charles...

                    THATCHER
          We're going to have a lot of good
          times together, Charles... Really
          we are.

Kane stares at him.

                    THATCHER
          Come on, Charles. Let's shake
          hands.
              (extends his hand.
               Charles continues to look
               at him)
          Now, now! I'm not as frightening
          as all that! Let's shake, what do
          you say?

He reaches out for Charles's hand. Without a word, Charles
hits him in the stomach with the sled. Thatcher stumbles
back a few feet, gasping.

                    THATCHER
              (with a sickly grin)
          You almost hurt me, Charles.
              (moves towards him)
          Sleds aren't to hit people with.
          Sleds are to - to sleigh on. When
          we get to New York, Charles, we'll
          get you a sled that will -

He's near enough to try to put a hand on Kane's shoulder.
As he does, Kane kicks him in the ankle.

                      MRS. KANE
          Charles!
                                                         33.


He throws himself on her, his arms around her.    Slowly Mrs.
Kane puts her arms around him.

                    KANE
              (frightened)
          Mom! Mom!

                    MRS. KANE
          It's all right, Charles, it's all
          right.

Thatcher is looking on indignantly, occasionally bending
over to rub his ankle.

                    KANE SR.
          Sorry, Mr. Thatcher! What the kid
          needs is a good thrashing!

                    MRS. KANE
          That's what you think, is it, Jim?

                        KANE SR.
          Yes.

Mrs. Kane looks slowly at Mr. Kane.

                    MRS. KANE
              (slowly)
          That's why he's going to be brought
          up where you can't get at him.

                                                  DISSOLVE:

- NIGHT (STOCK OR MINIATURE)

Old-fashioned railroad wheels underneath a sleeper, spinning
along the track.

                                                  DISSOLVE:

INT. TRAIN - OLD-FASHIONED DRAWING ROOM - NIGHT -

Thatcher, with a look of mingled exasperation, annoyance,
sympathy and inability to handle the situation, is standing
alongside a berth, looking at Kane. Kane, his face in the
pillow, is crying with heartbreaking sobs.

                        KANE
          Mom!   Mom!

                                              DISSOLVE OUT:

The white page of the Thatcher manuscript.    We pick up the
words:
                                                      34.


"HE WAS, I REPEAT, A COMMON ADVENTURER, SPOILED,
UNSCRUPULOUS,

                    IRRESPONSIBLE."
          The words are followed by printed
          headline on "Enquirer" copy (as in
          following scene).

INT. ENQUIRER CITY ROOM - DAY -

Close-up on printed headline which reads:

                    "ENEMY ARMADA OFF JERSEY COAST"
          Camera pulls back to reveal
          Thatcher holding the "Enquirer"
          copy, on which we read the
          headline. He is standing near the
          editorial round table around which
          a section of the staff, including
          Reilly, Leland and Kane are eating
          lunch.

                    THATCHER
              (coldly)
          Is that really your idea of how to
          run a newspaper?

                    KANE
          I don't know how to run a
          newspaper, Mr. Thatcher. I just
          try everything I can think of.

                    THATCHER
              (reading headline of
               paper he is still
               holding)
          "Enemy Armada Off Jersey Coast."
          You know you haven't the slightest
          proof that this - this armada - is
          off the Jersey Coast.

                    KANE
          Can you prove it isn't?

Bernstein has come into the picture. He has a cable in his
hand. He stops when he sees Thatcher.

                    KANE
          Mr. Bernstein, Mr. Thatcher -

                    BERNSTEIN
          How are you, Mr. Thatcher?
                                      35.


          THATCHER
How do you do? -

          BERNSTEIN
We just had a wire from Cuba, Mr.
Kane -
    (stops, embarrassed)

          KANE
That's all right. We have no
secrets from our readers. Mr.
Thatcher is one of our most devoted
readers, Mr. Bernstein. He knows
what's wrong with every issue since
I've taken charge. What's the
cable?

          BERNSTEIN
    (reading)
The food is marvelous in Cuba the
senoritas are beautiful stop I
could send you prose poems of palm
trees and sunrises and tropical
colors blending in far off
landscapes but don't feel right in
spending your money for this stop
there's no war in Cuba regards
Wheeler.

           THATCHER
You see!   There hasn't been a true
word -

          KANE
I think we'll have to send our
friend Wheeler a cable, Mr.
Bernstein. Of course, we'll have
to make it shorter than his,
because he's working on an expense
account and we're not. Let me see -
    (snaps his fingers)
Mike!

          MIKE
    (a fairly tough customer
     prepares to take
     dictation, his mouth
     still full of food)
Go ahead, Mr. Kane.

          KANE
Dear Wheeler -
    (pauses a moment)
                                                        36.


          You provide the prose poems - I'll
          provide the war.

Laughter from the boys and girls at the table.

                    BERNSTEIN
          That's fine, Mr. Kane.

                    KANE
          I rather like it myself.   Send it
          right away.

                    MIKE
          Right away.

                    BERNSTEIN
          Right away.

Mike and Bernstein leave. Kane looks up, grinning at
Thatcher, who is bursting with indignation but controls
himself. After a moment of indecision, he decides to make
one last try.

                    THATCHER
          I came to see you, Charles, about
          your - about the Enquirer's
          campaign against the Metropolitan
          Transfer Company.

                    KANE
          Won't you step into my office, Mr.
          Thatcher?

They cross the City Room together.

                    THATCHER
          I think I should remind you,
          Charles, of a fact you seem to have
          forgotten. You are yourself one of
          the largest individual
          stockholders.

INT. KANE'S OFFICE - DAY -

Kane holds the door open for Thatcher.   They come in
together.

                    KANE
          Mr. Thatcher, isn't everything I've
          been saying in the Enquirer about
          the traction trust absolutely true?
                                                        37.


                    THATCHER
              (angrily)
          They're all part of your general
          attack - your senseless attack - on
          everything and everybody who's got
          more than ten cents in his pocket.
          They're -

                    KANE
          The trouble is, Mr. Thatcher, you
          don't realize you're talking to two
          people.

Kane moves around behind his desk.   Thatcher doesn't
understand, looks at him.

                    KANE
          As Charles Foster Kane, who has
          eighty-two thousand, six hundred
          and thirty-one shares of
          Metropolitan Transfer - you see, I
          do have a rough idea of my holdings
          - I sympathize with you. Charles
          Foster Kane is a dangerous
          scoundrel, his paper should be run
          out of town and a committee should
          be formed to boycott him. You may,
          if you can form such a committee,
          put me down for a contribution of
          one thousand dollars.

                    THATCHER
              (angrily)
          Charles, my time is too valuable
          for me -

                     KANE
          On the other hand -
              (his manner becomes
               serious)
          I am the publisher of the Enquirer.
          As such, it is my duty - I'll let
          you in on a little secret, it is
          also my pleasure - to see to it
          that decent, hard-working people of
          this city are not robbed blind by a
          group of money - mad pirates
          because, God help them, they have
          no one to look after their
          interests! I'll let you in on
          another little secret, Mr.
          Thatcher. I think I'm the man to do
          it. You see, I have money and
          property -
                                                         38.


Thatcher doesn't understand him.

                    KANE
          If I don't defend the interests of
          the underprivileged, somebody else
          will - maybe somebody without any
          money or any property and that
          would be too bad.

Thatcher glares at him, unable to answer.   Kane starts to
dance.

                    KANE
          Do you know how to tap, Mr.
          Thatcher? You ought to learn -
              (humming quietly, he
               continues to dance)
          Thatcher puts on his hat.

                    THATCHER
          I happened to see your consolidated
          statement yesterday, Charles. Could
          I not suggest to you that it is
          unwise for you to continue this
          philanthropic enterprise -
              (sneeringly)
          this Enquirer - that is costing you
          one million dollars a year?

                    KANE
          You're right. We did lose a
          million dollars last year.

Thatcher thinks maybe the point has registered.

                    KANE
          We expect to lost a million next
          year, too. You know, Mr. Thatcher -
              (starts tapping quietly)
          at the rate of a million a year -
          we'll have to close this place in
          sixty years.

                                                  DISSOLVE:

INT. THE VAULT ROOM - THATCHER MEMORIAL LIBRARY - DAY

Thompson - at the desk.   With a gesture of annoyance, he is
closing the manuscript.

Camera arcs quickly around from over his shoulder to hold on
door behind him, missing his face as he rises and turns to
confront Miss Anderson, who has come into the room to shoo
him out.
                                                        39.


Very prominent on this wall is an over-sized oil painting of
Thatcher in the best Union League Club renaissance style.

                    MISS ANDERSON
          You have enjoyed a very rare
          privilege, young man. Did you find
          what you were looking for?

                    THOMPSON
          No. Tell me something, Miss
          Anderson. You're not Rosebud, are
          you?

                    MISS ANDERSON
          What?

                    THOMPSON
          I didn't think you were. Well,
          thanks for the use of the hall.

He puts his hat on his head and starts out, lighting a
cigarette as he goes. Miss Anderson, scandalized, watches
him.

                                               FADE OUT:

                                                FADE IN:

INT. BERNSTEIN'S OFFICE - ENQUIRER SKYSCRAPER - DAY -

Closeup of a still of Kane, aged about sixty-five. Camera
pulls back, showing it is a framed photograph on the wall.
Over the picture are crossed American flags. Under it sits
Bernstein, back of his desk. Bernstein, always an
undersized Jew, now seems even smaller than in his youth.
He is bald as an egg, spry, with remarkably intense eyes.
As camera continues to travel back, the back of Thompson's
head and his shoulders come into the picture.

                    BERNSTEIN
              (wryly)
          Who's a busy man? Me? I'm
          Chairman of the Board. I got
          nothing but time ... What do you
          want to know?

                    THOMPSON
              (still explaining)
          Well, Mr. Bernstein, you were with
          Mr. Kane from the very beginning -

                    BERNSTEIN
          From before the beginning, young
          fellow.
                                       40.


And now it's after the end.
    (turns to Thompson)
Anything you want to know about him
- about the paper -

          THOMPSON
- We thought maybe, if we can find
out what he meant by that last word
- as he was dying -

          BERNSTEIN
That Rosebud? Maybe some girl?
There were a lot of them back in
the early days, and -

          THOMPSON
Not some girl he knew casually and
then remembered after fifty years,
on his death bed -

          BERNSTEIN
You're pretty young, Mr. -
    (remembers the name)
Mr. Thompson. A fellow will
remember things you wouldn't think
he'd remember. You take me. One
day, back in 1896, I was crossing
over to Jersey on a ferry and as we
pulled out, there was another ferry
pulling in -
    (slowly)
- and on it, there was a girl
waiting to get off. A white dress
she had on - and she was carrying a
white pastrol - and I only saw her
for one second and she didn't see
me at all - but I'll bet a month
hasn't gone by since that I haven't
thought of that girl.
    (triumphantly)
See what I mean?
    (smiles)
Well, so what are you doing about
this "Rosebud," Mr. Thompson.

          THOMPSON
I'm calling on people who knew Mr.
Kane. I'm calling on you.

          BERNSTEIN
Who else you been to see?

          THOMPSON
Well, I went down to Atlantic City -
                                                      41.


                    BERNSTEIN
          Susie? I called her myself the day
          after he died. I thought maybe
          somebody ought to...
              (sadly)
          She couldn't even come to the
          'phone.

                    THOMPSON
          You know why? She was so -

                    BERNSTEIN
          Sure, sure.

                    THOMPSON
          I'm going back there.

                    BERNSTEIN
          Who else did you see?

                    THOMPSON
          Nobody else, but I've been through
          that stuff of Walter Thatcher's.
          That journal of his -

                    BERNSTEIN
          Thatcher! That man was the biggest
          darn fool I ever met -

                    THOMPSON
          He made an awful lot of money.

                    BERNSTEIN
          It's not trick to make an awful lot
          of money if all you want is to make
          a lot of money.
              (his eyes get reflective)
          Thatcher!

Bernstein looks out of the window and keeps on looking,
seeming to see something as he talks.

                    BERNSTEIN
          He never knew there was anything in
          the world but money. That kind of
          fellow you can fool every day in
          the week - and twice on Sundays!
              (reflectively)
          The time he came to Rome for Mr.
          Kane's twenty-fifth birthday... You
          know, when Mr. Kane got control of
          his own money...
                                                         42.


          Such a fool like Thatcher - I tell
          you, nobody's business!

                                              DISSOLVE OUT:

                                               DISSOLVE IN:

INT. BERNSTEIN'S OFFICE - DAY -

Bernstein speaking to Thompson.

                    BERNSTEIN
          He knew what he wanted, Mr. Kane
          did, and he got it! Thatcher never
          did figure him out. He was hard to
          figure sometimes, even for me. Mr.
          Kane was a genius like he said. He
          had that funny sense of humor.
          Sometimes even I didn't get the
          joke. Like that night the opera
          house of his opened in Chicago...
          You know, the opera house he built
          for Susie, she should be an opera
          singer...
              (indicates with a little
               wave of his hand what he
               thinks of that; sighing)
          That was years later, of course -
          it was. Mrs. Kane took the leading
          part in the opera, and she was
          terrible. But nobody had the nerve
          to say so - not even the critics.
          Mr. Kane was a big man in those
          days. But this one fellow, this
          friend of his, Branford Leland -

He leaves the sentence up in the air, as we

                                                  DISSOLVE:

INT. CITY ROOM - CHICAGO ENQUIRER - NIGHT -

It is late. The room is almost empty. Nobody is at work at
the desks. Bernstein, fifty, is waiting anxiously with a
little group of Kane's hirelings, most of them in evening
dress with overcoats and hats. Everybody is tense and
expectant.

                    CITY EDITOR
              (turns to a young
               hireling; quietly)
          What about Branford Leland?   Has he
          got in his copy?
                                                        43.


                     HIRELING
          Not yet.

                    BERNSTEIN
          Go in and ask him to hurry.

                    CITY EDITOR
          Well, why don't you, Mr. Bernstein?
          You know Mr. Leland.

                    BERNSTEIN
              (looks at him for a
               moment; then slowly)
          I might make him nervous.

                    CITY EDITOR
              (after a pause)
          You and Leland and Mr. Kane - you
          were great friends back in the old
          days, I understand.

                    BERNSTEIN
              (with a smile)
          That's right. They called us the
          "Three Musketeers."

Somebody behind Bernstein has trouble concealing his
laughter. The City Editor speaks quickly to cover the
situation.

                    CITY EDITOR
          He's a great guy - Leland.
              (another little pause)
          Why'd he ever leave New York?

                    BERNSTEIN
              (he isn't saying)
          That's a long story.

                    ANOTHER HIRELING
              (a tactless one)
          Wasn't there some sort of quarrel
          between -

                    BERNSTEIN
              (quickly)
          I had nothing to do with it.
              (then, somberly)
          It was Leland and Mr. Kane, and you
          couldn't call it a quarrel exactly.
          Better we should forget such things
          -
              (turning to City Editor)
                                                         44.


          Leland is writing it up from the
          dramatic angle?

                     CITY EDITOR
          Yes. I thought it was a good idea.
          We've covered it from the news end,
          of course.

                    BERNSTEIN
          And the social. How about the
          music notice? You got that in?

                    CITY EDITOR
          Oh, yes, it's already made up. Our
          Mr. Mervin wrote a small review.

                    BERNSTEIN
          Enthusiastic?

                     CITY EDITOR
          Yes, very!
              (quietly)
          Naturally.

                    BERNSTEIN
          Well, well - isn't that nice?

                    KANE'S VOICE
          Mr. Bernstein -

Bernstein turns.

Medium long shot of Kane, now forty-nine, already quite
stout. He is in white tie, wearing his overcoat and carrying
a folded opera hat.

                    BERNSTEIN
          Hello, Mr. Kane.

The Hirelings rush, with Bernstein, to Kane's side.
Widespread, half-suppressed sensation.

                    CITY EDITOR
          Mr. Kane, this is a surprise!

                    KANE
          We've got a nice plant here.

Everybody falls silent.   There isn't anything to say.

                    KANE
          Was the show covered by every
          department?
                                              45.


                    CITY EDITOR
          Exactly according to your
          instructions, Mr. Kane. We've got
          two spreads of pictures.

                    KANE
              (very, very casually)
          And the notice?

                    CITY EDITOR
          Yes - Mr. Kane.

                    KANE
              (quietly)
          Is it good?

                    CITY EDITOR
          Yes, Mr. kane.

Kane looks at him for a minute.

                    CITY EDITOR
          But there's another one still to
          come - the dramatic notice.

                    KANE
              (sharply)
          It isn't finished?

                    CITY EDITOR
          No, Mr. Kane.

                    KANE
          That's Leland, isn't it?

                    CITY EDITOR
          Yes, Mr. Kane.

                    KANE
          Has he said when he'll finish?

                    CITY EDITOR
          We haven't heard from him.

                    KANE
          He used to work fast - didn't he,
          Mr. Bernstein?

                    BERNSTEIN
          He sure did, Mr. Kane.

                    KANE
          Where is he?
                                                      46.


                    ANOTHER HIRELING
          Right in there, Mr. Kane.

The Hireling indicates the closed glass door of a little
office at the other end of the City Room. Kane takes it in.

                     BERNSTEIN
              (helpless, but very
               concerned)
          MR. KANE -

                    KANE
          That's all right, Mr. Bernstein.

Kane crosses the length of the long City Room to the glass
door indicated before by the Hireling. The City Editor
looks at Bernstein. Kane opens the door and goes into the
office, closing the door behind him.

                     BERNSTEIN
          Leland and Mr. Kane - they haven't
          spoke together for ten years.
              (long pause; finally)
          Excuse me.
              (starts toward the door)

INT. LELAND'S OFFICE - CHICAGO ENQUIRER - NIGHT -

Bernstein comes in. An empty bottle is standing on Leland's
desk. He has fallen over his typewriter, his face on the
keys. A sheet of paper is in the machine. A paragraph has
been typed. Kane is standing at the other side of the desk
looking down on him. This is the first time we see murder
in Kane's face. Bernstein looks at Kane, then crosses to
Leland. He shakes him.

                    BERNSTEIN
          Hey, Brad! Brad!
              (he straightens, looks at
               Kane; pause)
          He ain't been drinking before, Mr.
          Kane. Never. We would have heard.

                    KANE
              (finally; after a pause)
          What does it say there?

Bernstein stares at him.

                    KANE
          What's he written?

Bernstein looks over nearsightedly, painfully reading the
paragraph written on the page.
                                                         47.


                     BERNSTEIN
              (reading)
          "Miss Susan Alexander, a pretty but
          hopelessly incompetent amateur -
              (he waits for a minute to
                catch his breath; he
                doesn't like it)
          - last night opened the new Chicago
          Opera House in a performance of -
          of -"
              (looks up miserably)
          I can't pronounce that name, Mr.
          Kane.

                    KANE
          Thais.

Bernstein looks at Kane for a moment, then looks back,
tortured.

                    BERNSTEIN
              (reading again)
          "Her singing, happily, is no
          concern of this department. Of her
          acting, it is absolutely impossible
          to..."
              (he continues to stare at
               the page)

                    KANE
              (after a short silence)
          Go on!

                    BERNSTEIN
              (without looking up)
          That's all there is.

Kane snatches the paper from the roller and reads it for
himself. Slowly, a queer look comes over his face. Then he
speaks, very quietly.

                    KANE
          Of her acting, it is absolutely
          impossible to say anything except
          that it represents a new low...
              (then sharply)
          Have you got that, Mr. Bernstein?
          In the opinion of this reviewer -

                    BERNSTEIN
              (miserably)
          I didn't see that.
                                                         48.


                    KANE
          It isn't here, Mr. Bernstein.    I'm
          dictating it.

                    BERNSTEIN
              (looks at him)
          I can't take shorthand.

                    KANE
          Get me a typewriter.    I'll finish
          the notice.

Bernstein retreats from the room.

                                             QUICK DISSOLVE
                                                       OUT:

                                             QUICK DISSOLVE
                                                        IN:

INT. LELAND'S OFFICE - CHICAGO ENQUIRER - NIGHT -

Long shot of Kane in his shirt sleeves, illuminated by a
desk light, typing furiously. As the camera starts to pull
even farther away from this, and as Bernstein - as narrator -
begins to speak -

                                           QUICK DISSOLVE:

INT. BERNSTEIN'S OFFICE - DAY -

Bernstein speaking to Thompson.

                    BERNSTEIN
          He finished it. He wrote the worst
          notice I ever read about the girl
          he loved. We ran it in every
          paper.

                    THOMPSON
              (after a pause)
          I guess Mr. Kane didn't think so
          well of Susie's art anyway.

                    BERNSTEIN
              (looks at him very
               soberly)
          He thought she was great, Mr.
          Thompson. He really believed that.
          He put all his ambition on that
          girl. After she came along, he
          never really cared for himself like
          he used to. Oh, I don't blame
          Susie -
                                                       49.


