Citizen Kane (1941)

Charles Foster Kane, an enormously wealthy newspaper publisher, has been living alone in Florida on his vast palatial estate, Xanadu, for the last years of his life, with a "No Trespassing" sign on the gate. On his deathbed, he holds a snow globe and utters the single word, "Rosebud", before dying; the globe slips from his hand and smashes on the floor. Kane's death becomes sensational news around the world. Newsreel reporter Jerry Thompson becomes intrigued, and decides to learn all he can about Kane's private life to discover the meaning of "Rosebud".

The reporter interviews the great man's friends and associates, and Kane's story unfolds as a series of flashbacks. Thompson approaches Kane's second wife, Susan Alexander, now an alcoholic who runs her own nightclub, but she refuses to tell him anything and demands that he leave. Thompson then goes to the private archive of the late Walter Parks Thatcher, a banker who served as Kane's guardian during his childhood and adolescence. Through Thatcher's written memoirs, Thompson learns about Kane's childhood. Thompson then interviews Kane's personal business manager, Mr. Bernstein; his estranged best friend, Jedediah Leland; Susan, for a second time, successfully this time; and, finally, his butler, Raymond, at the Xanadu estate.

These flashbacks reveal that Kane's childhood was spent in poverty in Colorado (his parents ran a boarding house), until "the world's third largest gold mine" was discovered on the seemingly worthless property his mother had acquired. His mother, Mary, sends him away to the East to live with Thatcher, so that he may be properly educated. After gaining full control over his trust fund at the age of 25, Kane enters the newspaper business and embarks on a career of yellow journalism.

He takes control of the newspaper, the New York Inquirer, and hires the best journalists available. He then rises to power by successfully manipulating public opinion regarding the Spanish American War, marrying the niece of a President of the United States, and campaigning for the office of Governor of New York.

Kane's marriage disintegrates over the years, and he begins an affair with Susan Alexander, a singer. Both his wife and his political opponent discover the affair and this brings an abrupt end to both his marriage and his political aspirations. Kane marries Susan, and forces her into a humiliating operatic career for which she has neither the talent nor the ambition.

Kane finally allows her to abandon her singing career after she attempts suicide. After years spent in boredom and isolation on the Xanadu estate, constantly under his domination, Susan ultimately leaves Kane.

Kane spends his last years building his vast estate and lives alone, interacting only with his staff. The butler recounts that Kane had said "Rosebud" after Susan left him, right after seeing and pocketing a snow globe.

Back at Xanadu, Kane's vast number of belongings are catalogued: priceless works of art are intermingled with worthless pieces of modern furniture. Thompson finds that he is unable to solve the mystery and concludes that the meaning of "Rosebud" will forever remain an enigma.

He theorizes that "Mr. Kane was a man who got everything he wanted, and then lost it. Maybe Rosebud was something he couldn't get, or something he lost." As the film ends, the camera reveals that Rosebud was the name of a sled from Kane's childhood – an allusion to the only time in his life that he was truly happy. The sled, thought to be junk, is burned in a basement furnace by Xanadu's departing staff.