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I have to admit, I wanted to know what Rosebud was in the worst way. At the end, I actually had to sit there for a few minutes and let it soak in. When I realized what Rosebud was and what it meant to Charles Kane...I was pretty much blown away.
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I'm thrilled to hear that you were able to experience this film properly the first time. The film has been spoiled so bad by this point that it's hard to do. My first viewing years ago was like yours and I was also blown away. In fact at the time I didn't even know about Hearst and thought Wells had dreamed up such an incredible life. Imagine my shock to find out someone lived such a life (roughly).
It is an incredible character piece.
I don't think all classics have to be great character pieces though, at least in the terms I think you mean here in which we examine in detail the emotions and motivations of an individual(s).
Some classics have more shallow character investigations but really great characters. You don't really need to learn a lot about what makes them tick if they simply say and do very interesting things. For example,
The Maltese Falcon. In that case it is the story itself, the colorful assortment of characters, and the great dialog that make the film a classic.
Certainly in a well written or acted film we can always infer some character investigation, but with Kane the very point of the film is to investigate Kane and to understand him, which we come to do in the end even if the other characters don't.
If you haven't seen
Casablanca, that's definately another one to put right at the top of the list. It's another that might sound like just that dry old love story you "need" to see, but the film is really amazing. It's just great storytelling in the vein of Raiders of the Lost Ark, taking you to this far off world of danger and intrigue. It's got great characters, great plot twists, and probably the very best dialog ever written for a film. It is EXTREMELY entertaining which is why it's a classic.
One of my personal faves is
Ben-Hur. Now I'm very non-religious and I don't care for the heavy-handed religious book-ending to the film, but in between those opening and closing minutes is one of the greatest tales of adventure and revenge there ever was. If you liked seeing Kane drive himself in a hopeless attempt to force his world to be different, to control his world, then you will also love seeing Judah do the same. And if you love action, this film has some of the best ever. Even the ship scenes, whose backlot effects might seem silly today, still has great action scripting. The film also has one of the best villans ever and some outstanding dialog at times.
Watch Ben-Hur and see real stuntmen doing real stunts that can still make you gasp. And you can watch and see where a guy gets killed during the filming...or did he? (A friend pointed a moment out to me and said "see, right there". Then I showed it to him in slow motion and showed him why he was wrong.)
I won't dump a whole list on you. Those are two older films that sometimes get passed over as being "classic" simply because they are old, when in fact people have been making feature films that are highly entertaining for almost 100 years now. Its funny to me that we just assume other generations didn't understand entertainment or were somehow more easily entertained. If anything it is modern audiences who are the pushovers.
Anyway, enjoy your journey with classics. I'm sure you will see a few that you disagree with but I think its safe to say that you will see more that you end up loving.
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