                    THOMPSON
          Well, then, how could he write that
          roast? The notices in the Kane
          papers were always very kind to
          her.

                    BERNSTEIN
          Oh, yes. He saw to that. I tell
          you, Mr. Thompson, he was a hard
          man to figure out. He had that
          funny sense of humor. And then,
          too, maybe he thought by finishing
          that piece he could show Leland he
          was an honest man. You see, Leland
          didn't think so. I guess he showed
          him all right. He's a nice fellow,
          but he's a dreamer. They were
          always together in those early days
          when we just started the Enquirer.

On these last words, we

                                                DISSOLVE:

INT. CITY ROOM - ENQUIRER BUILDING - DAY -

The front half of the second floor constitutes one large
City Room. Despite the brilliant sunshine outside, very
little of it is actually getting into the room because the
windows are small and narrow. There are about a dozen
tables and desks, of the old-fashioned type, not flat,
available for reporters. Two tables, on a raised platform at
the end of the room, obviously serve the city room
executives. To the left of the platform is an open door
which leads into the Sanctrum.

As Kane and Leland enter the room, an elderly, stout gent on
the raised platform, strikes a bell and the other eight
occupants of the room - all men - rise and face the new
arrivals. Carter, the elderly gent, in formal clothes,
rises and starts toward them.

                    CARTER
          Welcome, Mr. Kane, to the
          "Enquirer." I am Herbert Carter.

                    KANE
          Thank you, Mr Carter.   This is Mr.
          Leland.

                    CARTER
              (bowing)
          How do you do, Mr. Leland?
                                                      50.


                    KANE
              (pointing to the standing
               reporters)
          Are they standing for me?

                    CARTER
          I thought it would be a nice
          gesture the new publisher -

                    KANE
              (grinning)
          Ask them to sit down.

                     CARTER
          You may resume your work,
          gentlemen.
              (to Kane)
          I didn't know your plans and so I
          was unable to make any
          preparations.

                    KANE
          I don't my plans myself.

They are following Carter to his raised platform.

                     KANE
          As a matter of fact, I haven't got
          any. Except to get out a
          newspaper.

There is a terrific crash at the doorway. They all turn to
see Bernstein sprawled at the entrance. A roll of bedding,
a suitcase, and two framed pictures were too much for him.

                    KANE
          Oh, Mr. Bernstein!

Bernstein looks up.

                    KANE
          If you would come here a moment,
          please, Mr. Bernstein?

Bernstein rises and comes over, tidying himself as he comes.

                    KANE
          Mr. Carter, this is Mr. Bernstein.
          Mr. Bernstein is my general
          manager.

                    CARTER
              (frigidly)
          How do you do, Mr. Bernstein?
                                                       51.


                    KANE
          You've got a private office here,
          haven't you?

The delivery wagon driver has now appeared in the entrance
with parts of the bedstead and other furniture. He is
looking about, a bit bewildered.

                    CARTER
              (indicating open door to
               left of platform)
          My little sanctrum is at your
          disposal. But I don't think I
          understand -

                    KANE
          I'm going to live right here.
              (reflectively)
          As long as I have to.

                    CARTER
          But a morning newspaper, Mr. Kane.
          After all, we're practically closed
          twelve hours a day - except for the
          business offices -

                    KANE
          That's one of the things I think
          must be changed, Mr. Carter. The
          news goes on for twenty-four hours
          a day.

                                                DISSOLVE:

INT. KANE'S OFFICE - LATE DAY -

Kane, in his shirt sleeves, at a roll-top desk in the
Sanctrum, is working feverishly on copy and eating a very
sizeable meal at the same time. Carter, still formally
coated, is seated alongside him. Leland, seated in a
corner, is looking on, detached, amused. The furniture has
been pushed around and Kane's effects are somewhat in place.
On a corner of the desk, Bernstein is writing down figures.
No one pays any attention to him.

                    KANE
          I'm not criticizing, Mr. Carter,
          but here's what I mean. There's a
          front page story in the
          "Chronicle,"
              (points to it)
          and a picture - of a woman in
          Brooklyn who is missing. Probably
          murdered.
                                                         52.


              (looks to make sure of
               the name)
          A Mrs. Harry Silverstone. Why
          didn't the "Enquirer" have that
          this morning?

                    CARTER
              (stiffly)
          Because we're running a newspaper,
          Mr. Kane, not a scandal sheet.

Kane has finished eating.   He pushes away his plates.

                    KANE
          I'm still hungry, Brad. Let's go
          to Rector's and get something
          decent.
              (pointing to the
               "Chronicle" before him)
          The "Chronicle" has a two-column
          headline, Mr. Carter. Why haven't
          we?

                    CARTER
          There is no news big enough.

                    KANE
          If the headline is big enough, it
          makes the new big enough. The
          murder of Mrs. Harry Silverstone -

                     CARTER
              (hotly)
          As a matter of fact, we sent a man
          to the Silverstone home yesterday
          afternoon.
              (triumphantly)
          Our man even arrived before the
          "Chronicle" reporter. And there's
          no proof that the woman was
          murdered - or even that she's dead.

                    KANE
              (smiling a bit)
          The "Chronicle" doesn't say she's
          murdered, Mr. Carter. It says the
          neighbors are getting suspicious.

                    CARTER
              (stiffly)
          It's not our function to report the
          gossip of housewives.
                                                     53.


          If we were interested in that kind
          of thing, Mr. Kane, we could fill
          the paper twice over daily -

                    KANE
              (gently)
          That's the kind of thing we are
          going to be interested in from now
          on, Mr. Carter. Right now, I wish
          you'd send your best man up to see
          Mr. Silverstone. Have him tell Mr.
          Silverstone if he doesn't produce
          his wife at once, the "Enquirer"
          will have him arrested.
              (he gets an idea)
          Have him tell Mr. Silverstone he's
          a detective from the Central
          Office. If Mr. Silverstone asks to
          see his badge, your man is to get
          indignant and call Mr. Silverstone
          an anarchist.

Loudly, so that the neighbors can hear.

                    CARTER
          Really, Mr. Kane, I can't see the
          function of a respectable newspaper
          -

Kane isn't listening to him.

                    KANE
          Oh, Mr. Bernstein!

Bernstein looks up from his figures.

                    KANE
          I've just made a shocking
          discovery. The "Enquirer" is
          without a telephone. Have two
          installed at once!

                    BERNSTEIN
          I ordered six already this morning!
          Got a discount!

Kane looks at Leland with a fond nod of his head at
Bernstein. Leland grins back. Mr. Carter, meantime, has
risen stiffly.

                    CARTER
          But, Mr. Kane -
                                                        54.


                    KANE
          That'll be all today, Mr. Carter.
          You've been most understanding.
          Good day, Mr. Carter!

Carter, with a look that runs just short of apoplexy, leaves
the room, closing the door behind him.

                    LELAND
          Poor Mr. Carter!

                    KANE
              (shakes his head)
          What makes those fellows think that
          a newspaper is something rigid,
          something inflexible, that people
          are supposed to pay two cents for -

                    BERNSTEIN
              (without looking up)
          Three cents.

                     KANE
              (calmly)
          Two cents.

Bernstein lifts his head and looks at Kane.    Kane gazes back
at him.

                    BERNSTEIN
              (tapping on the paper)
          This is all figured at three cents
          a copy.

                    KANE
          Re-figure it, Mr. Bernstein, at two
          cents.

                    BERNSTEIN
              (sighs and puts papers in
               his pocket)
          All right, but I'll keep these
          figures, too, just in case.

                    KANE
          Ready for dinner, Brad?
                                                        55.


                     BERNSTEIN
          Mr. Leland, if Mr. Kane, he should
          decide to drop the price to one
          cent, or maybe even he should make
          up his mind to give the paper away
          with a half-pound of tea - you'll
          just hold him until I get back,
          won't you?

                    LELAND
          I'm not guaranteeing a thing, Mr.
          Bernstein. You people work too
          fast for me! Talk about new
          brooms!

                    BERNSTEIN
          Who said anything about brooms?

                    KANE
          It's a saying, Mr. Bernstein.    A
          new broom sweeps clean.

                    BERNSTEIN
          Oh!

                                                 DISSOLVE:

INT.PRIMITIVE COMPOSING AND PRESSROOM - NEW YORK ENQUIRER -

NIGHT -

The ground floor with the windows on the street - of the
"Enquirer." It is almost midnight by an old-fashioned clock
on the wall. Grouped around a large table, on which are
several locked forms of type, very old-fashioned of course,
but true to the period - are Kane and Leland in elegant
evening clothes, Bernstein, unchanged from the afternoon,
and Smathers, the composing room foreman, nervous and
harassed.

                    SMATHERS
          But it's impossible, Mr. Kane.    We
          can't remake these pages.

                    KANE
          These pages aren't made up as I
          want them, Mr. Smathers. We go to
          press in five minutes.

                    CARTER
              (about to crack up)
          The "Enquirer" has an old and
          honored tradition, Mr. Kane...
                                                      56.


          The "Enquirer" is not in
          competition with those other rags.

                    BERNSTEIN
          We should be publishing such rags,
          that's all I wish. Why, the
          "Enquirer" - I wouldn't wrap up the
          liver for the cat in the "Enquirer"
          -

                    CARTER
              (enraged)
          Mr. Kane, I must ask you to see to
          it that this - this person learns
          to control his tongue.

Kane looks up.

                    CARTER
          I've been a newspaperman my whole
          life and I don't intend -
              (he starts to sputter)
          - if it's your intention that I
          should continue to be harassed by
          this - this -
              (he's really sore)
          I warn you, Mr. Kane, it would go
          against my grain to desert you when
          you need me so badly - but I would
          feel obliged to ask that my
          resignation be accepted.

                    KANE
          It is accepted, Mr. Carter, with
          assurances of my deepest regard.

                    CARTER
          But Mr. Kane, I meant -

Kane turns his back on him, speaks again to the composing
room foreman.

                    KANE
              (quietly)
          Let's remake these pages, Mr.
          Smathers. We'll have to publish a
          half hour late, that's all.

                    SMATHERS
              (as though Kane were
               talking Greek)
          We can't remake them, Mr. Kane. We
          go to press in five minutes.
                                                         57.


Kane sighs, unperturbed, as he reaches out his hand and
shoves the forms off the table onto the floor, where they
scatter into hundreds of bits.

                    KANE
          You can remake them now, can't you,
          Mr. Smathers?

Smather's mouth opens wider and wider.   Bradford and
Bernstein are grinning.

                    KANE
          After the types've been reset and
          the pages have been remade
          according to the way I told you
          before, Mr. Smathers, kindly have
          proofs pulled and bring them to me.
          Then, if I can't find any way to
          improve them again -
              (almost as if
               reluctantly)
          - I suppose we'll have to go to
          press.

He starts out of the room, followed by Leland.

                    BERNSTEIN
              (to Smathers)
          In case you don't understand, Mr.
          Smathers - he's a new broom.

                                              DISSOLVE OUT:

                                              DISSOLVE IN:

EXT. NEW YORK STREET - VERY EARLY DAWN -

The picture is mainly occupied by a large building, on the
roof of which the lights spell out the word "Enquirer"
against the sunrise. We do not see the street or the first
few stories of this building, the windows of which would be
certainly illuminated. What we do see is the floor on which
is located the City Room. Over this scene, newboys are
heard selling the Chronicle, their voices growing in volume.

As the dissolve complete itself, camera moves toward the one
lighted window - the window of the Sanctrum.

                                                  DISSOLVE:

INT. KANE'S OFFICE - VERY EARLY DAWN -

The newsboys are still heard from the street below - fainter
but very insistent.
                                                      58.


Kane's office is gas-lit, of course, as is the rest of the
Enquirer building.

Kane, in his shirt sleeves, stands at the open window
looking out. The bed is already made up. On it is seated
Bernstein, smoking the end of a cigar. Leland is in a
chair.

NEWSBOYS' VOICES

CHRONICLE!    CHRONICLE!   H'YA - THE

CHRONICLE - GET YA!    CHRONICLE!

Kane, taking a deep breath of the morning air, closes the
window and turns to the others. The voices of the newsboys,
naturally, are very much fainter after this.

                       LELAND
             We'll be on the street soon,
             Charlie - another ten minutes.

                       BERNSTEIN
                 (looking at his watch)
             It's three hours and fifty minutes
             late - but we did it -

Leland rises from the chair, stretching painfully.

                       KANE
             Tired?

                       LELAND
             It's been a tough day.

                       KANE
             A wasted day.

                       BERNSTEIN
                 (looking up)
             Wasted?

                       LELAND
                 (incredulously)
             Charlie?!

                       BERNSTEIN
             You just made the paper over four
             times today, Mr. Kane. That's all -

                       KANE
             I've changed the front page a
             little, Mr. Bernstein.
                                                      59.


          That's not enough - There's
          something I've got to get into this
          paper besides pictures and print -
          I've got to make the "New York
          Enquirer" as important to New York
          as the gas in that light.

                    LELAND
              (quietly)
          What're you going to do, Charlie?

Kane looks at him for a minute with a queer smile of happy
concentration.

                    KANE
          My Declaration of Principles -
              (he says it with quotes
               around it)
          Don't smile, Brad -
              (getting the idea)
          Take dictation, Mr. Bernstein -

                    BERNSTEIN
          Can't take shorthand, Mr. Kane -

                    KANE
          I'll write it myself.

Kane grabs a piece of rough paper and a grease crayon.
Sitting down on the bed next to Bernstein, he starts to
write.

                    BERNSTEIN
              (looking over his
               shoulder)
          You don't want to make any
          promises, Mr. Kane, you don't want
          to keep.

                    KANE
              (as he writes)
          These'll be kept.
              (stops for a minute and
               reads what he has
               written; reading)
          I'll provide the people of this
          city with a daily paper that will
          tell all the news honestly.
              (starts to write again;
               reading as he writes)
          will also provide them -
                                                       60.


                    LELAND
          That's the second sentence you've
          started with "I" -

                    KANE
              (looking up)
          People are going to know who's
          responsible. And they're going to
          get the news - the true news -
          quickly and simply and
          entertainingly.
              (he speaks with real
               conviction)
          And no special interests will be
          allowed to interfere with the truth
          of that news.

He looks at Leland for a minute and goes back to his
writing, reading as he writes.

Bernstein has risen and crossed to one side of Kane. They
both stand looking out. Leland joins him on the other side.
Their three heads are silhouetted against the sky. Leland's
head is seen to turn slightly as he looks into Kane's face -
camera very close on this - Kane turns to him and we know
their eyes have met, although their faces are almost in
silhouette. Bernstein is still smoking a cigar.

                                                DISSOLVE:

Front page of the "Enquirer" shows big boxed editorial with
heading:

MY PRINCIPLES - A DECLARATION BY CHARLES FOSTER KANE

Camera continues pulling back and shows newspaper to be on
the top of a pile of newspapers. As we draw further back,
we see four piles, and as camera continues to pull back, we
see six piles and go on back until we see a big field of
"Enquirers" - piles of "Enquirers" - all 26,000 copies ready
for distribution.

A wagon with a huge sign on its side reading

"ENQUIRER - CIRCULATION 26,000"

passes through foreground, and we wipe to:

A pile of "Enquirers" for sale on a broken down wooden box
on a street corner, obviously a poor district. A couple of
coins fall on the pile.

The stoop of a period door with old-fashioned enamel milk
can and a bag of rolls.
                                                      61.


Across the sidewalk before this, moves the shadow of an old-
fashioned bicycle with an enormous front wheel. A copy of
the "Enquirer" is tossed on the stoop.

A breakfast table - beautiful linen and beautiful silver -
everything very expensive, gleaming in the sunshine. Into a
silver newspaper rack there is slipped a copy of the
"Enquirer". Here, as before, the boxed editorial reading MY
PRINCIPLES - A DECLARATION BY CHARLES FOSTER KANE, is very
prominent on the front page.

The wooden floor of a railroad station, flashing light and
dark as a train behind the camera rushes by. On the floor,
there is tossed a bound bundle of the "New York Enquirer" -
the Declaration of Principles still prominent.

Rural Delivery - a copy of the "Enquirer"s being put into
bins, showing state distribution.

The railroad platform again. We stay here for four images.
On each image, the speed of the train is faster and the
piles of the "Enquirer" are larger. On the first image, we
move in to hold on the words "CIRCULATION - 31,000." We are
this close for the next pile which reads 40,000; the next
one which reads and the last which is 62,000. In each
instance, the bundles of newspapers are thicker and the
speed of the moving train behind the camera is increased.

The entire montage above indicated is accompanied by a
descriptive complement of sound - the traffic noises of New
York in the 1890's; wheels on cobblestones and horses'
hooves; bicycle bells; the mooning of cattle and the crowing
of roosters (in the RFD shot), and in all cases where the
railroad platform is used - the mounting sound of the
railroad train.

The last figure "62,000" opposite the word "CIRCULATION" on
the "Enquirer" masthead changes to:

EXT. STREET AND CHRONICLE BUILDING - DAY -

Angle up to wall of building - a painter on a cradle is
putting the last zero to the figure "62,000" on an enormous
sign advertising the "Enquirer." It reads:

                    THE ENQUIRER THE PEOPLE'S NEWSPAPER
                    CIRCULATION 62,000
          Camera travels down side of
          building - takes in another
          building on which there is a sign
          which reads:
                                                     62.


                   READ THE ENQUIRER AMERICA'S FINEST
                   CIRCULATION 62,000
         Camera continues to travel down to
         sidewalk in front of the Chronicle
         office. The Chronicle office has a
         plateglass window in which is
         reflected traffic moving up and
         down the street, also the figures
         of Kane, Leland and Bernstein, who
         are munching peanuts.

Inside the window, almost filling it, is a large photograph
of the "Chronicle" staff, with Reilly prominently seated in
the center. A sign over the photo reads: EDITORIAL AND
EXECUTIVE STAFF OF THE NEW YORK CHRONICLE. A sign beneath
it reads: GREATEST NEWSPAPER STAFF IN THE WORLD. The sign
also includes the "Chronicle" circulation figure. There are
nine men in the photo.

                   BERNSTEIN
             (looking up at the sign -
              happily)
         Sixty-two thousand -

                   LELAND
         That looks pretty nice.

                   KANE
             (indicating the Chronicle
              Building)
         Let's hope they like it there.

                   BERNSTEIN
         From the Chronicle Building that
         sign is the biggest thing you can
         see - every floor guaranteed -
         let's hope it bothers them - it
         cost us enough.

                   KANE
             (pointing to the sign
              over the photograph in
              the window)
         Look at that.

                    LELAND
         The "Chronicle" is a good
         newspaper.

                   KANE
         It's a good idea for a newspaper.
             (reading the figures)
         Four hundred sixty thousand.
                                                       63.


                    BERNSTEIN
          Say, with them fellows -
              (referring to the photo)
          - it's no trick to get circulation.

                    KANE
          You're right, Mr. Bernstein.

                    BERNSTEIN
              (sighs)
          You know how long it took the
          "Chronicle" to get that staff
          together? Twenty years.

                    KANE
          I know.

Kane, smiling, lights a cigarette, at the same time looking
into the window. Camera moves in to hold on the photograph
of nine men, still holding the reflection of Kane's smiling
face.

                                                DISSOLVE:

INT. CITY ROOM - THE ENQUIRER - NIGHT -

Nine men, arrayed as in the photograph, but with Kane
beaming in the center of the first row. The men, variously
with mustaches, beards, bald heads, etc. are easily
identified as being the same men, Reilly prominent amongst
them.

As camera pulls back, it is revealed that they are being
photographed - by an old-type professional photographer, big
box, black hood and all - in a corner of the room. It is
1:30 at night. Desks, etc. have been pushed against the
wall. Running down the center of the room is a long banquet
table, at which twenty diners have finished their meals.
The eleven remaining at their seats - these include
Bernstein and Leland - are amusedly watching the
photographic ceremonies.

                    PHOTOGRAPHER
          That's all. Thank you.

The photographic subjects rise.

                    KANE
              (a sudden thought)
          Make up an extra copy and mail it
          to the "Chronicle."

Chuckling and beaming, he makes his way to his place at the
head of the table. The others have already sat down.
                                                      64.


Kane gets his guests' attention by rapping on the table with
a knife.

                      KANE
            Gentlemen of the "Enquirer"! This
            has, I think, been a fitting
            welcome to those distinguished
            journalists -
                (indicates the eight men)
            Mr. Reilly in particular - who are
            the latest additions to our ranks.
            It will make them happy to learn
            that the "Enquirer's" circulation
            this morning passed the two hundred
            thousand mark.

                      BERNSTEIN
            Two hundred and one thousand, six
            hundred and forty-seven.

General applause.

