"Citizen Kane" was Orson Welles' baby. He was the first person ever commissioned by a studio to write, direct, produce and star in a single film, and the result of his multiple activity became a movie classic.

With just enough changes to avoid libel suits, "Citizen Kane" is the story of William Randolph Hearst. As a skeleton for his plot, Welles uses the interviews of a reporter for a Luce-like organization, who is trying to find out the meaning of the great man's last word. Thinking that this word, "rosebud," might be the key to the whole life of Charles Foster Kane, the reporter speaks to Kane's second wife, his business manager, and his best friend. Thus the story unfolds in snatches and flashbacks, often going over the same scenes twice, but from different points of view.

Apart from the actual plot, the aspect of "Citizen Kane" for which it will always be famous is Welles' use of his cameras. The photography is magnificent. Although professionals usually say that these camera effects are consciously "unusual," to an ordinary moviegoer they make the film memorable. The wildly shifting perspectives, the entirely new treatment of three-dimensional effects, the odd angles of approach, and the relation of lights and shadows contribute at least as much drama as the script.

Undoubtedly if all film directors were to adopt Welles' camera technique, films would become unbearable. Even in "Citizen Kane" the overpowering effects become a little heavy toward the end. If carried to its logical extreme, this sort of thing results in horrors like "Ivan the Terrible." However, as long as "unusual" effects remain just that, they can add immeasurably to the power of a film.

In "Spitfire," Katherine Hepburn has conversation with God in a hillbilly accent. It's pretty embarrassing.