CITIZEN KANE (1941)

Orson Welles' masterpiece is about a powerful publishing tycoon.

The great Orson Welles transformed cinema at the tender age of 26 with this brazen and brilliant account of fictional newspaper titan Charles Foster Kane (essentially a thinly-disguised biography of William Randolph Hearst). Welles's artful and technically ingenious film follows Kane's rise from poverty to the very pinnacle of achievement and influence in American society and business  -- making Welles a legend in the process while at the same time earning him powerful enemies in Hollywood who would thwart him for the rest of his long and nonetheless distinguished career.

Orson Welles' first movie, made at the ripe old age of 26, transformed the art of movie-making. A thinly-veiled biography of publishing titan William Randolph Hearst, Citizen Kane insured its audacious young creator fame and renown. But Welles paid a heavy price for making the movie, as Hearst had many powerful and influential friends in Hollywood. But the last word belongs to Welles, whose movie is now universally regarded as among the best ever made.

In his first effort, actor, co-writer and director, Orson Welles, made this incredible drama, which many film critics and fans consider the best American film ever. Welles received a nomination for best directing.

The cast includes: Welles, Joseph Cotten, Everett Sloane, Agnes Moorehead, Ray Collins, Paul Stewart, Ruth Warwick, Erskine Sanford, Dorothy Comingore, and George Coulouris.

#1 on the AFI Top 100. Decade after decade, this classic has been at the very top of almost every movie list ever made. Nine nominations; one win (Original Screenplay).

CITIZEN KANE was nominated for the Best Picture award.

The Citizen Kane Review

Promotional Lines: "The classic story of power and the press."