                      KANE
            All of you - new and old - You're
            all getting the best salaries in
            town. Not one of you has been
            hired because of his loyalty. It's
            your talent I'm interested in.
            That talent that's going to make
            the "Enquirer" the kind of paper I
            want - the best newspaper in the
            world!

Applause.

                       KANE
            However, I think you'll agree we've
            heard enough about newspapers and
            the newspaper business for one
            night. There are other subjects in
            the world.

He puts his two fingers in his mouth and lets out a shrill
whistle. This is a signal. A band strikes up a lively
ditty of the period and enters in advance a regiment of very
magnificent maidens, as daringly arrayed as possible in the
chorus costumes of the day. The rest of this episode will
be planned and staged later. Its essence is that Kane is
just a healthy and happy young man having a wonderful time.

As some of the girls are detached from the line and made
into partners for individual dancing -
                                                          65.


                                              DISSOLVE OUT:

                                               DISSOLVE IN:

THE "ENQUIRER" SIGN:    THE ENQUIRER   AMERICA'S FINEST

                       CIRCULATION 274,321
             Dissolve just completes itself -
             the image of Kane dancing with a
             girl on each arm just disappears as
             camera pans down off the Temple
             Building the same action as the
             previous street scene. There is a
             new sign on the side of the
             building below. It reads:

                       READ THE ENQUIRER GREATEST STAFF IN
                       THE WORLD
             Camera continues panning as we

                                                   DISSOLVE:

A montage of various scenes, between the years 1891-1900.

The scenes indicate the growth of the "Enquirer" under the
impulse of Kane's personal drive. Kane is shown, thus, at
various activities:

Move down from the sign: READ THE ENQUIRER GREATEST STAFF
IN THE WORLD to street in front of saloon with parade
passing (boys going off to the Spanish-American War)- A
torchlight parade with the torches reflected in the glass
window of the saloon - the sound of brass band playing "It's
a Hot Time." In the window of the saloon is a large sign or
poster "REMEMBER

THE MAINE"

INSERT: Remington drawing of American boys, similar to the
parade above, in which "Our Boys" in the expeditionary hats
are seen marching off to war.

Back of observation car. Shot of Kane congratulating Teddy
Roosevelt (the same shot as in the News Digest - without
flickering).

The wooden floor of the railroad platform again - a bundle
of "Enquirers" - this time an enormous bundle - is thrown
down, and the moving shadows of the train behind the camera
indicate that it is going like a bat out of hell. A
reproduction of Kane and Teddy shaking hands as above is
very prominent in the frame and almost hogs the entire front
page. The headline indicates the surrender of Cuba.
                                                      66.


INT. ENQUIRER OFFICE

Cartoon, highly dramatic and very involved as to content -
lousy with captions, labels, and symbolic figures, the most
gruesome and recognizable - "Capitalistic Greed." This
cartoon is almost finished and is on a drawing board before
which stand Kane and the artist himself. Kane is grinning
over some suggestion he has made.

                                               DISSOLVE:

The cartoon finished and reproduced on the editorial page of
the "Enquirer" - in quite close, with an editorial and
several faces of caps shown underneath. The entire
newspaper is crushed with an angry gesture and thrown down
into an expensive-looking wastebasket (which is primarily
for ticker tape) tape is pouring.

INT. ENQUIRER OFFICE

Cartoonist and Kane working on comic strip of "Johnny the
Monk."

                                               DISSOLVE:

Floor of room - Two kids on floor, with newspaper spread
out, looking at the same comic strip.

Kane's photographic gallery with photographers, stooges, and
Kane himself in attendance on a very hot-looking item of the
period. A sob sister is interviewing this hot number and
Kane is arranging her dress to look more seductive.

                                           DISSOLVE OUT:

                                            DISSOLVE IN:

The hot number reproduced and prominently displayed and
covering almost half a page of the "Enquirer." It is being
read in a barber shop and is seen in an over-shoulder shot
of the man who is reading it. He is getting a shine, a
manicure, and a haircut. The sob-sister caption over the
photograph reveals:

                   "I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT I WAS DOING, SAYS
                   DANCER. EVERYTHING WENT
         RED." An oval photograph of the
         gun is included in the lay- out of
         the pretty lady with a headline
         which says: "DEATH GUN."
                                                      67.


STREET - SHOT OF BUCKET BRIGADE

Shot of Kane, in evening clothes, in obvious position of
danger, grabbing camera from photographer. Before him rages
a terrific tenement fire.

                                               DISSOLVE:

INSERT: Headline about inadequacy of present fire
equipment.

                                               DISSOLVE:

Final shot of a new horse-drawn steam engine roaring around
a street corner (Stock).

                                               DISSOLVE:

A black pattern of iron bars. We are in a prison cell. The
door is opened and a condemned man, with priest, warden and
the usual attendants, moves into foreground and starts up
the hall past a group which includes phtographers, Kane's
sob- sister, and Kane. The photographers take pictures with
a mighty flash of old-fashioned flash powder. The condemned
man in the foreground (in silhouette) is startled by this.

                                               DISSOLVE:

A copy of the "Enquirer" spread out on a table. A big lay-
out of the execution story includes the killer as
photographed by Kane's photographers, and nearby on the
other page there is a large picture of the new steam fire
engine (made from the stock shot) with a headline indicating
that the "Enquirer" has won its campaign for better
equipment. A cup of coffee and a doughnut are on the
newspaper, and a servant girl - over whose shoulder we see
the paper - is stirring the coffee.

The Beaux Art Ball. A number of elderly swells are jammed
into a hallway. Servants suddenly divest them of their
furs, overcoats and wraps, revealing them to be in fancy
dress costume, pink fleshings, etc., the effect to be very
surprising, very lavish and very very ridiculous. We see,
among others, Mr. Thatcher himself (as Ben Hur) ribbon
around, his bald head and all. At the conclusion of this
tableau, the image freezes and we pull back to show it
reproduced on the society page of the "New York Enquirer."

Over the "Enquirer"'s pictorial version of the Beaux Art
Ball is thrown a huge fish - then coffee grounds -
altogether a pretty repulsive sight.

The whole thing is bundled up and thrown into a garbage can.
                                                        68.


Extreme close-up of the words: "OCCUPATION - JOURNALIST."

Camera pulls back to show passport open to the photograph
page which shows Kane, registering birth, race, and
nationality. Passport cover is closed, showing it to be an
American passport.

EXT. CUNARD DOCKS - GANGPLANK AND DECK OF BOAT - NIGHT -

As camera pulls back over shoulder of official, taking in
Kane, Leland, and Bernstein, we see the bustle and noise of
departing ocean liner. Behind the principles can be seen an
enormous plain sign which reads: "FIRST CLASS." From
offstage can be heard the steward's cry, indispensable in
any Mercury production, the old familiar cry, "All Ashore
That's Going Ashore!" - gongs, also blasts of the great
whistle and all the rest of it.

                    THE OFFICIAL
          There you are, Mr. Kane.
          Everything in order.

                       KANE
          Thank you.

Kane and Leland and Bernstein start up the gangplank.

                    THE OFFICIAL
              (calling)
          Have a good rest, Mr. Kane.

                       KANE
          Thanks.

                    BERNSTEIN
          But please, Mr. Kane, don't buy any
          more paintings. Nine Venuses
          already we got, twenty-six Virgins -
          two whole warehouses full of stuff -

                    KANE
          I promise not to bring any more
          Venuses and not to worry - and not
          to try to get in touch with any of
          the papers -

                    STEWARD'S VOICE
          All ashore!

                    KANE
          - and to forget about the new
          feature sections - and not to try
          to think up and ideas for comic
          sections.
                                                        69.


                    STEWARD'S VOICE
          All ashore that's going ashore!

Kane leaves Leland and Bernstein midway up gangplank, as he
rushes up to it, calling back with a wave:

                     KANE
          Goodbye, gents!
               (at the top of the
                gangplank, he turns and
                calls down)
          Hey!

                    KANE
              (calling down to them)
          You don't expect me to keep any of
          those promises, do you?

A band on deck strikes up "Auld Lang Syne."    Bernstein and
Leland turn to each other.

                    BERNSTEIN
          Do you, Mr. Leland?

                    LELAND
              (smiling)
          Certainly not.

They start down the gangplank together.

                                                 DISSOLVE:

LONG SHOT OF THE ENQUIRER BUILDING - NIGHT

The pattern of telegraph wires, dripping with rain, through
which we see the same old building but now rendered fairly
remarkable by tremendous outline sign in gold which reads
"THE NEW YORK DAILY ENQUIRER." A couple of lights show in
the building. We start toward the window where the lights
show, as we -

                                                 DISSOLVE:

EXT. OUTSIDE THE WINDOW AT BERNSTEIN'S DESK - NIGHT

The light in the window in the former shot was showing
behind the letter "E" of the Enquirer sign. Now the letter
"E" is even larger than the frame of the camera. Rain drips
disconsolately off the middle part of the figure. We see
through this and through the drizzle of the window to
Bernstein's desk where he sits working under a blue shaded
light.
                                                        70.


                                             DISSOLVE OUT:

                                             DISSOLVE IN:

Same setup as before except that it is now late afternoon
and late in the winter of the year. The outline "E" is hung
with icicles which are melting, dripping despairingly
between us and Mr. Bernstein, still seated at his desk -
still working.

                                                 DISSOLVE:

Same setup as before except that it is spring. Instead of
the sad sounds of dripping rain or dripping icicles, we hear
the melancholy cry of a hurdy-gurdy in the street below. It
is spring and through the letter "E" we can see Bernstein
working at his desk. Pigeons are gathering on the "E" and
on the sill. Bernstein looks up and sees them. He takes
some crumbs from his little homemade lunch which is spread
out on the desk before him, carries them to the windows and
feeds the pigeons, looking moodily out on the prospect of
spring on Park Row. The birds eat the crumbs - the hurdy-
gurdy continues to play.

                                                 DISSOLVE:

The same setup again, it is now summer. The window was half-
open before .. now it's open all the way and Bernstein has
gone so far as to take off his coat. His shirt and his
celluloid collar are wringing wet. Camera moves toward the
window to tighten on Bernstein and to take in the City Room
behind him, which is absolutely deserted. It is clear that
there is almost nothing more for Bernstein to do. The hurdy-
gurdy in the street is playing as before, but a new tune.

                                                 DISSOLVE:

A beach on Coney Island.

Bernstein in a rented period bathing suit sits alone in the
sand, reading a copy of the "Enquirer."

                                             DISSOLVE OUT:

                                             DISSOLVE IN:

INT. CITY ROOM - ENQUIRER BUILDING - DAY -

The whole floor is now a City Room. It is twice its former
size, yet not too large for all the desks and the people
using them. The windows have been enlarged, providing a
good deal more light and air. A wall calendar says
September 9th.
                                                        71.


Kane and Bernstein enter and stand in the entrance a moment.
Kane, who really did look a bit peaked before, is now clear-
eyed and tanned. He is wearing new English clothes. As
they come into the room, Bernstein practically walking
sideways, is doing nothing but beaming and admiring Kane,
quelling like a mother at the Carnegie Hall debut of her
son. Seeing and recognizing Kane, the entire staff rises to
its feet.

                     KANE
              (referring to the staff;
               with a smile)
          Ask them to sit down, Mr.
          Bernstein.

                    BERNSTEIN
          Sit down, everybody - for heaven's
          sake!

The order is immediately obeyed, everybody going into
business of feverish activity.

                    BERNSTEIN
          So then, tonight, we go over
          everything thoroughly, eh?
          Especially the new papers -

                     KANE
          We certainly do. Vacation's over -
          starting right after dinner. But
          right now - that lady over there -
              (he indicates a woman at
               the desk)
          - that's the new society editor, I
          take it? You think I could
          interrupt her a moment, Mr.
          Bernstein?

                    BERNSTEIN
          Huh? Oh, I forgot - you've been
          away so long I forgot about your
          joking -

He trails after Kane as he approaches the Society Editor's
desk. The Society Editor, a middle-aged spinster, sees him
approaching and starts to quake all over, but tries to
pretend she isn't aware of him. An envelope in her hand
shakes violently. Kane and Bernstein stop at her desk.

                    BERNSTEIN
          Miss Townsend -

Miss Townsend looks up and is so surprised to see Bernstein
with a stranger.
                                                       72.


                    MISS TOWNSEND
          Good afternoon, Mr. Bernstein.

                    BERNSTEIN
          This is Mr. Kane, Miss Townsend.

Miss Townsend can't stick to her plan. She starts to rise,
but her legs are none too good under her. She knocks over a
tray of copy paper as she rises, and bends to pick it up.

                    KANE
              (very hesitatingly and
               very softly)
          Miss Townsend -

At the sound of his voice, she straightens up.   She is very
close to death from excitement.

                    KANE
          I've been away for several months,
          and I don't know exactly how these
          things are handled now. But one
          thing I wanted to be sure of is
          that you won't treat this little
          announcement any differently than
          you would any other similar
          announcement.

He hands her an envelope.   She has difficulty in holding on
to it.

                    KANE
              (gently)
          Read it, Miss Townsend. And
          remember - just the regular
          treatment! See you at nine
          o'clock, Mr. Bernstein!

Kane leaves. Bernstein looks after him, then at the paper.
Miss Townsend finally manages to open the envelope. A piece
of flimsy paper, with a few written lines, is her reward.

                    MISS TOWNSEND
              (reading)
          Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Moore Norton
          announce the engagement of their
          daughter, Emily Monroe Norton, to
          Mr. Charles Foster Kane.

                     BERNSTEIN
              (starts to read it)
          Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Moore Norton
          announce -
                                                       73.


                    MISS TOWNSEND
              (fluttering - on top of
               him)
          She's - she's the niece of - of the
          President of the United States -

                    BERNSTEIN
              (nodding proudly)
          know. Come on, Miss Townsend -
          From the window, maybe we can get a
          look.

He takes her by the hand and leads her off.

Angle toward open window. Bernstein and Miss Townsend,
backs to camera, rushing to the window.

EXT. STREET OUTSIDE ENQUIRER BUILDING - DAY -

High angle downward - what Bernstein and Miss Townsend see
from the window.

Kane is just stepping into an elegant barouch, drawn up at
the curb, in which sits Miss Emily Norton. He kisses her
full on the lips before he sits down. She acts a bit taken
aback, because of the public nature of the scene, but she
isn't really annoyed. As the barouche starts off, she is
looking at him adoringly. He, however, has turned his head
and is looking adoringly at the "Enquirer." He apparently
sees Bernstein and Miss Townsend and waves his hand.

INT. CITY ROOM - ENQUIRER - DAY -

Bernstein and Miss Townsend at window.

                    BERNSTEIN
          A girl like that, believe me, she's
          lucky! President’s niece, huh!
          Say, before he's through, she'll be
          a President’s wife.

Miss Townsend is now dewey-eyed. She looks at Bernstein,
who has turned away, gazing down at the departing couple.

                                                DISSOLVE:

Front page of the "Enquirer." Large picture of the young
couple - Kane and Emily - occupying four columns - very
happy.

                                                DISSOLVE:
                                                       74.


INT. BERNSTEIN'S OFFICE - ENQUIRER - DAY -

Bernstein and Thompson.   As the dissolve comes, Bernstein's
voice is heard.

                    BERNSTEIN
          The way things turned out, I don't
          need to tell you - Miss Emily
          Norton was no rosebud!

                    THOMPSON
          It didn't end very well, did it?

                     BERNSTEIN
               (shaking his head)
          It ended -
               (a slight pause)
          Then there was Susie - that ended,
          too.
               (shrugs, a pause; then
                looking up into
                Thompson's eyes)
          guess he didn't make her very happy
          -

                    (A PAUSE)
          You know, I was thinking - that
          Rosebud you're trying to find out
          about -

                    THOMPSON
          Yes -

                    BERNSTEIN
          Maybe that was something he lost.
          Mr. Kane was a man that lost -
          almost everything he had -
              (a pause)
          You ought to talk to Bradford
          Leland. He could tell you a lot. I
          wish I could tell you where Leland
          is, but I don't know myself. He
          may be out of town somewhere - he
          may be dead.

                    THOMPSON
          In case you'd like to know, Mr.
          Bernstein, he's at the Huntington
          Memorial Hospital on 180th Street.

                    BERNSTEIN
          You don't say! Why I had no idea -
                                                       75.


                    THOMPSON
          Nothing particular the matter with
          him, they tell me. Just -
              (controls himself)

                    BERNSTEIN
          Just old age.
              (smiles sadly)
          It's the only disease, Mr.
          Thompson, you don't look forward to
          being cured of.
              (pauses)
          You ought to see Mr. Leland.
          There's a whole lot of things he
          could tell you - if he wanted to.

                                                FADE OUT:

                                                FADE IN:

EXT. HOSPITAL ROOF - DAY -

Close shot - Thompson. He is tilted back in a chair which
seems to be, and is, leaning against a chimney. Leland's
voice is heard for a few moments before Leland is seen.

                    LELAND'S VOICE
          When you get to my age, young man,
          you don't miss anything. Unless
          maybe it's a good drink of bourbon.
          Even that doesn't make much
          difference, if you remember there
          hasn't been any good bourbon in
          this country for twenty years.

Camera has pulled back, during above speech, revealing that
Leland, wrapped in a blanket, is in a wheel chair, talking
to Thompson. They are on the flat roof of a hospital.
Other people in wheel chairs can be seen in the background,
along with a nurse or two. They are all sunning themselves.

                    THOMPSON
          Mr. Leland, you were -

                    LELAND
          You don't happen to have a cigar,
          do you? I've got a young physician
          - must remember to ask to see his
          license - the odds are a hundred to
          one he hasn't got one - who thinks
          I'm going to stop smoking... I
          changed the subject, didn't I?
          Dear, dear! What a disagreeable
          old man I've become.
                                      76.


You want to know what I think of
Charlie Kane? Well - I suppose he
has some private sort of greatness.
But he kept it to himself.
    (grinning)
He never - gave himself away - He
never gave anything away. He just -
left you a tip. He had a generous
mind. I don't suppose anybody ever
had so many opinions. That was
because he had the power to express
them, and Charlie lived on power
and the excitement of using it -
But he didn't believe in anything
except Charlie Kane. He never had
a conviction in his life. I guess
he died without one - That must
have been pretty unpleasant. Of
course, a lot of us check out with
no special conviction about death.
But we do know what we're leaving
... we believe in something.
    (looks sharply at
     Thompson)
You're absolutely sure you haven't
got a cigar?

          THOMPSON
Sorry, Mr. Leland.

          LELAND
Never mind - Bernstein told you
about the first days at the office,
didn't he? Well, Charlie was a bad
newspaper man even then. He
entertained his readers, but he
never told them the truth.

          THOMPSON
Maybe you could remember something
that -

          LELAND
I can remember everything. That's
my curse, young man. It's the
greatest curse that's ever been
inflicted on the human race.
Memory - I was his oldest friend.
    (slowly)
As far as I was concerned, he
behaved like swine. Maybe I wasnt'
his friend.
                                                            77.


            If I wasn't, he never had one.
            Maybe I was what nowadays you call
            a stooge -

                                              DISSOLVE OUT:

                                                  DISSOLVE IN:

INT. CITY ROOM - THE ENQUIRER - NIGHT -

The party (previously shown in the Bernstein sequence).

We start this sequence toward the end of the former one, but
from a fresh angle, holding on Leland, who is at the end of
the table. Kane is heard off, making a speech.

                      KANE'S VOICE
            Not one of you has been hired
            because of his loyalty. It's your
            talent I'm interested in. That
            talent that's going to make the
            "Enquirer" the kind of paper I want
            - the best newspaper in the world!

Applause.   During above, Bernstein has come to Leland's
side.

                      BERNSTEIN
            Isn't it wonderful?   Such a party!

                      LELAND
            Yes.

His tone causes Bernstein to look at him.

                      KANE'S VOICE
            However, I think you'll agree we've
            heard enough about newspapers and
            the newspaper business for one
            night.

The above speeches are heard under the following dialogue.

                      BERNSTEIN
                (to Leland)
            What's the matter?
                                                        78.


                    LELAND
          Mr. Bernstein, these men who are
          now with the "Enquirer" - who were
          with the "Chronicle" until
          yesterday - weren't they just as
          devoted to the "Chronicle" kind of
          paper as they are now to - our kind
          of paper?

                    BERNSTEIN
          Sure. They're like anybody else.
          They got work to do. They do it.
              (proudly)
          Only they happen to be the best men
          in the business.

                    KANE
              (finishing his speech)
          There are other subjects in the
          world -

Kane whistles. The band and the chorus girls enter and hell
breaks loose all around Leland and Bernstein.

                    LELAND
              (after a minute)
          Do we stand for the same things
          that the "Chronicle" stands for,
          Mr. Bernstein?

                    BERNSTEIN
              (indignantly)
          Certainly not. So what's that got
          to do with it? Mr. Kane, he'll
          have them changed to his kind of
          newspapermen in a week.

                    LELAND
          Probably. There's always a chance,
          of course, that they'll change Mr.
          Kane - without his knowing it.

Kane has come up to Leland and Bernstein.    He sits down next
to them, lighting a cigarette.

                    KANE
          Well, gentlemen, are we going to
          war?

                    LELAND
          Our readers are, anyway, I don't
          know about the rest of the country.
                                                     79.


                   KANE
             (enthusiastically)
         It'll be our first foreign war in
         fifty years, Brad. We'll cover it
         the way the "Hickville Gazette"
         covers the church social! The
         names of everybody there; what they
         wore; what they ate; who won the
         prizes; who gave the prizes -
             (gets excited)
         I tell you, Brad, I envy you.
             (quoting)
         By Bradford Leland, the
         "Enquirer's" Special Correspondent
         at the Front. I'm almost tempted -

                   LELAND
         But there is no Front, Charlie.
         There's a very doubtful civil war.
         Besides, I don't want the job.

                   KANE
         All right, Brad, all right - you
         don't have to be a war
         correspondent unless you want to -
         I'd want to.
             (looking up)
         Hello, Georgie.

Georgie, a very handsome madam has walked into the picture,
stands behind him. She leans over and speaks quietly in his
ear.

                   GEORGIE
         Is everything the way you want it,
         dear?

                   KANE
             (looking around)
         If everybody's having fun, that's
         the way I want it.

                   GEORGIE
         I've got some other little girls
         coming over -

                   LELAND
             (interrupting)
         Charles, I tell you there is no
         war! There's a condition that
         should be remedied - but between
         that and a -
                                                         80.


                    KANE
              (seriously)
          How would the "Enquirer" look with
          no news about this non-existent war
          - with Benton, Pulitzer and Heart
          devoting twenty columns a day to
          it?

                    LELAND
          They do it only because you do!

                    KANE
              (grins)
          And I do it because they do it, and
          they do it - it's a vicious circle,
          isn't it?
              (rises)
          I'm going over to Georgie's, Brad -
          you know, Georgie, don't you?

Leland nods.

                    GEORGIE
              (over Kane's next lines)
          Glad to meet you, Brad.

Leland shudders.

                    KANE
          I told you about Brad, Georgie. He
          needs to relax.

Brad doesn't answer.

                    KANE
          Some ships with wonderful wines
          have managed to slip through the
          enemy fleet that's blockading New
          York harbor -
              (grins)
          Georgie knows a young lady whom I'm
          sure you'd adore - wouldn't he,
          Georgie? Why only the other
          evening I said to myself, if Brad
          were only here to adore this young
          lady - this -
              (snaps his fingers)
          What's her name again?

                                            DISSOLVE OUT:

                                               DISSOLVE IN:
                                                      81.


INT. GEORGIE'S PLACE - NIGHT -

Georgie is introducing a young lady to Branford Leland.    On
sound track we hear piano music.

                    GEORGIE
              (right on cue from
               preceding scene)
          Ethel - this gentlemen has been
          very anxious to meet you - This is
          Ethel.

                    ETHEL
          Hello, Mr. Leland.

Camera pans to include Kane, seated at piano, with girls
gathered around him.

                     ONE OF THE GIRLS
          Charlie!   Play the song about you.

                    ANOTHER GIRL
          Is there a song about Charlie?

Kane has broken into "Oh, Mr. Kane!" and Charlie and the
girls start to sing. Ethel leads the unhappy Leland over to
the group. Kane, seeing Leland and taking his eye, motions
to the professor who has been standing next to him to take
over. The professor does so. The singing continues. Kane
rises and crosses to Leland.

                     KANE
          Say, Brad.
              (draws him slightly
               aside)
          I've got an idea.

                     LELAND
          Yes?

                    KANE
          I mean I've got a job for you.

                     LELAND
          Good.

                    KANE
          You don't want to be a war
          correspondent - how about being a
          dramatic critic?
                                                         82.


                    LELAND
              (sincerely, but not
               gushing; seriously)
          I'd like that.

Kane starts quietly to dance in time to the music.    Leland
smiles at him.

                    KANE
          You start tomorrow night. Richard
          Carl in "The Spring Chicken."
              (or supply show)
          I'll get us some girls. You get
          tickets. A drama critic gets them
          free, you know.
              (grins)
          Rector's at seven?

                      LELAND
          Charlie -

                      KANE
          Yes?

                    LELAND
              (still smiling)
          It doesn't make any difference
          about me, but one of these days
          you're going to find out that all
          this charm of yours won't be enough
          -

                    KANE
              (has stopped dancing)
          You're wrong. It does make a
          difference to you - Rector's,
          Brad?
              (starts to dance again)
          Come to think of it, I don't blame
          you for not wanting to be a war
          correspondent. You won't miss
          anything. It isn't much of a war.
          Besides, they tell me there isn't a
          decent restaurant on the whole
          island.

                                              DISSOLVE OUT:

                                              DISSOLVE IN:

INT. RECTOR'S - NIGHT -

Leland, Kane, two young ladies at Rector's.    Popular music
is heard over the soundtrack.
                                                         83.


Everybody is laughing very, very hard at something Kane has
said. The girls are hysterical. Kane can hardly breathe.
As Leland's laughter becomes more and more hearty, it only
increases the laughter of the others.

                                                  DISSOLVE:

EXT. CUNARD LOCKS - GANGPLANK AND DECK OF BOAT - NIGHT -

As told by Bernstein. Kane is calling down to Leland and
Bernstein (as before).

                    KANE
          You don't expect me to keep any of
          those promises, do you?

A band on deck strikes up "Auld Lang Syne" and further ship-
to- shore conversation is rendered unfeasible.

Bernstein and Leland on deck.

                    BERNSTEIN
              (turns to Leland)
          Do you, Mr. Leland?

                    LELAND
              (smiling)
          Certainly not.

Slight pause.   They continue on their way.

                    BERNSTEIN
          Mr. Leland, why didn't you go to
          Europe with him? He wanted you to.
          He said to me just yesterday -

                     LELAND
          I wanted him to have fun - and with
          me along -

This stops Bernstein.   Bernstein looks at him.

                    LELAND
          Mr. Bernstein, I wish you'd let me
          ask you a few questions, and answer
          me truthfully.

                    BERNSTEIN
          Don't I always? Most of the time?

                    LELAND
          Mr. Bernstein, am I a stuffed
          shirt?
                                                         84.


          Am I a horse-faced hypocrite?    Am I
          a New England school-marm?

                       BERNSTEIN
          Yes.

Leland is surprised.

                    BERNSTEIN
          If you thought I'd answer different
          from what Mr. Kane tells you -
          well, I wouldn't.

                    LELAND
              (good naturedly)
          You're in a conspiracy against me,
          you two. You always have been.

                    BERNSTEIN
          Against me there should be such a
          conspiracy some time!

He pauses. "Auld Lang Syne" can still be heard from the
deck of the department steamer.

                     BERNSTEIN
              (with a hopeful look in
               his eyes)
          Well, he'll be coming back in
          September. The Majestic. I got
          the reservations. It gets in on
          the ninth.

                    LELAND
          September the ninth?

Leland puts his hand in his pocket, pulls out a pencil and
small engagement book, opens the book and starts to write.

Leland's pencil writing on a page in the engagement book
open to September 9: "Rector's - 8:30 p.m."

                                                  DISSOLVE:

Front page "Enquirer." Large picture of the young couple -
Kane and Emily - occupying four columns - very happy.

EXT. HOSPITAL ROOF - DAY -

Leland and Thompson.    Leland is speaking as we dissolve.

                    LELAND
          I used to go to dancing school with
          her.
                                                     85.


Thompson had handed Leland a paper.

                    LELAND
          What's this?

                    THOMPSON
          It's a letter from her lawyers.

                     LELAND
              (reading aloud from the
               letter)
          David, Grobleski & Davis - My dear
          Rawlston -
              (looks up)

                    THOMPSON
          Rawlston is my boss.

                    LELAND
          Oh, yes. I know about Mr.
          Rawlston.

                    THOMPSON
          He knows the first Mrs. Kane
          socially - That's the answer we
          got.

                    LELAND
              (reading)
          I am in receipt of your favor of
          yesterday. I beg you to do me the
          courtesy of accepting my assurance
          that Mrs. Whitehall cannot be
          induced to contribute any more
          information on the career of
          Charles Foster Kane.

She has authorized me to state on previous occasions that
she regards their brief marriage as a distateful episode in
her life that she prefers to forget. With assurances of the
highest esteem - Leland hands the paper back to Thompson.

                    LELAND
          Brief marriage! Ten years!
              (sighs)

                    THOMPSON
          Was he in love?

                    LELAND
          He married for love -
              (a little laugh)
          That's why he did everything.
          That's why he went into politics.
                                                       86.


          It seems we weren't enough. He
          wanted all the voters to love him,
          too. All he really wanted out of
          life was love. That's Charlie's
          story - it's the story of how he
          lost it. You see, he just didn't
          have any to give. He loved Charlie
          Kane, of course, very dearly - and
          his mother, I guess he always loved
          her. As for Emily - well, all I
          can tell you is Emily's story as
          she told it to me, which probably
          isn't fair - there's supposed to be
          two sides to every story - and I
          guess there are. I guess there's
          more than two sides -

                                           DISSOLVE OUT:

                                            DISSOLVE IN:

Newspaper - Kane's marriage to Emily with still of group on
White House lawn, same setup as early newsreel in News
Digest.

                                                DISSOLVE:

Screaming headline: OIL SCANDAL!

                                                DISSOLVE:

Headline reading: KANE TO SEE PRESIDENT

                                                DISSOLVE:

Big headline on "Enquirer" front page which reads: KANE TO
SEE

                    PRESIDENT
          Under this, one of those big box
          signed editorials, typical of Kane,
          illustrated, on subject of the
          power of the president, expressed
          in about nine different cases of
          type, and illustrated by a cartoon
          of the White House, on which camera
          tightens, as we -

                                           DISSOLVE OUT:

                                            DISSOLVE IN:
                                                      87.


INT. THE WHITE HOUSE - THE PRESIDENT'S EXECUTIVE OFFICE -
DAY -

This scene is shot so as never to show the President - or at
least never his face. There is present the President's
Secretary, sitting on one side of the desk, intently taking
notes. Kane is on his feet, in front of the desk, tense and
glaring.

                     THE PRESIDENT
          It is the unanimous opinion of my
          Cabinet - in which I concur - that
          the proposed leases are in the best
          interests of the Government and the
          people.
              (pauses)
          You are not, I hope, suggesting
          that these interests are not
          identical?

                    KANE
          I'm not suggesting anything, Mr.
          President! I've come here to tell
          you that, unless some action is
          taken promptly - and you are the
          only one who can take it - the oil
          that is the property of the people
          of this country will be turned over
          for a song to a gang of high-
          pressure crooks!

                    THE PRESIDENT
              (calmly)
          I must refuse to allow you to
          continue in this vein, Mr. Kane.

                    KANE
              (screaming)
          It's the only vein I know. I tell
          the facts the way I see them. And
          any man that knows that facts -

                    THE PRESIDENT
          I know the facts, Mr. Kane. And I
          happen to have the incredible
          insolence to differ with you as to
          what they mean.
              (pause)
          You're a man of great talents, Mr.
          Kane.

                    KANE
          Thanks.
                                                       88.


                     THE PRESIDENT
          I understand that you have
          political ambitions.
          Unfortunately, you seem incapable
          of allowing any other opinion but
          your own -

                     KANE
              (building to a frenzy)
          I'm much obliged, Mr. President,
          for your concern about me.
          However, I happen to be concerned
          at this moment with the matter of
          extensive oil lands belonging to
          the people of the United States,
          and I say that if this lease goes
          through, the property of the people
          of the United States goes into the
          hands of -

                    THE PRESIDENT
              (interrupting)
          You've made your point perfectly
          clear, Mr. Kane. Good day.

The Secretary rises. Kane, with every bit of will power
remotely at his disposal to control what might become an
hysterical outburst, manages to bow.

                    KANE
          Mr. President.

He starts out of the office.

                                                DISSOLVE:

INT. COMPOSING ROOM - ENQUIRER - NIGHT -

Kane, Reilly, Leland and a composing room Foreman, in
working clothes, bending over a table with several forms of
type. They are looking, at this moment, at a made-up
headline - but Kane's back is in the way ... so we can't
read it.

                    FOREMAN
          How about it, Mr. Kane?

Reilly glances at his wrist watch and makes a face.   Kane
smiles as he notices this.

                       KANE
          All right.     Let her slide!

He turns away, and we can now read the headline.
                                                            89.


Insert of the headline, which reads: "OIL THEFT BECOMES LAW
AS PRESIDENT WITHOLDS VETO"

                                                     DISSOLVE:

Here follows a quick montage (presently to be worked out) of
no more than four or five images in which the President, by
means of cartoons, editorials, headlines (all faithfully
reproduced from period yellow journalism) is violently
attacked. The montage ends on the word TREASON. The music
cuts.

A hand reaches in a side pocket which contains a newspaper -
recognizably the "Enquirer." The hand removes a gun. The
gun is shot. Many arms seize the hand which is pulled up -
gun still firing. As the arm is raised in the air, we see
that the other arms holding the arm and struggling with it
are uniformed, and we see the White House beyond.

                                                     DISSOLVE:

News ticker which is spelling out the words: "ASSASSINATED

P.M."

NOTE: Under the following - a down shot, below the
"Enquirer," shows a crowd forming, looking angrily up toward
the camera. Crowd noises on the soundtrack under music.

A hand snatches the ticker tape away and as the image of the
crowd dissolves out, we pull back to show:

INT. OF KANE'S OFFICE - NIGHT -

The ticker tape is in Reilly's hand.     Reilly has a phone to
his ear.

                    REILLY
          Looks bad for us, Mr. Kane.     How
          shall we handle it?

                                                 DISSOLVE OUT:

                                                 DISSOLVE IN:

INT. GEORGIE'S PLACE -

Kane in shirtsleeves at phone.

                    KANE
          It's a news story!     Get it on the
          street!

                                                     DISSOLVE:
                                                         90.


Headline under "Enquirer" masthead which reads:

                    "PRESIDENT ASSASSINATED"
          Newsboy is crying the headline at
          the same time. We pull back to
          show him and -

                                                  DISSOLVE:

INT. THEATRE - NIGHT

The camera is in tight on a box which contains Emily and
distinguished elderly ladies and gentlemen, obviously family
and friends. On the soundtrack, very limpid opera music.
Another elderly gent, in white tie but still wearing an
overcoat, comes into the box and whispers to Emily. He has
a copy of the "Enquirer" in his hand. Emily rises. He
shows the paper to her.

                                                  DISSOLVE:

EXT. STREET OUTSIDE ENQUIRER BUILDING - NIGHT -

An angry crowd seen from the window of Kane's office. They
make a deep threatening sound which is audible during the
following scene. Across the heads of the crowd are two
great squares of light from the windows above them. One of
these disappears as the blind is pulled. As the dissolve
completes itself, the second square of light commences to
reduce in size, and then the entire street is cut off by a
blind which Leland pulls down, covering the entire frame.

INT. KANE'S OFFICE - ENQUIRER - NIGHT -

The staff standing around, worried to death, in their
shirtsleeves.

                    KANE
              (to Reilly)
          Take dictation - Front page
          editorial - "This afternoon a
          great man was assassinated. He was
          the President of the United States -
          "

                       LELAND
          Charlie -

                       KANE
          Yes?

                    LELAND
          Do you think you're the one who
          should call him a great man?
                                      91.


           KANE
Why not?

          LELAND
Why not? Well - nobody's a great
man in your estimation until he's
dead.

          REILLY
    (quickly)
Maybe we'd better wait for more
word on the President's condition.

          KANE
    (still looking at Leland)
What do you mean by that?

          LELAND
    (quietly)
Competition.

          REILLY
He may recover -

          KANE
    (still holding on Leland)
What do you mean by that?

           LELAND
     (steadily)
Yesterday morning you called the
President a traitor. What do you
think that crowd is doing down
there? They think you murdered
him.

          KANE
Because the crackpot who did it had
a copy of the "Enquirer" in his
pocket?

          LELAND
- and that copy of the "Enquirer"
said the President should be
killed.

          KANE
I said treason was a capital
offense punishable by death -

          LELAND
You've said a lot of things about
the President in the last few
months.
                                                92.


                    KANE
          They're true! Everything I said!
          Witholding that veto was treason!

                    LELAND
              (interrupting)
          Charlie!

                    KANE
              (riding over him)
          Oil belonging to the people of the
          United States was leased out for a
          song to a gang of high-pressure
          crooks - Nobody can blame me
          because -

                    LELAND
          Look out that window.

Kane stops - looks at him.

                    LELAND
          There are the people of the United
          States, and they are blaming you -
          Oh, I know it doesn't make any
          sense, but at least you can learn a
          lesson from it.

                    KANE
              (snarling)
          What lesson? Not to expose fraud
          when I see it? Not to fight for
          the right of the people to own
          their own property?
              (he turns to Reilly)
          Run it the way I said, Reilly -
          "This afternoon a great man was
          assassinated -"

                     LELAND
          Charlie!   Now you're not making
          sense.

                     KANE
               (sharply)
          I don't have to. I run a newspaper
          with half a million readers and
          they're getting a martyred
          president this morning with their
          breakfast. I can't help that.
          Besides, they all know I'm married
          to his niece. I've got to think of
          her.
                                                      93.


                      LELAND
          What?

                    KANE
          I've got to think of Emily -

                    LELAND
              (after a silence)
          I'd like to talk to you about that.

                      KANE
          Go ahead.

Leland looks back at Kane, is conscious of the boys standing
around.

                    LELAND
          Finish your editorial.

Leland walks out in to the City Room. More staff members in
shirt sleeves in a state of panic. Leland goes to his desk,
takes out a bottle, pours himself a very stiff drink. A
door opens. A Policeman enters with Bernstein. Bernstein
is badly battered. The boys crowd around.

                    LELAND
              (worried)
          What's happened?

                    BERNSTEIN
              (smiling)
          I'm all right, Mr. Leland. Only
          there was some fellows out front
          that thought they ought to take
          things up with me. I learned 'em!
          Didn't I, officer?

                    THE COP
              (grinning)
          You sure did - Say, the
          Commissioner said I was to stand by
          and protect Mr. Kane until further
          orders, no matter how he felt about
          it. Where is he?

                    LELAND
              (finishing his drink)
          In there.

                    BERNSTEIN
          If you hadn't come along and
          protected me when you did, I'd have
          killed them fellows.
                                                       94.


                     LELAND
              (pouring himself another
               drink)
          Go and get yourself washed up, Mr.
          Bernstein.
              (he looks his face over
               thoroughly)
          There doesn't seem to be an serious
          injury.

                    BERNSTEIN
          Not to me. But you will let that
          cop go home with Mr. Kane, won't
          you?

                    LELAND
          Yes, Mr. Bernstein.

Bernstein leaves the picture with sympathetic attendance.
Leland finishes his second drink.

                                                DISSOLVE:

INT. KANE'S OFFICE - NIGHT -

The bottle is finished. The door in the Sanctrum opens.
Reilly and the others leave.

                    REILLY
              (as they go)
          Goodnight, Mr. Kane.

Kane stands in the door, waiting for Leland. Leland gets up
and moves toward the office - goes in, sits down across from
Kane at the desk. An uncomfortable pause. Then Kane smiles
ingratiatingly. Leland tries to cope with this.

                    LELAND
          First of all -
              (he can't go on)

                     KANE
              (not cruelly - genuinely
               kind)
          What's wrong, Brad?

                       LELAND
          I'm drunk.

                    KANE
          I'll get you some coffee.

He rises and goes to the door.
                                                        95.


                    LELAND
          First of all, I will not write a
          good review of a play because
          somebody paid a thousand dollars
          for an advertisement in the
          "Enquirer."

                     KANE
              (gently - opening the
               door)
          That's just a little promotion
          scheme. Nobody expects you -
              (calling)
          Mike, will you try and get Mr.
          Leland some coffee?

                    MIKE'S VOICE
          Sure thing, Mr. Kane.

Kane turns back to Leland.    Leland doesn't look up at him.

                    LELAND
          Charlie, it's just no go. We can't
          agree anymore. I wish you'd let me
          go to Chicago.

                       KANE
          Why, Brad?

                    LELAND
          I want to be transferred to the new
          paper. You've been saying yourself
          you wish you had somebody to -
              (he is heartsick,
               inarticulate)
          That's not what I wanted to talk
          about.

Kane goes around behind the desk and sits down.

                    KANE
          I'll tell you what I'll do, Brad -
          I'll get drunk, too - maybe that'll
          help.

                    LELAND
          No, that won't help. Besides, you
          never get drunk. I wanted to talk
          about you and Emily.

Kane looks at Leland sharply before he speaks.
                                                96.


                     KANE
              (quietly)
          All right.

                    LELAND
              (without looking at him)
          She's going to leave you -

                     KANE
          I don't think so, Brad. We've just
          had word that the President is out
          of danger.
               (ruefully)
          It seems I didn't kill him after
          all.

                    LELAND
              (takes his eye)
          She was going to leave you anyway -

Kane takes this in.

                     LELAND
          Emily's going south next week with
          the child. As far as anybody's to
          know, it's a holiday. When they
          get back -

                    KANE
              (sharply)
          Brad, you are drunk.

                    LELAND
          Sure I am. She wants full custody
          of the child no matter what
          happens. If you won't agree to
          that, she'll apply for a divorce
          regardless of the President's
          wishes. I can't tell her she's
          wrong, because she isn't wrong -

                    KANE
          Why is she leaving me?

                    LELAND
              (it's very hard for him
               to say all this)
          She hasn't any friends left sine
          you started this oil business, and
          she never sees you.
                                                97.


                    KANE
          Do you think the "Enquirer"
          shouldn't have campaigned against
          the oil leases?

                    LELAND
              (hesitating)
          You might have made the whole thing
          less personal!

No answer from Kane.

                    LELAND
          It isn't just that the President
          was her uncle - everyone she knows,
          all the people she's been brought
          up with, everything she's ever been
          taught to believe is important -

Still no answer from Kane.

                    LELAND
          There's no reason why this - this
          savage personal note -

                    KANE
          The personal note is all there is
          to it. It's all there ever is to
          it. It's all there every is to
          anything! Stupidity in our
          government, complacency and self-
          satisfaction and unwillingness to
          believe that anything done by a
          certain class of people can be
          wrong - you can't fight those
          things impersonally. They're not
          impersonal crimes against people.
          They're being done by actual
          persons - with actual names and
          positions and - the right of the
          American people to own their own
          country is not an academic issue,
          Brad, that you debate - and then
          the judges retire to return a
          verdict and the winners give a
          dinner for the losers.

                    LELAND
          You almost convince me.
              (rising)
          I'm just drunk enough to tell you
          the truth. I have to be a little
          drunk for that because I'm a
          coward. You know that.
                                                      98.


          That's why you keep me around.
              (smiles)
          You only associate with your
          inferiors, Charlie. I guess that's
          why you ran away from Emily.
          Because you can't stand the company
          of your equals. You don't like to
          admit they exist - the other big
          people in your world are dead. I
          told you that.

Kane looks at Leland, but Leland can't be stopped now. He
speaks very quietly - no poison in his voice - no personal
indignation - as though he were explaining the nature of a
disease.

                    LELAND
          You talk about the people of the
          United States as though they
          belonged to you. When you find out
          they don't think they are, you'll
          lose interest. You talk about
          giving them their rights as though
          you could make a present of
          liberty. Remember the working man?
          You used to defend him quite a good
          deal. Well, he's turning into
          something called organized labor
          and you don't like that at all.
          And listen, when your precious
          underprivileged really get together
          - that's going to add up to
          something bigger than - than your
          privilege and then I don't know
          what you'll do - sail away to a
          desert island, probably, and lord
          it over the monkeys.

                    KANE
          Are you finished?

                    LELAND
          Yes.
              (looking down)
          Now, will you let me go to Chicago?

                    KANE
              (with a little smile)
          You're not going to like it in
          Chicago. They wind comes howling
          in from the lake.
                                                       99.


          And there's practically no opera
          season at all - and the Lord only
          knows whether they've ever heard of
          Lobster Newburg -

                    LELAND
          That's all right.
              (he won't be charmed out
               of his duty)
          What are you going to do about
          Emily?

                    KANE
              (his face hardening a
               little)
          Nothing - if she doesn't love me -

Leland has risen.   He speaks as he turns away, starting
towards the door.

                    LELAND
          You want love on your own terms,
          don't you, Charlie -
              (he stops - his back
               turned to Kane)
          Love according to your own rules.
          And if anything goes wrong and
          you're hurt - then the game stops,
          and you've got to be soothed and
          nursed, no matter what else is
          happening - and no matter who else
          is hurt!

                    KANE
          It's simpler than that, Brad. A
          society girl can't stand the gaff,
          that's all. Other things are
          important to her - social position,
          what they're saying on the front
          porches at Southampton, is it going
          to be embarrassing to meet somebody
          or the other at dinner -

Leland has turned, taking his eye again.   Now Kane stops and
smiles.

                    KANE
          She can leave me. As a matter of
          fact, I've already left her. Don't
          worry, Brad - I'll live.

                    LELAND
          I know you will.
                                                         100.


                    KANE
              (with all his charm)
          Hey, Brad! I've been analyzed an
          awful lot tonight - let's have
          another brandy.

Leland shakes his head.    Kane lifts his glass.

                    KANE
          To love on my terms. Those are the
          only terms anybody knows ... his
          own.

                                                   DISSOLVE:

EXT. ENQUIRER BUILDING - NIGHT -

Kane, Leland, and a couple of policemen make their way out
of the front toward a hansom cab.

                    A VOICE FROM THE CROWD
          You moiderer!

A rock is thrown. It hits Leland on the face. A little
blood flows. Kane doesn't see it at first. Then when he's
in the hansom cab, he turns and notices it.

                    KANE
          Are you hurt?

Leland has a handkerchief to his face.

                    LELAND
          No. I wish you'd go home to Emily.
          She'll be pretty upset by all this -
          She still loves you -

The crowd, pushed by the cops, retreats in the background,
but still hard by.

                    KANE
          You still want to be transferred to
          the other paper?

                    LELAND
          Yes.

                    KANE
              (leaning out of the
               hansom cab)
          Well, you've been getting a pretty
          low salary here in New York.
                                                         101.


           It seems to me that the new
           dramatic critic of our Chicago
           paper should get what he's worth.
               (almost as a question)

                     LELAND
               (with handkerchief still
                attached to his face)
           I couldn't possibly live on as
           little as that, Charlie. We'll let
           the salary stay where it is.

The hansom cab starts up.   We hold on Leland's face as we

                                               DISSOLVE OUT:

                                                DISSOLVE IN:

INT. KANE'S NEW YORK HOME - KANE'S BEDROOM - EARLY MORNING -

Emily is in bed, a damp cloth over her temples. Kane is
standing at the foot of the bed. The baby's bed is in a
corner of the room. The baby's nurse is standing near the
crib, a nurse for Emily is near her. Kane is looking
fixedly on Emily, who is staring tiredly at the ceiling.

                     KANE
               (to the nurse)
           Excuse us a moment, please.

The nurse looks at Emily.

                     KANE
               (peremptorily)
           I said, excuse us a moment.

The nurse, unwilling, leaves.

                     KANE
           I've been talking to Leland. Emily
           - You can't leave me now - not now -

Silence.

                     KANE
           It isn't what it would do to my
           changes in politics, Emily - That
           isn't it - They were talking of
           running me for governor, but now,
           of course, we'll have to wait - It
           isn't that, Emily - It's just -
           the president is your uncle and
           they're saying I killed him.
                                                      102.


Still silence.

                      KANE
            That story about the murderer
            having a copy of the "Enquirer" in
            his pocket - the "Chronicle" made
            that up out of whole cloth -
            Emily, please - He's going to be
            all right, you know, he's going to
            recover -
                (bitterly)
            If it will make you any happier, we
            had nine pages of advertising
            cancelled in the first mail this
            morning. Bernstein is afraid to
            open any more letters. He -

He stops.   He sees that he's getting no place with Emily.

                      KANE
                (exasperated)
            What do you expect me to do?   What
            in the world -

                      EMILY
                (weakly)
            Charles.

He waits for her to continue.

                      EMILY
            Do you really think -
                (she can't continue)
            Those threatening letters, can they
            really -

She sits up and looks at the crib. She almost continues to
look at the crib, with almost unseeing eyes.

                      KANE
                (uncomfortably)
            They won't do anything to Junior,
            darling.
                (contemptuously)
            Anonymous letter writers -   I've
            got guards in front of the house,
            and I'm going to arrange -

                      EMILY
                (turning her face toward
                 him)
            Please don't talk any more,
            Charles.
                                                        103.


Kane is about to say something, but bites his lips instead.
Emily keeps staring at him.

                    EMILY
          Have they heard from father yet?
          Has he seen -

                    KANE
          I've tried to tell you, Emily. The
          President's going to be all right.
          He had a comfortable night. There's
          no danger of any kind.

Emily nods several times. There is an uncomfortable
silence. Suddenly there is a cry from the crib. Emily leaps
from the bed and rushes to him. She bends over the crib.

                    EMILY
              (murmuring)
          Here I am, darling... Darling!...
          Darling, it's all right...
          Mother's here.

                    KANE
          Emily - you musn't leave me now -
          you can't do that to me.

                    EMILY
          They won't hurt you, darling.
          Mother's with you! Mother's
          looking after you!

Kane, unwanted, ignored, looks on.   Tightening his lips, he
walks out.

                                              DISSOLVE OUT:

                                               DISSOLVE IN:

INT. KANE'S OFFICE - NIGHT

By the desk light, Kane is seen working with his usual
intensity, Reilly standing beside him at the desk.

                    KANE
          We'll withdraw support completely.
          Anything else?

                    REILLY
          Mr. Leland sent back that check.

                    KANE
          What check?
                                                     104.


                    REILLY
          You made it out to him last week
          after he left for Chicago.

                    KANE
          Oh, yes, the bonus.

                    REILLY
          It was for twenty-five thousand
          dollars.

Kane is perplexed and worried, but we can see in a moment
his mind will be on something else.

                    REILLY
          He sent it back torn up - all torn
          up into little bits, and he
          enclosed something else - I can't
          make it out.

Kane doesn't answer. Reilly goes on.   He has brought out a
piece of paper and is reading it.

                    REILLY
          It says here, "A Declaration of
          Principles" -
              (he still reads)
          "I will provide the people of this
          city with a daily paper that will
          tell all the news honestly" -

Kane has looked up sharply. Reilly, sensing his look, stops
reading and meets his eye. Slowly, Kane reaches out his
hand. Reilly hands him the piece of paper. Without reading
it, Kane tears it up, throws it into the wastebasket at his
side.

                                               DISSOLVE:

INT. MADISON SQUARE GARDEN - NIGHT -

The evening of the final great rally. These shots remind us
of and are identical with and supplementary to the "News
Digest" scenes earlier. The vast auditorium with a huge
picture of Kane, cheering crowds, etc. Emily and Junior are
to be seen in the front of a box. Emily is tired and wears
a forced smile on her face. Junior, now aged nine and a
half, is eager, bright- eyed and excited. Kane is just
finishing his speech.
                                                         105.


                    KANE
          It is no secret that I entered upon
          this campaign with no thought that
          I could be elected Governor of this
          state! It is now no secret that
          every straw vote, every independent
          pole, shows that I will be elected.
          And I repeat to you - my first
          official act as Governor will be to
          appoint a special District Attorney
          to arrange for the indictment,
          prosecution and conviction of Boss
          Edward G. Rogers!

Terrific screaming and cheering from the audience.

                                               DISSOLVE OUT:

INT. MADISON SQUARE GARDEN - NIGHT -

The Speaker's Platform. Numerous officials and civic
leaders are crowding around Kane. Cameramen take flash
photographs with old-fashioned flash powder.

                    FIRST CIVIC LEADER
          Great speech, Mr. Kane.

                    SECOND LEADER
              (pompous)
          One of the most notable public
          utterances ever made by a candidate
          in this state -

                    KANE
          Thank you, gentlemen.   Thank you.

He looks up and notices that the box in which Emily and the
boy were sitting is now empty. He starts toward the rear of
the platform, through the press of people, Reilly approaches
him.

                    REILLY
          A wonderful speech, Mr. Kane.

Kane pats him on the shoulder as he walks along.

                    REILLY
          I just got word from Buffalo, Mr.
          Kane. They're going to throw you
          the organization vote - and take a
          chance maybe you'll give them a
          break -
                                                     106.


This is said almost inquiringly, as if he were hoping that
Kane would give him some assurance that McDonald is not
making a mistake. There is no answer from Kane.

                    REILLY
          On an independent ticket there's
          never been anything like it! If
          the election were held today, you'd
          be elected by a hundred thousand
          votes - and every day between now
          and November 7th is just going to
          add to your majority.

Kane is very pleased. He continues with Reilly slowly
through the crowd - a band playing off. Bernstein joins
him.

                    KANE
          It does seem too good to be true,
          doesn't it, Mr. Bernstein?

                    REILLY
          Rogers isn't even pretending. He
          isn't just scared anymore. He's
          sick. Frank Norris told me last
          night he hasn't known Rogers to be
          that worried in twenty-five years.

                    KANE
          I think it's beginning to dawn on
          Mr. Rogers that I mean what I say.
          With Mr. Rogers out of the way,
          Reilly, I think we may really begin
          to hope for a good government in
          this state.
              (stopping)
          Well, Mr. Bernstein?

                    BERNSTEIN
              (clearly not meaning it)
          It's wonderful, Mr. Kane.
          Wonderful. Wonderful.

                    KANE
          You don't really think so?

                    BERNSTEIN
          I do. I do. I mean, since you're
          running for Governor - and you want
          to be elected - I think it's
          wonderful you're going to be
          elected. Only -
              (interrupts himself)
          - Can I say something?
                                                      107.


                    KANE
          Please, Mr. Bernstein.

                    BERNSTEIN
          Well, the way I look at it -
              (comes out with it)
          - You want to know what I really
          think would be wonderful?

Kane indicates he is to proceed.

                    BERNSTEIN
          Well, you're running for Governor
          and going to be elected - my idea
          is how wonderful it would be if you
          don't run at all and don't get
          elected.

                                                DISSOLVE:

EXT. ONE OF THE EXITS - MADISON SQUARE GARDEN - NIGHT -

Emily and Junior are standing, waiting for Kane.

                    JUNIOR
          Is Pop Governor yet, Mom?

Just then, Kane appears, with Reilly and several other men.
Kane rushes toward Emily and Junior, as the men politely
greet Emily.

                    KANE
          Hello, Butch! Did you like your
          old man's speech?

                    JUNIOR
          Hello, Pop! I was in a box.   I
          could hear every word.

                     KANE
          I saw you!
              (he has his arm around
               Junior's shoulder)
          Good night, gentlemen.

There are good nights. Kane's car is at the curb and he
starts to walk toward it with Junior and Emily.

                    EMILY
          I'm sending Junior home in the car,
          Charles - with Oliver -
                                                     108.


                    KANE
          But I'd arranged to go home with
          you myself.

                    EMILY
          There's a call I want you to make
          with me, Charles.

                    KANE
          It can wait.

                    EMILY
          No, it can't.
              (she bends down and
               kisses Junior)
          Good night, darling.

                    JUNIOR
          Good night, Mom.

The driver is holding the rear door open as Emily guides
Junior in.

                    KANE
              (as car starts to drive
               off)
          What's this all about, Emily? I've
          had a very tiring day and -

                    EMILY
          It may not be about anything at
          all.

A cab has pulled up.

                       THE DRIVER
          Cab?

Emily nods to him.

                    EMILY
          I intend to find out.

                    KANE
          I insist on being told exactly what
          you have in mind.

                    EMILY
          I'm going to -
              (she looks at a slip of
               paper in her hand)
          - 185 West 74th Street.
                                                          109.


Kane's reaction indicates that the address definitely means
something to him.

                       EMILY
             If you wish, you can come with
             me...

Kane nods.

                       KANE
             I'll go with you.

He opens the door and she enters the cab.       He follows her.

                                                    DISSOLVE:

INT. CAB - NIGHT -

Kane and Emily. He looks at her, in search of some kind of
enlightenment. Her face is set and impassive.

                                                    DISSOLVE:

EXT. AND INT. APARTMENT HOUSE HALLWAY - NIGHT -

Kane and Emily, in front of an apartment door.      Emily is
pressing the bell.

                       KANE
             I had no idea you had this flair
             for melodrama, Emily.

Emily does not answer.    The door is opened by a maid, who
recognizes Kane.

                       THE MAID
             Come in, Mr. Kane, come in.

They enter, Emily first.

INT. SUSAN'S APARTMENT - NIGHT -

There is first a tiny reception room, through which an open
door shows the living room. Kane and Emily enter from the
hallway and cross to the living room. As they enter, Susan
rises from a chair. The other person in the room - a big,
heavyset man, a little past middle age - stays where he is,
leaning back in his chair, regarding Kane intently.

                       SUSAN
             It wasn't my fault, Charlie. He
             made me send your wife a note.
                                     110.


He said I'd - oh, he's been saying
the most terrible things, I didn't
know what to do... I -
    (she catches sight of
     Emily)

          ROGERS
Good evening, Mr. Kane.
    (he rises)
I don't suppose anybody would
introduce us. Mrs. Kane, I am
Edward Rogers.

          EMILY
How do you do?
    (pauses)
I came here - and I made Mr. Kane
come with me...
    (she consults the note in
     her hand without reading
     it again)
because I received this note -

          ROGERS
I made Miss - Miss Alexander send
you the note. She was a little
unwilling at first -
    (he smiles grimly)
but she did it.

          SUSAN
I can't tell you the things he
said, Charlie. You haven't got any
idea -

          KANE
    (turning on Rogers)
Rogers, I don't think I will
postpone doing something about you
until I'm elected.
    (he starts toward him)
To start with, I'll break your
neck.

          ROGERS
    (not giving way an inch)
Maybe you can do it and maybe you
can't, Mr. Kane.

          EMILY
Charles!
    (he stops to look at her)
Your - your breaking this man's
neck -
                                       111.


    (she is clearly
     disgusted)
would scarcely explain this note -
    (glancing at the note)
Serious consequences for Mr. Kane -
    (slowly)
for myself, and for my son. What
does this note mean, Miss -

          SUSAN
    (stiffly)
I'm Susan Alexander.
    (pauses)
I know what you think, Mrs. Kane,
but -

           EMILY
    (ignoring this)
What does this note mean, Miss
Alexander?

          ROGERS
She doesn't know, Mrs. Kane. She
just sent it - because I made her
see it wouldn't be smart for her
not to send it.

           KANE
In case you don't know, Emily, this
- this gentleman -
     (he puts a world of scorn
      into the word)
is -

          ROGERS
I'm not a gentleman, Mrs. Kane, and
your husband is just trying to be
funny calling me one. I don't even
know what a gentleman is.
    (tensely, with all the
     hatred and venom in the
     world)
You see, my idea of a gentleman,
Mrs. Kane - well, if I owned a
newspaper and if I didn't like the
way somebody else was doing things -
some politician, say - I'd fight
them with everything I had. Only I
wouldn't show him in a convict
suit, with stripes - so his
children could see the picture in
the paper. Or his mother.
                                       112.


    (he has to control
     himself from hurling
     himself at Kane)
It's pretty clear - I'm not a
gentleman.

          EMILY
Oh!!

          KANE
You're a cheap, crooked grafter -
and your concern for your children
and your mother -

          ROGERS
Anything you say, Mr. Kane. Only
we're talking now about what you
are. That's what the note is
about, Mrs. Kane. Now I'm going to
lay all my cards on the table. I'm
fighting for my life. Not just my
political life. My life. If your
husband is elected governor -

          KANE
I'm going to be elected governor.
And the first thing I'm going to do
-

          EMILY
Let him finish, Charles.

          ROGERS
I'm protecting myself every way I
know how, Mrs. Kane. This last
week, I finally found out how I can
stop your husband from being
elected. If the people of this
state learn what I found out this
week, he wouldn't have a chance to -
he couldn't be elected Dog Catcher.
Well, what I'm interested in is
seeing that he's not elected. I
don't care whether they know what I
know about him. Let him keep right
on being the Great, Noble, Moral -
    (he stresses the world)
Champeen of the people. Just as
long as -

          EMILY
I think I understand, Mr. Rogers,
but wonder if -
                                                113.


              (she leaves her sentence
               unfinished)

                    KANE
          You can't blackmail me, Rogers, you
          can't -

                    SUSAN
              (excitedly)
          Charlie, he said, unless you
          withdrew your name -

                    ROGERS
          That's the chance I'm willing to
          give you, Mr. Kane. More of a
          chance than you'd give me. Unless
          you make up your mind by tomorrow
          that you're so sick that you've got
          to go away for a year or two -
          Monday morning every paper in this
          State will carry the story I'm
          going to give them.

Kane starts to stare at him intently.

                    EMILY
          What story, Mr. Rogers?

                    ROGERS
          The story about him and Miss
          Alexander, Mrs. Kane.

Emily looks at Kane.

                    SUSAN
          There is no story.   It's all lies.
          Mr. Kane is just -

                    ROGERS
              (to Susan)
          Shut up!
              (to Kane)
          I've had a dozen men doing nothing
          but run this thing down - we've got
          evidence enough to - well, the
          evidence would stand up in any
          court of law. You want me to give
          you the evidence, Mr. Kane?

                    KANE
          You do anything you want to do. The
          people of this state can decide
          which one of us to trust.
                                                114.


          If you want to know, they've
          already decided. The election
          Tuesday'll be only -

                    ROGERS
          Mrs. Kane, I'm not asking you to
          believe me. I'd like to show you -

                    EMILY
          You don't have to show me anything,
          Mr. Rogers. I believe you.

                    ROGERS
          I'd rather Mr. Kane withdrew
          without having to get the story
          published. Not that I care about
          him. But I'd be better off that
          way -
              (he pauses)
          - and so would you, Mrs. Kane.

                    SUSAN
          What about me?
              (to Kane)
          He said my name'd be dragged
          through the mud. He said
          everywhere I'd go from now on -

                    EMILY
          There seems to be only one decision
          you can make, Charles. I'd say
          that it has been made for you.
              (pauses)
          I suppose the details can be
          arranged tomorrow, Mr. Rogers.
          About the statements by the doctors
          -

                    KANE
          Have you gone completely mad,
          Emily?

Emily looks at him.

                    KANE
          You don't think I'm going to let
          this blackmailer intimidate me, do
          you?

                    EMILY
          I don't see what else you can do,
          Charles. If he's right - and the
          papers publish this story he has -
                                                       115.


                    KANE
          Oh, they'll publish it all right.
          But that's not going to stop me -

                    EMILY
          Charles, this - this story -
          doesn't concern only you. I'll be
          in it, too, won't I?
              (quickly)
          And Junior?

                    KANE
              (squirming a bit)
          I suppose so, but - I'm not afraid
          of the story. You can't tell me
          that the voters of this state -

                     EMILY
          I'm not interested in the voters of
          this state right now. I am
          interested in - well, Junior, for
          one thing.

                      SUSAN
          Charlie!    If they publish this
          story -

                    EMILY
          They won't. Goodnight, Mr. Rogers.
              (she starts out)
          There's nothing more to be said,
          Charles.

                    KANE
          Oh yes, there is.

                    EMILY
          I don't think so.    Are you coming,
          Charles?

                      KANE
          No.

She looks at him.    He starts to work himself into a rage.

                    KANE
          There's only one person in the
          world to decide what I'm going to
          do - and that's me. And if you
          think - if any of you think -

                    EMILY
          You decided what you were going to
          do, Charles - some time ago.
                                       116.


    (she looks at Susan)
You can't always have it your own
way, regardless of anything else
that may have happened.
    (she sighs)
Come on, Charles.

          KANE
Go on! Get out!    I can fight this
thing all alone!

          ROGERS
You're making a bigger fool of
yourself than I thought you would,
Mr. Kane. You're licked. Why
don't you -

          KANE
    (turning on him)
Get out! I've got nothing to talk
to you about. If you want to see
me, have the Warden write me a
letter.

           ROGERS
I see!
    (he starts toward the
     door)

          SUSAN
    (starting to cry)
Charlie, you're just excited.    You
don't realize -

          KANE
I know exactly what I'm doing.
    (he is screaming)
Get out!

          EMILY
    (quietly)
Charles, if you don't listen to
reason, it may be too late -

          KANE
Too late for what? Too late for
you and this -
    (he can't find the
     adjective)
this public thief to take the love
of the people of this state away
from me? Well, you won't do it, I
tell you. You won't do it!
                                                      117.


                    SUSAN
          Charlie, there are other things to
          think of.
              (a sly look comes into
               her eyes)
          Your son - you don't want him to
          read in the papers -

                    EMILY
          It is too late now, Charles.

                    KANE
              (rushes to the door and
               opens it)
          Get out, both of you!

                    SUSAN
              (rushes to him)
          Charlie, please don't -

                    KANE
          What are you waiting here for? Why
          don't you go?

                    EMILY
          Goodnight, Charles.

She walks out.   Rogers stops as he gets directly in front of
Kane.

                    ROGERS
          You're the greatest fool I've ever
          known, Kane. If it was anybody
          else, I'd say what's going to
          happen to you would be a lesson to
          you. Only you're going to need more
          than one lesson. And you're going
          to get more than one lesson.
              (he walks past Kane)

                    KANE
          Don't you worry about me. I'm
          Charles Foster Kane. I'm no cheap,
          crooked politician, trying to save
          himself from the consequences of
          his crimes -

INT. APARTMENT HOUSE HALLWAY - NIGHT -

Camera angling toward Kane from other end of the hall.
Rogers and Emily are already down the hall, moving toward
foreground. Kane in apartment doorway background.
                                                           118.


                       KANE
                 (screams louder)
             I'm going to send you to Sing Sing,
             Rogers. Sing Sing!

Kane is trembling with rage as he shakes his fist at
Rogers's back. Susan, quieter now, has snuggled into the
hollow of his shoulder as they stand in the doorway.

                                                    DISSOLVE:

The "Chronicle" front page with photograph (as in the "News
Digest") revealing Kane's relations with Susan.

                                                DISSOLVE OUT:

                                                DISSOLVE IN:

Front page of "Chronicle" - Headline which reads:

ROGERS ELECTED

                                                    DISSOLVE:

Front page of "Enquirer" - Headline which reads:

FRAUD AT POLLS

                                                    DISSOLVE:

INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT -

Emily is opening the door for Leland.

                       EMILY
             Hello, Brad -

                       LELAND
             Emily -

He pauses.     Leland comes in.   Emily closes the door.

                       EMILY
             I'm sorry I sent for you, Brad -
             didn't -

                       LELAND
             Chicago is pretty close to New York
             nowadays - only twenty hours -

She doesn't have anything to say.

                       LELAND
             I'm glad to see you.
                                                       119.


She smiles at him and we know that there isn't anybody else
in the world for her to smile at. She's too grateful to
talk.

                    EMILY
          Are all the returns in?

Leland puts his hat unconsciously on his coat by the
newspaper.

                    EMILY
          Let me see it.

Leland takes the newspaper out of his pocket and hands it to
her. She takes it. We see the headline, not an insert, but
it registers. It reads: "Fraud at Polls." Emily is looking
at the paper with unseeing eyes, and a little smile.

                    LELAND
              (after a pause)
          Almost two to one -

                    EMILY
          I'm surprised he got the votes he
          did.

                    LELAND
          Emily!

                    EMILY
          Why should anyone vote for him?
          He's made it quite clear to the
          people what he thinks of them.
          Children - to be told one thing one
          day, something else the next, as
          the whim seizes him. And they're
          supposed to be grateful and love
          and adore him - because he sees to
          it that they get cheap ice and only
          pay a nickel in the street cars.

                    LELAND
          Emily, you're being - a little
          unfair - You know what I think of
          Charles' behavior - about your
          personal lives -

                    EMILY
          There aren't any personal lives for
          people like us. He made that very
          clear to me nine years ago - If I'd
          thought of my life with Charles as
          a personal life, I'd have left him
          then -
                                                      120.


                    LELAND
          know that, Emily -

                    EMILY
              (on top of Leland)
          Maybe I should have - the first
          time he showed me what a mad dog he
          really was.

                    LELAND
              (on the cue "dog")
          Emily, you -

                    EMILY
          Brad, I'm - I'm not an old woman
          yet -

                    LELAND
          It's - all over -

He stops himself.

                    EMILY
              (after a pause)
          Know it is, Brad -

                    LELAND
          He's paying for it, Emily. Those
          returns tonight - he's finished.
          Politically -
              (he thinks)
          - socially, everywhere, I guess.
          don't know about the papers, but -

                    EMILY
          If you're asking me to sympathize
          with him, Brad, you're wasting your
          time.
              (pauses)
          There's only one person I'm sorry
          for, as a matter of fact. That -
          that shabby little girl. I'm
          really sorry for her, Brad.

                                                DISSOLVE:

Front page Chicago "Enquirer," with photograph proclaiming
that Susan Alexander opens at new Chicago Opera House in
"Thais," as in "News Digest."
                                                       121.


On soundtrack during above we hear the big, expectant murmur
of an opening night audience and the noodling of the
orchestra.

                                                 DISSOLVE:

INT. CHICAGO OPERA HOUSE - NIGHT - SET FOR "THAIS" -

The camera is just inside the curtain, angling upstage. We
see the set for "Thais" - the principals in place - stage
managers, stage hands, etc., and in the center of all this,
in an elaborate costume, looking very small and very lost,
is Susan. She is almost hysterical with fright. Maids,
singing teacher, and the rest are in attendance. Her throat
is sprayed. Applause is heard at the opening of the shot,
and now the orchestra starts thunderously. The curtain
starts to rise - the camera with it - the blinding glare of
the foots moves up Susan's body and hits her face. She
squints and starts to sing. Camera continues on up with the
curtain, up past Susan, up the full height of the proscenium
arch and then on up into the gridiron into a world of ropes,
brick walls and hanging canvas - Susan's voice still heard -
but faintly. The camera stops at the top of the gridiron as
the curtain stops. Two typical stage hands fill the frame.
They are looking down on the stage below. Some of the
reflected light gleams on their faces. They look at each
other. One of them puts his hand to his nose.

                                             DISSOLVE OUT:

                                             DISSOLVE IN:

INT. LELAND'S OFFICE - CHICAGO ENQUIRER - NIGHT -

Leland, as in the same scene in the Bernstein sequence, is
sprawled across his typewriter, his head on the keys. The
paper is gone from the roller. Leland stirs and looks up
drunkenly, his eyes encountering Bernstein, who stands
beside him (also as in the previous scene).

                    BERNSTEIN
          Hello, Mr. Leland.

                    LELAND
          Hello, Bernstein.

Leland makes a terrific effort to pull himself together. He
straightens and reaches for the keys - then sees the paper
is gone from the machine.

                    LELAND
          Where is it - where's my notice?
          I've got to finish it!
                                                     122.


                    BERNSTEIN
              (quietly)
          Mr. Kane is finishing it.

                    LELAND
          Kane? Charlie?
              (painfully, he rises to
               his feet)
          Where is he?

During all this, the sound of a typewriter has been heard
off - a busy typewriter. Leland's eyes follow the sound.
Slowly he registers Kane in the City Room beyond. This is
almost the same shot as in the previous Bernstein story.

INT. CITY ROOM - CHICAGO ENQUIRER - NIGHT -

Kane, in white tie and shirt sleeves, is typing away at a
machine, his fingers working briskly and efficiently, his
face, seen by the desk light before him, set in a strange
half-smile.

Leland stands in the door of his office, staring across at
him.

                    LELAND
          I suppose he's fixing it up - I
          know I'd never get that through.

                    BERNSTEIN
              (moving to his side)
          Mr. Kane is finishing your piece
          the way you started it.

Leland turns incredulously to Bernstein.

                    BERNSTEIN
          He's writing a roast like you
          wanted it to be -
              (then suddenly - with a
               kind of quiet passion
               rather than a triumph)
          - I guess that'll show you.

Leland picks his way across the City Room to Kane's side.
Kane goes on typing, without looking up. After a pause,
Kane speaks.

                    KANE
          Hello, Brad.

                    LELAND
          Hello, Charlie -
                                                        123.


                    (ANOTHER PAUSE)
          I didn't know we were speaking.

Kane stops typing, but doesn't turn.

                    KANE
          Sure, we're speaking, Brad - you're
          fired.

He starts typing again, the expression on his face doesn't
change.

                                            DISSOLVE OUT:

                                               DISSOLVE IN:

EXT. HOSPITAL ROOF - DAY -

Thompson and Leland on the roof, which is now deserted.       It
is getting late. The sun has just about gone down.

                    LELAND
          Well, that's about all there is -
          and I'm getting chills. Hey,
          nurse!
              (pause)
          Five years ago, he wrote from that
          place of his down South -
              (as if trying to think)
          - you know. Shangri-la? El
          Dorado?
              (pauses)
          Sloppy Joe's? What's the name of
          that place? You know... All
          right. Xanadu. I knew what it was
          all the time. You caught on,
          didn't you?

                    THOMPSON
          Yes.

                    LELAND
          I guess maybe I'm not as hard to
          see through as I think. Anyway, I
          never even answered his letter.
          Maybe I should have. I guess he
          was pretty lonely down there those
          last years. He hadn't finished it
          when she left him - he never
          finished it - he never finished
          anything. Of course, he built it
          for her -
                                               124.


                    THOMPSON
          That must have been love.

                    LELAND
          I don't know. He was disappointed
          in the world. So he built one of
          his own - An absolute monarchy -
          It was something bigger than an
          opera house anyway -
              (calls)
          Nurse!
              (lowers his voice)
          Say, I'll tell you one thing you
          can do for me, young fellow.

                    THOMPSON
          Sure.

                    LELAND
          On your way out, stop at a cigar
          store, will you, and send me up a
          couple of cigars?

                    THOMPSON
          Sure, Mr. Leland. I'll be glad to.

                    LELAND
          Hey, Nurse!

A Nurse appears.

                    NURSE
          Hello, Mr. Leland.

                    LELAND
          I'm ready to go in now. You know
          when I was a young man, there was
          an impression around that nurses
          were pretty. It was no truer then
          than it is now.

                    NURSE
          Here, let me take your arm, Mr.
          Leland.

                    LELAND
              (testily)
          All right, all right.
              (he has begun to move
               forward on the Nurse's
               arm; turning to Thompson)
          You won't forget, will you, about
          the cigars?
                                                          125.


             And tell them to wrap them up to
             look like toothpaste, or something,
             or they'll stop them at the desk.
             That young doctor I was telling you
             about, he's got an idea he wants to
             keep me alive.

                                                    DISSOLVE:

EXT. "EL RANCHO" CABARET IN ATLANTIC CITY - EARLY DAWN -

NEON SIGN ON THE ROOF:

"EL RANCHO"

FLOOR SHOW

SUSAN ALEXANDER KANE

                       TWICE NIGHTLY
             glows on the dark screen as in the
             previous sequence earlier in the
             script. Behind the lights and
             through them, we see a nasty early
             morning. Camera as before, moves
             through the lights of the sign and
             down on the skylight, through which
             is seen Susan at her regular table,
             Thompson seated across from her.

Very faintly during this, idle piano music playing.

                                                    DISSOLVE:

INT. "EL RANCHO" CABARET - EARLY DAWN -

Susan and Thompson are facing each other. The place is
almost deserted. Susan is sober. On the other side of the
room, somebody is playing a piano.

                       SUSAN
             How do you want to handle the whole
             thing - ask questions?

                       THOMPSON
             I'd rather you just talked.
             Anything that comes into your mind -
             about yourself and Mr. Kane.

                       SUSAN
             You wouldn't want to hear a lot of
             what comes into my mind about
             myself and Mr. Charlie Kane.
                                                     126.


Susan is thinking.

                    THOMPSON
          How did you meet him?

                    SUSAN
          I had a toothache.

Thompson looks at her.

                    SUSAN
          That was thirty years ago - and I
          still remember that toothache. Boy!
          That toothache was just driving me
          crazy...

                                           DISSOLVE OUT:

                                            DISSOLVE IN:

EXT. CORNER DRUG STORE AND STREET ON THE WEST SIDE OF NEW
YORK -

NIGHT -

Susan, aged twenty, neatly but cheaply dressed in the style
of the period, is leaving the drug store. It's about 8
o'clock at night. With a large, man-sized handkerchief
pressed to her cheek, she is in considerable pain. The
street is wet - after a recent rain.

She walks a few steps towards the middle of the block, and
can stand it no longer. She stops, opens a bottle of Oil of
Cloves that she has in her hand, applies some to her finger,
and rubs her gums.

She walks on, the pain only a bit better. Four or five
houses farther along, she comes to what is clearly her own
doorway - a shabby, old four-story apartment house. She
turns toward the doorway, which is up a tiny stoop, about
three steps.

As she does so, Kane, coming from the opposite direction,
almost bumps into her and turns to his left to avoid her.
His shoulder bumps hers and she turns. As she does so,
Kane, forced to change his course, steps on the loose end of
a plank which covers a puddle in the bad sidewalk. The
plank rises up and cracks him on the knee, also covering him
with mud.

                      KANE
                (hopping up and down and
                 rubbing his knee)
          Ow!
                                                     127.


Susan, taking her handkerchief from her jaw, roars with
laughter.

                    KANE
          It's not funny.

He bites his lip and rubs his knee again. Susan tries to
control her laughter, but not very successfully. Kane
glares at her.

                    SUSAN
          I'm sorry, mister - but you do look
          awful funny.

Suddenly, the pain returns and she claps her hand to her
jaw.

                       SUSAN
          Ow!

                    KANE
          What's the matter with you?

                       SUSAN
          Toothache.

                       KANE
          Hmm!

He has been rubbing his clothes with his handkerchief.

                    SUSAN
          You've got some on your face.

                    KANE
          If these sidewalks were kept in
          condition - instead of the money
          going to some cheap grafter -

Susan starts to laugh again.

                    KANE
          What's funny now?

                    SUSAN
          You are. You look like you've been
          making mud pies.

In the middle of her smile, the pain returns.

                       SUSAN
          Oh!
                                                      128.


                    KANE
          You're no Venus de Milo.

                     SUSAN
              (points to the downstair
               window)
          If you want to come in and wash
          your face - I can get you some hot
          water to get that dirt off your
          trousers -

                    KANE
          Thanks.

Susan starts, with Kane following her.

                                                DISSOLVE:

INT. SUSAN'S ROOM - NIGHT -

It's in moderate disorder. The Mansbach gas lights are on.
It's not really a classy room, but it's exactly what you're
entitled to in 1910, for $5.00 a week including breakfast.

There is a bed, a couple of chairs, a chiffonier, and a few
personal belongings on the chiffonier. These include a
photograph of a gent and lady, obviously Susan's parents,
and a few objets d'art. One, "At the Japanese Rolling Ball
Game at Coney Island," and - perhaps this is part of the
Japanese loot - the glass globe with the snow scene Kane was
holding in his hand in the first sequence.

Susan comes into the room, carrying a basin, with towels
over her arm. Kane is waiting for her. She doesn't close
the door.

                     SUSAN
              (by way of explanation)
          My landlady prefers me to keep this
          door open when I have a gentleman
          caller.
              (starts to put the basin
               down)
          She's a very decent woman.
              (making a face)
          Ow!

Kane rushes to take the basin from her, putting it on the
chiffonier. To do this, he has to shove the photograph to
one side of the basin. Susan grabs the photograph as it is
about to fall over.
                                                     129.


                    SUSAN
          Hey, you should be more careful.
          That's my ma and pa.

                       KANE
          I'm sorry.     They live here, too?

                     SUSAN
          No.   They've passed on.

Again she puts her hand to her jaw.

                    KANE
          Where's the soap?

                    SUSAN
          In the water.

Kane fishes the soap out of the water. It is slippery,
however, and slips out of his hand, hitting him in the chest
before it falls to the floor. Susan laughs as he bends
over.

                    KANE
              (starting to wash his
               hands)
          You're very easily amused.

                    SUSAN
          I always like to see the funny side
          of things. No sense crying when
          you don't have to. And you're so
          funny. Looking at you, I forget
          all about my toothache.

Her face distorts in pain again.

                       SUSAN
          Oh!

                    KANE
          I can't stay here all night chasing
          your pain away.

                    SUSAN
              (laughs)
          I know... But you do look so
          silly.

Kane, with soaped hands, has rubbed his face and now cannot
open his eyes, for fear of getting soap in them.

                    KANE
          Where's the towel?
                                                        130.


                    SUSAN
          On the chiffonier.   Here.

                    KANE
              (rubs his face dry)
          Thanks.

                    SUSAN
              (on her way to closet)
          I've got a brush in the closet. As
          soon as the mud on your trousers is
          all dry - you just brush it off.

                    KANE
          I'll get these streets fixed, if
          it's the last thing I do.

Susan comes out of the closet. She holds out the brush with
her left hand, her right hand to her jaw in real distress.

                    KANE
              (takes the brush)
          You are in pain, aren't you, you
          poor kid?

Susan can't stand it anymore and sits down in a chair, bent
over, whimpering a bit.

                    KANE
              (brushing himself)
          Wish there was something I could -

He stops and thinks. Susan, her face averted, is still
trying hard not to cry.

                    KANE
          I've got an idea, young lady.
              (there is no response)
          Turn around and look at me.
              (there is still no
               response)
          I said, turn around and look at me,
          young lady.

Slowly, Susan turns.

                    KANE
          Did you ever see anybody wiggle
          both his ears at the same time?

It takes a second for Susan to adapt herself to this.
                                                      131.


                     KANE
          Watch closely!
               (he wiggles his ears)
          It took me two solid years at the
          finest boys' school in the world to
          learn that trick. The fellow who
          taught me is President of Venezuela
          now.

He's still wiggling his ears as Susan starts to smile.

                       KANE
          That's it!     Smile!

Susan smiles, very broadly.

                                                DISSOLVE:

INT. SUSAN'S ROOM - NIGHT -

Closeup of a duck, camera pulls back showing it to be a
shadowgraph on the wall, made by Kane, who is now in his
shirt sleeves. It is about an hour later than preceding
sequence.

                     SUSAN
              (hesitatingly)
          A chicken?

                     KANE
          No.   But you're close.

                       SUSAN
          A rooster?

                    KANE
          You're getting farther away all the
          time. It's a duck.

                    SUSAN
          Excuse me, Mr. Kane. I know this
          takes a lot of nerve, but - who are
          you? I mean - I'm pretty ignorant,
          guess you caught on to that -

                    KANE
              (looks squarely at her)
          You really don't know who I am?

                    SUSAN
          No. That is, I bet it turns out
          I've heard your name a million
          times, only you know how it is -
                                                       132.


                    KANE
          But you like me, don't you? Even
          though you don't know who I am?

                    SUSAN
          You've been wonderful! I can't
          tell you how glad I am you're here,
          I don't know many people and -
              (she stops)

                    KANE
          And I know too many people.
          Obviously, we're both lonely.
              (he smiles)
          Would you like to know where I was
          going tonight - when you ran into
          me and ruined my Sunday clothes?

                    SUSAN
          I didn't run into you and I bet
          they're not your Sunday clothes.
          You've probably got a lot of
          clothes.

                    KANE
              (as if defending himself
               from a terrible
               onslaught)
          I was only joking!
              (pauses)
          This evening I was on my way to the
          Western Manhattan Warehouses - in
          search of my youth.

Susan is bewildered.

                     KANE
          You see, my mother died, too - a
          long time ago. Her things were put
          into storage out west because I had
          no place to put them then. I still
          haven't. But now I've sent for
          them just the same. And tonight
          I'd planned to make a sort of
          sentimental journey -
              (slowly)
          - to the scenes of my youth - my
          childhood, I suppose - to look
          again at -
              (he changes mood
               slightly)
          and now -

Kane doesn't finish.   He looks at Susan.   Silence.
                                      133.


           KANE
Who am I? Well, let's see.
Charles Foster Kane was born in New
Salem, Colorado in eighteen six -
    (he stops on the word
     "sixty" - obviously a
     little embarrassed)
I run a couple of newspapers. How
about you?

           SUSAN
Oh, me -

          KANE
How old did you say you were?

          SUSAN
    (very bright)
I didn't say.

          KANE
I didn't think you did. If you
had, I wouldn't have asked you
again, because I'd have remembered.
How old?

          SUSAN
Pretty old. I'll be twenty-two in
August.

          KANE
    (looks at her silently
     for a moment)
That's a ripe old age - What do
you do?

          SUSAN
I work at Seligman's.

          KANE
Is that what you want to do?

          SUSAN
I want to be a singer.
    (she thinks for a moment)
I mean, I didn't. Mother did for
me.

          KANE
    (sympathetically)
What happened to the singing?
You're not in a show, are you?
                                                       134.


                    SUSAN
          Oh, no! Nothing like that. Mother
          always thought - she used to talk
          about Grand Opera for me. Imagine!
          An American girl, for one thing -
          and then my voice isn't really that
          kind anyway, it's just that Mother -
          you know what mothers are like.

A sudden look comes over Kane's face.

                      KANE
          Yes -

                    SUSAN
          As a matter of fact, I do sing a
          little.

                    KANE
              (points to the piano)
          Would you sing for me?

                    SUSAN
              (bashful)
          Oh, you wouldn't want to hear me
          sing.

                    KANE
          Yes, I would. That's why I asked.

                      SUSAN
          Well, I -

                    KANE
          Don't tell me your toothache is
          bothering you again?

                    SUSAN
          Oh, no, that's all gone.

                    KANE
          Then you have no alibi at all.
          Please sing.

Susan, with a tiny ladylike hesitancy, goes to the piano and
sings a polite song. Sweetly, nicely, she sings with a
small, untrained voice. Kane listens. He is relaxed, at
ease with the world.

                                                 DISSOLVE:

INT. "EL RANCHO" CABARET - EARLY DAWN -

Susan tosses down a drink, then goes on with her story.
                                                       135.


                    SUSAN
          I did a lot of singing after that.
          I sang for Charlie - I sang for
          teachers at a hundred bucks an hour
          - the teachers got that, I didn't -

                    THOMPSON
          What did you get?

                    SUSAN
              (glares at him balefully)
          What do you mean?

Thompson doesn't answer.

                     SUSAN
          I didn't get a thing. Just the
          music lessons. That's all there
          was to it.

                    THOMPSON
          He married you, didn't he?

                    SUSAN
          He was in love with me. But he
          never told me so until after it all
          came out in the papers about us -
          and he lost the election and that
          Norton woman divorced him.

                    THOMPSON
          What about that apartment?

                    SUSAN
          He wanted me to be comfortable -
          Oh, why should I bother? You don't
          believe me, but it's true. It just
          happens to be true. He was really
          interested in my voice.
              (sharply)
          What are you smiling for? What do
          you think he built that opera house
          for? I didn't want it. I didn't
          want to sing. It was his idea -
          everything was his idea - except my
          leaving him.

                                                DISSOLVE:

INT. LIVING ROOM OF KANE'S HOUSE IN NEW YORK - DAY -

Susan is singing. Matisti, her voice teacher, is playing
the piano. Kane is seated nearby. Matisti stops.
                                                      136.


                    MATISTI
          Impossible! Impossible!

                    KANE
          Your job isn't to give Mrs. Kane
          your opinion of her talents. You're
          supposed to train her voice.
          Nothing more.

                    MATISTI
              (sweating)
          But, it is impossible. I will be
          the laughingstock of the musical
          world! People will say -

                    KANE
          If you're interested in what people
          say, Signor Matisti, I may be able
          to enlighten you a bit. The
          newspapers, for instance. I'm an
          authority on what the papers will
          say, Signor Matisti, because I own
          eight of them between here and San
          Francisco... It's all right, dear.
          Signor Matisti is going to listen
          to reason. Aren't you, maestro?
              (he looks him square in
               the eyes)

                    MATISTI
          Mr. Kane, how can I persuade you -

                       KANE
          You can't.

There is a silence.    Matisti rises.

                    KANE
          I knew you'd see it my way.

                                                DISSOLVE:

INT. CHICAGO OPERA HOUSE - NIGHT -

It is the same opening night - it is the same moment as
before - except that the camera is now upstage angling
toward the audience. The curtain is down. We see the same
tableau as before - the terrified and trembling Susan, the
apprehensive principals, the maids and singing teachers, the
stage hands. As the dissolve commences, there is the sound
of applause (exactly as before) and now as the dissolve
completes itself, the orchestra breaks frighteningly into
opening chords of the music - the stage is cleared - Susan
is left alone, terribly alone. The curtain rises.
                                                      137.


The glare of the footlights jump into the image. The
curtain is now out of the picture and Susan starts to sing.
Beyond her, we see the prompter's box, containing the
anxious face of the prompter. Beyond that, out in the
darkness - an apprehensive conductor struggles with his task
of coordinating an orchestra and an incompetent singer.
Beyond that - dimly white shirt fronts and glistening bosoms
for a couple of rows, and then deep and terrible darkness.

Closeup of Kane's face - seated in the audience - listening.

Sudden but perfectly correct lull in the music reveals a
voice from the audience - a few words from a sentence - the
kind of thing that often happens in a theatre -

                    THE VOICE
          - really pathetic.

Music crashes in and drowns out the rest of the sentence,
but hundreds of people around the voice have heard it (as
well as Kane) and there are titters which grow in volume.

Closeup of Susan's face - singing.

Closeup of Kane's face - listening.

There is the ghastly sound of three thousand people
applauding as little as possible. Kane still looks. Then,
near the camera, there is the sound of about a dozen people
applauding very, very loudly. Camera moves back, revealing
Bernstein and Reilly and other Kane stooges, seated around
him, beating their palms together. The curtain is falling -
as we can see by the light which shutters down off their
faces.

The stage from Kane's angle.

The curtain is down - the lights glowing on it. Still, the
polite applause dying fast. Nobody comes out for a bow.

Closeup of Kane - breathing heavily.   Suddenly he starts to
applaud furiously.

The stage from the audience again.

Susan appears for her bow. She can hardly walk. There is a
little polite crescendo of applause, but it is sickly.

Closeup of Kane - still applauding very, very hard, his eyes
on Susan.

The stage again.
                                                       138.


Susan, finishing her bow, goes out through the curtains.
The light on the curtain goes out and the houselights go on.

Closeup of Kane - still applauding very, very hard.

                                                 DISSOLVE:

INT. STUDY - KANE'S NEW YORK HOME - DAY -

Some weeks later. Susan, in a negligee, is at the window.
There are the remains of her breakfast tray on a little
table.

                    SUSAN
          You don't propose to have yourself
          made ridiculous? What about me?
          I'm the one that has to do the
          singing. I'm the one that gets the
          razzberries.
              (pauses)
          Last week, when I was shopping, one
          of the salesgirls did an imitation
          of me for another girl. She thought
          I didn't see her, but - Charlie,
          you might as well make up your mind
          to it. This is one thing you're
          not going to have your own way
          about. I can't sing and you know
          it - Why can't you just -

Kane rises and walks toward her. There is cold menace in
his walk. Susan shrinks a little as he draws closer to her.

                    KANE
          My reasons satisfy me, Susan. You
          seem unable to understand them. I
          will not tell them to you again.
              (he is very close to her)
          You will continue with your
          singing.

His eyes are relentlessly upon her. She sees something in
them that frightens her. She nods her head slowly,
indicating surrender.

                                            DISSOLVE OUT:

                                              DISSOLVE IN:

Front page of the "San Francisco Enquirer" containing a
large portrait of Susan as Thais (as before).
                                                      139.


It is announced that Susan will open an independent season
in San Francisco in "Thais." The picture remains constant
but the names of the papers change from New York to St.
Louis, to Los Angeles to Cleveland, to Denver to
Philadelphia - all "Enquirers."

During all this, on the soundtrack, Susan's voice is heard
singing her aria very faintly and far away, her voice
cracking a little.

At the conclusion of this above, Susan has finished her
song, and there is the same mild applause as before - over
the sound of this, one man loudly applauding. This fades
out as we -

                                                DISSOLVE:

INT. SUSAN'S BEDROOM - KANE'S NEW YORK HOME - LATE NIGHT -

The camera angles across the bed and Susan's form towards
the door, from the other side of which voices can be heard.

                    KANE'S VOICE
          Let's have your keys, Raymond.

                      RAYMOND'S VOICE
          Yes, sir.

                    KANE'S VOICE
          The key must be in the other side.
              (pause)
          We'll knock the door down, Raymond.

                    RAYMOND'S VOICE
              (calling)
          Mrs. Kane -

                    KANE'S VOICE
          Do what I say.

The door crashes open, light floods in the room, revealing
Susan, fully dressed, stretched out on the bed, one arm
dangling over the side. Kane rushes to her.

                    KANE
          Get Dr. Corey.

                      RAYMOND
          Yes, sir.

He rushes out. Susan is breathing, but heavily.   Kane
loosens the lace collar at her throat.

                                                DISSOLVE:
                                                         140.


INT. SUSAN'S ROOM - LATE NIGHT -

A little later. All the lights are lit. Susan, in a
nightgown, is in bed, asleep. Raymond and a nurse are just
leaving the room, Raymond closing the door quietly behind
him. Dr. Corey rises.

                       DR. COREY
             She'll be perfectly all right in a
             day or two, Mr. Kane.

Kane nods.    He has a small bottle in his hand.

                       DR. COREY
             The nurse has complete
             instructions, but if you care to
             talk to me at any time, I should be
             only too glad - I shall be here in
             the morning.

                       KANE
             Thank you. I can't imagine how
             Mrs. Kane came to make such a silly
             mistake. The sedative Dr. Wagner
             gave her is in a somewhat larger
             bottle - I suppose the strain of
             preparing for her trip has excited
             and confused her.

                       DR. COREY
             I'm sure that's it.
                 (he starts out)

                       KANE
             There are no objections to my
             staying here with her, are there?

                       DR. COREY
             Not at all. I'd like the nurse to
             be here, too.

                          KANE
             Of course.

Dr. Corey leaves. Kane settles himself in a chair next to
the bed, looking at Susan. In a moment, the nurse enters,
goes to a chair in the corner of the room, and sits down.

                                                   DISSOLVE:
                                                        141.


INT. SUSAN'S ROOM - DAY -

Susan, utterly spent, is lying flat on her back in her bed.
Kane is in the chair beside her. The nurse is out of the
room.

                    SUSAN
              (in a voice that comes
               from far away)
          I couldn't make you see how I felt,
          Charlie. I just couldn't - I
          couldn't go threw with singing
          again. You don't know what it
          means to feel - to know that people
          - that an audience don't want you.
          That if you haven't got what they
          want - a real voice - they just
          don't care about you. Even when
          they're polite - and they don't
          laugh or get restless or - you
          know... They don't want you. They
          just -

                    KANE
              (angrily)
          That's when you've got to fight
          them. That's when you've got to
          make them. That's -

Susan's head turns and she looks at him silently with
pathetic eyes.

                     KANE
          I'm sorry.
              (he leans over to pat her
               hand)
          You won't have to fight them
          anymore.
              (he smiles a little)
          It's their loss.

Gratefully, Susan, with difficulty, brings her other hand
over to cover his.

                                                DISSOLVE:

EXT. ESTABLISHING SHOT OF XANADU - HALF BUILT

INT. THE GRAND HALL IN XANADU -

Closeup of an enormous jigsaw puzzle. A hand is putting in
the last piece. Camera moves back to reveal jigsaw puzzle
spread out on the floor.
                                                     142.


Susan is on the floor before her jigsaw puzzle. Kane is in
an easy chair. Behind them towers the massive Renaissance
fireplace. It is night and Baroque candelabra illuminates
the scene.

                    SUSAN
              (with a sigh)
          What time is it?

There is no answer.

                      SUSAN
          Charlie!    I said, what time is it?

                    KANE
              (looks up - consults his
               watch)
          Half past eleven.

                    SUSAN
          I mean in New York.

                    KANE
          Half past eleven.

                      SUSAN
          At night?

                   KANE
          Yes. The bulldog's just gone to
          press.

                    SUSAN
              (sarcastically)
          Hurray for the bulldog!
              (sighs)
          Half past eleven! The shows have
          just let out. People are going to
          night clubs and restaurants. Of
          course, we're different. We live
          in a palace - at the end of the
          world.

                    KANE
          You always said you wanted to live
          in a palace.

                    SUSAN
          Can't we go back, Charlie?

Kane looks at her smilingly and turns back to his work.

                      SUSAN
          Charlie -
                                                         143.


There is no answer.

                     SUSAN
          If I promise to be a good girl! Not
          to drink - and to entertain all the
          governors and the senators with
          dignity -
              (she puts a slur into the
               word)
          Charlie -

There is still no answer.

                                            DISSOLVE OUT:

                                                DISSOLVE IN:

Another picture puzzle - Susan's hands fitting in a missing
piece.

                                                   DISSOLVE:

Another picture puzzle - Susan's hands fitting in a missing
piece.

                                                   DISSOLVE:

INT. XANADU - LIVING ROOM - DAY -

Another picture puzzle.

Camera pulls back to show Kane and Susan in much the same
positions as before, except that they are older.

                    KANE
          One thing I've never been able to
          understand, Susan. How do you know
          you haven't done them before?

Susan shoots him an angry glance.   She isn't amused.

                    SUSAN
          It makes a whole lot more sense
          than collecting Venuses.

                    KANE
          You may be right - I sometimes
          wonder - but you get into the habit
          -

                     SUSAN
              (snapping)
          It's not a habit.   I do it because
          I like it.
                                                        144.


                    KANE
          I was referring to myself.
              (pauses)
          I thought we might have a picnic
          tomorrow - it might be a nice
          change after the Wild West party
          tonight. Invite everybody to go to
          the Everglades -

                    SUSAN
              (throws down a piece of
               the jigsaw puzzle and
               rises)
          Invite everybody! Order everybody,
          you mean, and make them sleep in
          tents! Who wants to sleep in tents
          when they have a nice room of their
          own - with their own bath, where
          they know where everything is?

Kane has looked at her steadily, not hostilely.

                    KANE
          I thought we might invite everybody
          to go on a picnic tomorrow. Stay
          at Everglades overnight.
              (he pats her lightly on
               the shoulder)
          Please see that the arrangements
          are made, Susan.

Kane turns away - to Bernstein.

                    KANE
          You remember my son, Mr. Bernstein.

On the soundtrack we hear the following lines of dialogue:

                    BERNSTEIN'S VOICE
              (embarrassed)
          Oh, yes. How do you do, Mr. Kane?

                    CHARLIE JR.'S VOICE
          Hello.

During this, camera holds on closeup of Susan's face.    She
is very angry.

                                                  DISSOLVE:
                                                        145.


EXT. THE EVERGLADES CAMP - NIGHT -

Long shot - of a number of classy tents.

                                              DISSOLVE OUT:

                                               DISSOLVE IN:

INT. LARGE TENT - EVERGLADES CAMP - NIGHT -

Two real beds have been set up on each side of the tent. A
rather classy dressing table is in the rear, at which Susan
is preparing for bed. Kane, in his shirt-sleeves, is in an
easy chair, reading. Susan is very sullen.

                    SUSAN
          I'm not going to put up with it.

Kane turns to look at her.

                     SUSAN
          I mean it.
              (she catches a slight
                flicker on Kane's face)
          Oh, I know I always say I mean it,
          and then I don't - or you get me so
          don't do what I say I'm going to -
          but -

                    KANE
              (interrupting)
          You're in a tent, darling. You're
          not at home. And I can hear you
          very well if you just talk in a
          normal tone of voice.

                    SUSAN
          I'm not going to have my guests
          insulted, just because you think -
              (in a rage)
          - if people want to bring a drink
          or two along on a picnic, that's
          their business. You've got no
          right -

                    KANE
              (quickly)
          I've got more than a right as far
          as you're concerned, Susan.

                     SUSAN
          Oh, I'm sick and tired of you
          telling me what I must and what I
          musn't do!
                                      146.


          KANE
    (gently)
You're my wife, Susan, and -

          SUSAN
I'm not just your wife, I'm a
person all by myself - or I ought
to be. I was once. Sometimes you
get me to believing I never was.

          KANE
We can discuss all this some other
time, Susan. Right now -

          SUSAN
I'll discuss what's on my mind when
I want to. You're not going to
keep on running my life the way you
want it.

          KANE
As far as you're concerned, Susan,
I've never wanted anything - I
don't want anything now - except
what you want.

          SUSAN
What you want me to want, you mean.
What you've decided I ought to have
- what you'd want if you were me.
But you've never given me anything
that -

          KANE
Susan, I really think -

          SUSAN
Oh, I don't mean the things you've
given me - that don't mean anything
to you. What's the difference
between giving me a bracelet or
giving somebody else a hundred
thousand dollars for a statue
you're going to keep crated up and
never look at? It's only money.
It doesn't mean anything. You're
not really giving anything that
belongs to you, that you care
about.

           KANE
    (he has risen)
Susan, I want you to stop this. And
right now!
                                                      147.


                    SUSAN
          Well, I'm not going to stop it. I'm
          going to say exactly what I think.
              (she screams)
          You've never given me anything.
          You've tried to buy me into giving
          you something. You're -
              (a sudden notion)
          - it's like you were bribing me!
          That's what it's been from the
          first moment I met you. No matter
          how much it cost you - your time,
          your money - that's what you've
          done with everybody you've ever
          known. Tried to bribe them!

                    KANE
          Susan!

She looks at him, with no lessening of her passion.

                    KANE
          You're talking an incredible amount
          of nonsense, Susan.
              (quietly)
          Whatever I do - I do - because I
          love you.

                     SUSAN
          Love! You don't love anybody! Me
          or anybody else! You want to be
          loved - that's all you want! I'm
          Charles Foster Kane. Whatever you
          want - just name it and it's yours!
          Only love me! Don't expect me to
          love you -

Without a word, Kane slaps her across the face.   They look
at each other.

                    SUSAN
          You - you hit me.

Kane continues to look at her.

                    SUSAN
          You'll never have another chance to
          hit me again.
              (pauses)
          Never knew till this minute -

                    KANE
          Susan, it seems to me -
                                                       148.


                    SUSAN
          Don't tell me you're sorry.

                    KANE
          I'm not sorry.

                    SUSAN
          I'm going to leave you.

                    KANE
          No, you're not.

                       SUSAN
                 (nods)
          Yes.

They look at each other, fixedly, but she doesn't give way.
In fact, the camera on Kane's face shows the beginning of a
startled look, as of one who sees something unfamiliar and
unbelievable.

                                                 DISSOLVE:

INT. KANE'S STUDY - XANADU - DAY -

Kane is a the window looking out.    He turns as he hears
Raymond enter.

                    RAYMOND
          Mrs. Kane would like to see you,
          Mr. Kane.

                       KANE
          All right.

Raymond waits as Kane hesitates.

                    KANE (CONT’D)
          Is Mrs. Kane -
              (he can't finish)

                    RAYMOND
          Marie has been packing since
          morning, Mr. Kane.

Kane impetuously walks past him out of the room.

INT. SUSAN'S ROOM - XANADU - DAY -

Packed suitcases are on the floor, Susan is completely
dressed for traveling. Kane bursts into the room.
                                                       149.


                    SUSAN
          Tell Arnold I'm ready, Marie.    He
          can get the bags.

                    MARIE
          Yes, Mrs. Kane.

She leaves.   Kane closes the door behind her.

                    KANE
          Have you gone completely crazy?

Susan looks at him.

                    KANE
          Don't you realize that everybody
          here is going to know about this?
          That you've packed your bags and
          ordered the car and -

                    SUSAN
          - And left? Of course they'll
          hear. I'm not saying goodbye -
          except to you - but I never
          imagined that people wouldn't know.

Kane is standing against the door as if physically barring
her way.

                    KANE
          I won't let you go.

                    SUSAN
          You can't stop me.

Kane keeps looking at her.    Susan reaches out her hand.

                    SUSAN
          Goodbye, Charlie.

                    KANE
              (suddenly)
          Don't go, Susan.

                    SUSAN
          Let's not start all over again,
          Charlie. We've said everything
          that can be said.

                    KANE
          Susan, don't go!    Susan, please!

He has lost all pride.   Susan stops.   She is affected by
this.
                                                        150.


                    KANE
          You mustn't go, Susan.
          Everything'll be exactly the way
          you want it. Not the way I think
          you want it - by your way. Please,
          Susan - Susan!

She is staring at him.   She might weaken.

                    KANE
          Don't go, Susan! You mustn't go!
              (almost blubbering)
          You - you can't do this to me,
          Susan -

It's as if he had thrown ice water into her face.    She
freezes.

                    SUSAN
          I see - it's you that this is being
          done to! It's not me at all. Not
          how I feel. Not what it means to
          me.
              (she laughs)
          I can't do this to you!
              (she looks at him)
          Oh, yes I can.

She walks out, past Kane, who turns to watch her go, like a
very tired old man.

                                              DISSOLVE OUT:

                                               DISSOLVE IN:

INT. "EL RANCHO" CABARET - NIGHT -

Susan and Thompson at a table.   There is silence between
them for a moment.

                    SUSAN
          In case you've never heard of how I
          lost all my money - and it was
          plenty, believe me -

                    THOMPSON
          The last ten years have been tough
          on a lot of people.

                    SUSAN
          They haven't been tough on me. I
          just lost my money. But when I
          compare these last ten years with
          the twenty I spent with him -
                                                       151.


                     THOMPSON
          I feel kind of sorry for him, all
          the same -

                    SUSAN
              (harshly)
          Don't you think I do?
              (pause)
          You say you're going down to
          Xanadu?

                    THOMPSON
          Monday, with some of the boys from
          the office. Mr. Rawlston wants the
          whole place photographed carefully -
          all that art stuff. We run a
          picture magazine, you know -

                    SUSAN
          I know. If you're smart, you'll
          talk to Raymond. That's the
          butler. You can learn a lot from
          him. He knows where the bodies are
          buried.

She shivers. The dawn light from the skylight above has
grown brighter, making the artificial light in the night
club look particularly ghastly, revealing mercilessly every
year of Susan's age.

                    SUSAN
          Well, what do you know? It's
          morning already.
              (looks at him)
          You must come around and tell me
          the story of your life sometime.

                                                 FADE OUT:

                                                 FADE IN:

INT. GREAT HALL - XANADU - NIGHT -

An open door shows the pantry, which is dark. Thompson and
Raymond are at a table. There is a pitcher of beer and a
plate of sandwiches before them. Raymond drinks a glass of
beer and settles back.

                    RAYMOND
          Yes, sir - yes, sir, I knew how to
          handle the old man. He was kind of
          queer, but I knew how to handle
          him.
                                                        152.


                    THOMPSON
          Queer?

                    RAYMOND
          Yeah. I guess he wasn't very happy
          those last years - he didn't have
          much reason to be -

                                                DISSOLVE:

INT. CORRIDOR AND TELEGRAPH OFFICE - XANADU - NIGHT -

Raymond walking rapidly along corridor. He pushes open a
door. At a desk in a fairly elaborate telegraph office sits
a wireless operator named Fred. Near him at a telephone
switchboard sits a female operator named Katherine (not that
it matters).

                    RAYMOND
              (reading)
          Mr. Charles Foster Kane announced
          today that Mrs. Charles Foster Kane
          has left Xanadu, his Florida home,
          under the terms of a peaceful and
          friendly agreement with the
          intention of filing suit for
          divorce at an early date. Mrs.
          Kane said that she does not intend
          to return to the operatic career
          which she gave up a few years after
          her marriage, at Mr. Kane's
          request. Signed, Charles Foster
          Kane.

Fred finishes typing and then looks up.

                    RAYMOND
          Exclusive for immediate
          transmission. Urgent priority all
          Kane papers.

                    FRED
          Okay.

There is the sound of the buzzer on the switchboard.
Katherine puts in a plug and answers the call.

                     KATHERINE
          Yes ... yes... Mrs. Tinsdall -
          Very well.
              (turns to Raymond)
          It's the housekeeper.
                                                     153.


                    RAYMOND
          Yes?

                    KATHERINE
          She says there's some sort of
          disturbance up in Mrs. Alexander's
          room. She's afraid to go in.

                                               DISSOLVE:

INT. CORRIDOR OUTSIDE SUSAN'S BEDROOM - XANADU - NIGHT -

The housekeeper, Mrs. Tinsdall, and a couple of maids are
near the door but are too afraid to be in front of it. From
inside can be heard a terrible banging and crashing.
Raymond hurries into scene, opens the door and goes in.

INT. SUSAN'S BEDROOM - XANADU -

Kane, in a truly terrible and absolutely silent rage, is
literally breaking up the room - yanking pictures, hooks and
all off the wall, smashing them to bits - ugly, gaudy
pictures - Susie's pictures in Susie's bad taste. Off of
occasional tables, bureaus, he sweeps Susie's whorish
accumulation of bric-a-brac.

Raymond stands in the doorway watching him. Kane says
nothing. He continues with tremendous speed and surprising
strength, still wordlessly, tearing the room to bits. The
curtains (too frilly - overly pretty) are pulled off the
windows in a single gesture, and from the bookshelves he
pulls down double armloads of cheap novels - discovers a
half-empty bottle of liquor and dashes it across the room.
Finally he stops. Susie's cozy little chamber is an
incredible shambles all around him.

He stands for a minute breathing heavily, and his eye lights
on a hanging what-not in a corner which had escaped his
notice. Prominent on its center shelf is the little glass
ball with the snowstorm in it. He yanks it down. Something
made of china breaks, but not the glass ball. It bounces on
the carpet and rolls to his feet, the snow in a flurry. His
eye follows it. He stoops to pick it up - can't make it.
Raymond picks it up for him; hands it to him. Kane takes it
sheepishly - looks at it - moves painfully out of the room
into the corridor.

INT. CORRIDOR OUTSIDE SUSAN'S BEDROOM - XANADU -

Kane comes out of the door. Mrs. Tinsdall has been joined
now by a fairly sizable turnout of servants. They move back
away from Kane, staring at him. Raymond is in the doorway
behind Kane. Kane looks at the glass ball.
                                                       154.


                    KANE
              (without turning)
          Close the door, Raymond.

                    RAYMOND
          Yes, sir.
              (he closes it)

                    KANE
          Lock it - and keep it locked.

Raymond locks the door and comes to his side. There is a
long pause - servants staring in silence. Kane gives the
glass ball a gentle shake and starts another snowstorm.

                    KANE
          Raymond -
              (he is almost in a
               trance)

                       RAYMOND
          Yes, sir -

One of the younger servants giggles and is hushed up. Kane
shakes the ball again. Another flurry of snow. He watches
the flakes settle - then looks up. Finally, taking in the
pack of servants and something of the situations, he puts
the glass ball in his coat pocket. He speaks very quietly
to Raymond, so quietly it only seems he's talking to
himself.

                    KANE
          Keep it locked.

He slowly walks off down the corridor, the servants giving
way to let him pass, and watching him as he goes. He is an
old, old man!

                                                 DISSOLVE:

INT. KANE'S CHAPEL - XANADU - LATE AFTERNOON -

As the dissolve completes itself, camera is travellling
across the floor of the chapel past the crypts of Kane's
father and mother - (marked: James Kane - 18- TO 19-; Mary
Kane - 18- TO - past a blank crypt, and then holding on the
burial of Kane's son. A group of ordinary workmen in
ordinary clothes are lowering a very expensive-looking
coffin into its crypt. Kane stands nearby with Raymond,
looking on. The men strain and grunt as the coffin bangs on
the stone floor. The men now place over it a long marble
slab on which is cut the words:

CHARLES FOSTER KANE II.
                                                      155.


1907 - 1938

                    ONE OF THE WORKMEN
          Sorry, Mr. Kane, we won't be able
          to cement it till tommorrow. We -

Kane looks right through him.   Raymond cuts him short.

                    RAYMOND
          Okay.

The men tip their hats and shuffle out of the chapel. Kane
raises his head, looks at the inscription on the wall. It
is a little to one side of Junior's grave, directly over the
blank place which will be occupied by Kane himself.

                    KANE
          Do you like poetry, Raymond?

                    RAYMOND
          Can't say, sir.

                    KANE
          Mrs. Kane liked poetry -

Raymond is now convinced that the old master is very far
gone indeed - not to say off his trolley.

                    RAYMOND
          Yes, Mr. Kane.

                    KANE
          Not my wife - not either of them.

He looks at the grave next to his son's - the grave marked

"MARY KANE."

                    RAYMOND
              (catching on)
          Oh, yes, sir.

                     KANE
              (looking back up at the
               wall)
          Do you know what that is?

                    RAYMOND
              (more his keeper than his
               butler now)
          It's a wall you bought in China,
          Mr. Kane.
                                                    156.


                    KANE
         Persia.   It belonged to a king.

                   RAYMOND
         How did you get him to part with
         it, Mr. Kane?

                   KANE
         He was dead... That's a poem.      Do
         you know what it means?

                   RAYMOND
         No, I don't, Mr. Kane.

                   KANE
         I didn't used to be afraid of it.

A short pause. His eyes still on the wall, but looking
through it, Kane quotes the translation.

                   KANE
         The drunkeness of youth has passed
         like a fever, And yet I saw many
         things, Seeing my glory in the days
         of my glory, I thought my power
         eternal And the days of my life
         Fixed surely in the years But a
         whisper came to me From Him who
         dies not. I called my tributary
         kings together And those who were
         proud rulers under me, I opened the
         boxes of my treasure to them,
         saying: "Take hills of gold,
         mountains of silver, And give me
         only one more day upon the earth."
         But they stood silent, Looking upon
         the ground; So that I died And
         Death came to sit upon my throne.
         O sons of men You see a stranger
         upon the road, You call to him and
         he does not step. He is your life
         Walking towards time, Hurrying to
         meet the kings of India and China.
             (quoting)
         O sons of men You are caught in the
         web of the world And the spider
         Nothing waits behind it. Where are
         the men with towering hopes? They
         have changed places with owls, Owls
         who have lived in tombs And now
         inhabit a palace.
                                                         157.


Kane still stares at the wall, through it, and way beyond
it. Raymond looks at him.

                                              DISSOLVE OUT:

                                               DISSOLVE IN:

INT. GREAT HALL - XANADU - NIGHT -

Thompson and Raymond.   Raymond has finished his beer.

                    RAYMOND
              (callously)
          That's the whole works, right up to
          date.

                    THOMPSON
          Sentimental fellow, aren't you?

                    RAYMOND
          Yes and no.

                    THOMPSON
              (getting to his feet)
          Well, thanks a lot.

                    RAYMOND
          See what I mean? He was a little
          gone in the head - the last couple
          of years, anyway - but I knew how
          to handle him.
              (rises)
          That "Rosebud" - that don't mean
          anything. I heard him say it. He
          just said "Rosebud" and then he
          dropped that glass ball and it
          broke on the floor. He didn't say
          anything about that, so I knew he
          was dead - He said all kind of
          things I couldn't make out. But I
          knew how to take care of him.

Thompson doesn't answer.

                    RAYMOND
          You can go on asking questions if
          you want to.

                    THOMPSON
              (coldly)
          We're leaving tonight. As soon as
          they're through photographing the
          stuff -
                                                     158.


Thompson has risen. Raymond gets to his feet and goes to
the door, opening it for him.

                      RAYMOND
            Allow yourself plenty of time. The
            train stops at the Junction On
            signal - but they don't like to
            wait. Not now. I can remember
            when they'd wait all day ... if Mr.
            Kane said so.

Raymond ushers Thompson into

INT. THE GREAT HALL - XANADU - NIGHT -

The magnificent tapestries, candelabra, etc., are still
there, but now several large packing cases are piled against
the walls, some broken open, some shut and a number of
objects, great and small, are piled pell mell all over the
place. Furniture, statues, paintings, bric-a-brac - things
of obviously enormous value are standing beside a kitchen
stove, an old rocking chair and other junk, among which is
also an old sled, the self-same story. Somewhere in the
back, one of the vast Gothic windows of the hall is open and
a light wind blows through the scene, rustling the papers.

In the center of the hall, a Photographer and his Assistant
are busy photographing the sundry objects. The floor is
littered with burnt-out flash bulbs. They continue their
work throughout the early part of the scene so that now and
then a flash bulb goes off. In addition to the Photographer
and his Assistant, there are a Girl and Two Newspaperment -
the Second and Third Men of the projection room scene - also
Thompson and Raymond.

The Girl and the Second Man, who wears a hat, are dancing
somewhere in the back of the hall to the music of a
phonograph. A flash bulb goes off. The Photographer has
just photographed a picture, obviously of great value, an
Italian primitive. The Assistant consults a label on the
back of it.

ASSISTANT

                      NO. 9182
            The Third Newspaperman starts to
            jot this information down.

                      ASSISTANT
            "Nativity" - attributed to
            Donatello, acquired Florence 1921,
            cost 45,000 lira. Got that?
                                                     159.


                    THIRD NEWSPAPERMAN
          Yeah.

                    PHOTOGRAPHER
          All right! Next! Better get that
          statue over there.

                    ASSISTANT
          Okay.

The Photographer and his Assistant start to move off with
their equipment towards a large sculpture in another part of
the hall.

                    RAYMOND
          What do you think all that is
          worth, Mr. Thompson?

                    THOMPSON
          Millions - if anybody wants it.

                    RAYMOND
          The banks are out of luck, eh?

                     THOMPSON
          Oh, I don't know. They'll clear
          all right.

                    ASSISTANT
          "Venus," Fourth Century. Acquired
          Cost twenty-three thousand. Got it?

                    THIRD NEWSPAPERMAN
          Okay.

                    ASSISTANT
              (patting the statue on
               the fanny)
          That's a lot of money to pay for a
          dame without a head.

                    SECOND ASSISTANT
              (reading a label)
          No. 483. One desk from the estate
          of Mary Kane, Little Salem,
          Colorado. Value $6.00.

                    THIRD NEWSPAPERMAN
          Okay.

A flashlight bulb goes off.
                                                     160.


                    SECOND ASSISTANT
          We're all set to get everything.
          The junk as well as the art.

Thompson has opened a box and is idly playing with a handful
of little pieces of cardboard.

                    THIRD NEWSPAPERMAN
          What's that?

                    RAYMOND
          It's a jigsaw puzzle.

                    THIRD NEWSPAPERMAN
          We got a lot of those. There's a
          Burmese Temple and three Spanish
          ceilings down the hall.

Raymond laughs.

                    PHOTOGRAPHER
          Yeah, all in crates.

                    THIRD NEWSPAPERMAN
          There's a part of a Scotch castle
          over there, but we haven't bothered
          to unwrap it.

                    PHOTOGRAPHER
          I wonder how they put all those
          pieces together?

                    ASSISTANT
              (reading a label)
          Iron stove. Estate of Mary Kane.
          Value $2.00.

                    PHOTOGRAPHER
          Put it over by that statue.    It'll
          make a good setup.

                    GIRL
              (calling out)
          Who is she anyway?

                     SECOND NEWSPAPERMAN
          Venus.   She always is.

                     THIRD NEWSPAPERMAN
          He sure liked to collect things,
          didn't he?
                                                         161.


                    RAYMOND
          He went right on buying - right up
          to the end.

                    PHOTOGRAPHER
          Anything and everything - he was a
          regular crow.

                    THIRD NEWSPAPERMAN
          wonder - You put all this together
          - the palaces and the paintings and
          the toys and everything - what
          would it spell?

Thompson has turned around.      He is facing the camera for the
first time.

                    THOMPSON
          Charles Foster Kane.

Another flash bulb goes off.     The Photographer turns to
Thompson with a grin.

                    PHOTOGRAPHER
          Or Rosebud? How about it, Jerry?

                    THIRD NEWSPAPERMAN
              (to the dancers)
          Turn that thing off, will you? It's
          driving me nuts! What's Rosebud?

                    PHOTOGRAPHER
          Kane's last words, aren't they,
          Jerry?
              (to the Third
               Newspaperman)
          That was Jerry's angle, wasn't it,
          Jerry? Did you ever find out what
          it means, Jerry?

                    THOMPSON
          No, I didn't.

The music has stopped.   The dancers have come over to
Thompson.

                    SECOND NEWSPAPERMAN
          Say, what did you find out about
          him, anyway, Jerry?

                      THOMPSON
          Not much.
                                                     162.


                    SECOND NEWSPAPERMAN
          Well, what have you been doing?

                    THOMPSON
          Playing with a jigsaw puzzle -   I
          talked to a lot of people who knew
          him.

                    GIRL
          What do they say?

                    THOMPSON
          Well - it's become a very clear
          picture. He was the most honest
          man who ever lived, with a streak
          of crookedness a yard wide. He was
          a liberal and a reactionary; he was
          tolerant - "Live and Let Live" -
          that was his motto. But he had no
          use for anybody who disagreed with
          him on any point, no matter how
          small it was. He was a loving
          husband and a good father - and
          both his wives left him and his son
          got himself killed about as
          shabbily as you can do it. He had
          a gift for friendship such as few
          men have - he broke his oldest
          friend's heart like you'd throw
          away a cigarette you were through
          with. Outside of that -

                    THIRD NEWSPAPERMAN
          Okay, okay.

                    GIRL
          What about Rosebud? Don't you
          think that explains anything?

                    THOMPSON
          No, I don't. Not much anyway.
          Charles Foster Kane was a man who
          got everything he wanted, and then
          lost it. Maybe Rosebud was
          something he couldn't get or lost.
          No, I don't think it explains
          anything. I don't think any word
          explains a man's life. No - I
          guess Rosebud is just a piece in a
          jigsaw puzzle - a missing piece.

He drops the jigsaw pieces back into the box, looking at his
watch.
                                                          163.


                     THOMPSON
          We'd better get along.       We'll miss
          the train.

He picks up his overcoat - it has been resting on a little
sled - the little sled young Charles Foster Kane hit
Thatcher with at the opening of the picture. Camera doesn't
close in on this. It just registers the sled as the
newspaper people, picking up their clothes and equipment,
move out of the great hall.

                                                    DISSOLVE:

INT. CELLAR - XANADU - NIGHT -

A large furnace, with an open door, dominates the scene.
Two laborers, with shovels, are shoveling things into the
furnace. Raymond is about ten feet away.

                    RAYMOND
          Throw that junk in, too.

Camera travels to the pile that he has indicated. It is
mostly bits of broken packing cases, excelsior, etc. The
sled is on top of the pile. As camera comes close, it shows
the faded rosebud and, though the letters are faded,
unmistakably the word "ROSEBUD" across it. The laborer
drops his shovel, takes the sled in his hand and throws it
into the furnace. The flames start to devour it.

EXT. XANADU - NIGHT -

No lights are to be seen.    Smoke is coming from a chimney.

Camera reverses the path it took at the beginning of the
picture, perhaps omitting some of the stages. It moves
finally through the gates, which close behind it. As camera
pauses for a moment, the letter "K" is prominent in the
moonlight.

Just before we fade out, there comes again into the picture
the pattern of barbed wire and cyclone fencing. On the
fence is a sign which reads:

"PRIVATE - NO TRESPASSING"

                                                    FADE OUT:

                             THE END
