Katana VentraIP

Citizen Kane

Citizen Kane is a 1941 American drama film directed by, produced by, and starring Orson Welles. Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz wrote the screenplay. The picture was Welles's first feature film. Citizen Kane is frequently cited as the greatest film ever made.[5] For 40 years (5 decennial polls: 1962, 1972, 1982, 1992, 2002), it stood at number 1 in the British Film Institute's Sight & Sound decennial poll of critics,[6] and it topped the American Film Institute's 100 Years ... 100 Movies list in 1998, as well as its 2007 update. The film was nominated for Academy Awards in nine categories and it won for Best Writing (Original Screenplay) by Mankiewicz and Welles. Citizen Kane is praised for Gregg Toland's cinematography, Robert Wise's editing, Bernard Herrmann's music, and its narrative structure, all of which have been considered innovative and precedent-setting.

For the band, see Citizen Kane (band).

Citizen Kane

Orson Welles

RKO Radio Pictures

  • May 1, 1941 (1941-05-01) (Palace Theatre)
  • September 5, 1941 (1941-09-05) (United States)

119 minutes[1]

United States

English

$839,727[2]

$1.8 million (re-release)[3][4]

The quasi-biographical film examines the life and legacy of Charles Foster Kane, played by Welles, a composite character based on American media barons William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, Chicago tycoons Samuel Insull and Harold McCormick, as well as aspects of the screenwriters' own lives. Upon its release, Hearst prohibited any mention of the film in his newspapers.[7]


After the Broadway success of Welles's Mercury Theatre and the controversial 1938 radio broadcast "The War of the Worlds" on The Mercury Theatre on the Air, Welles was courted by Hollywood. He signed a contract with RKO Pictures in 1939. Although it was unusual for an untried director, he was given freedom to develop his own story, to use his own cast and crew, and to have final cut privilege. Following two abortive attempts to get a project off the ground, he wrote the screenplay for Citizen Kane, collaborating with Herman J. Mankiewicz. Principal photography took place in 1940, the same year its innovative trailer was shown, and the film was released in 1941.


Although it was a critical success, Citizen Kane failed to recoup its costs at the box office. The film faded from view after its release, but it returned to public attention when it was praised by French critics such as André Bazin and re-released in 1956. In 1958, the film was voted number 9 on the prestigious Brussels 12 list at the 1958 World Expo. Citizen Kane was selected by the Library of Congress as an inductee of the 1989 inaugural group of 25 films for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[8][9][10] Roger Ebert wrote of it: "Its surface is as much fun as any movie ever made. Its depths surpass understanding. I have analyzed it a shot at a time with more than 30 groups, and together we have seen, I believe, pretty much everything that is there on the screen. The more clearly I can see its physical manifestation, the more I am stirred by its mystery."[11]

as Jedediah Leland, Kane's best friend and a reporter for The Inquirer. Cotten also appears (hidden in darkness) in the News on the March screening room.[13]

Joseph Cotten

as Susan Alexander Kane, Kane's mistress and second wife.[13]

Dorothy Comingore

as Mary Kane, Kane's mother.[13]

Agnes Moorehead

as Emily Monroe Norton Kane, Kane's first wife.[13]

Ruth Warrick

as Jim W. Gettys, Kane's political rival for the post of Governor of New York.[13]

Ray Collins

as Herbert Carter, editor of The Inquirer. Sanford also appears (hidden in darkness) in the News on the March screening room.[13]

Erskine Sanford

as Mr. Bernstein, Kane's friend and employee at The Inquirer.[13]

Everett Sloane

as Jerry Thompson, a reporter for News on the March. Alland also voices the narrator of the News on the March newsreel.[13]

William Alland

as Raymond, Kane's butler.[13]

Paul Stewart

as Walter Parks Thatcher, a banker who becomes Kane's legal guardian.[13]

George Coulouris

as Signor Matiste, vocal coach of Susan Alexander Kane.[13]

Fortunio Bonanova

as John, headwaiter at the El Rancho nightclub. Schilling also appears (hidden in darkness) in the News on the March screening room.[13]

Gus Schilling

as Mr. Rawlston, News on the March open at the producer.[13]

Philip Van Zandt

as Bertha Anderson, attendant at the library of Walter Parks Thatcher.[13]

Georgia Backus

as Jim Kane, Kane's father.[13]

Harry Shannon

as Charles Foster Kane III, Kane's son.[13]

Sonny Bupp

as Charles Foster Kane, age eight.[13]

Buddy Swan

as Charles Foster Kane, a wealthy newspaper publisher.[13]

Orson Welles

The beginning of the film's ending credits states that "Most of the principal actors in Citizen Kane are new to motion pictures. The Mercury Theatre is proud to introduce them."[12] The cast is then listed in the following order, with Orson Welles' credit for playing Charles Foster Kane appearing last:[12]


Additionally, Charles Bennett appears as the entertainer at the head of the chorus line in the Inquirer party sequence,[14]: 40–41  and cinematographer Gregg Toland makes a cameo appearance as an interviewer depicted in part of the News on the March newsreel.[15][16] Actor Alan Ladd, still unknown at that time, makes a small appearance as a reporter smoking a pipe at the end of the film.[17]

Political themes[edit]

Laura Mulvey explored the anti-fascist themes of Citizen Kane in her 1992 monograph for the British Film Institute. The News on the March newsreel presents Kane keeping company with Hitler and other dictators while he smugly assures the public that there will be no war.[99]: 44  She wrote that the film reflects "the battle between intervention and isolationism" then being waged in the United States; the film was released six months before the attack on Pearl Harbor, while President Franklin D. Roosevelt was laboring to win public opinion for entering World War II. "In the rhetoric of Citizen Kane," Mulvey writes, "the destiny of isolationism is realised in metaphor: in Kane's own fate, dying wealthy and lonely, surrounded by the detritus of European culture and history."[47]: 15 


Journalist Ignacio Ramonet has cited the film as an early example of mass media manipulation of public opinion and the power that media conglomerates have on influencing the democratic process. He believes that this early example of a media mogul influencing politics is outdated and that today "there are media groups with the power of a thousand Citizen Kanes."[100][101] Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is sometimes labeled as a latter-day Citizen Kane.[102][103]


Comparisons have also been made between the career and character of Donald Trump and Charles Foster Kane.[104][105][106] Citizen Kane is reported to be one of Trump's favorite films, and his biographer Tim O’Brien has said that Trump is fascinated by and identifies with Kane.[107] In an interview with filmmaker Errol Morris, Trump explained his own interpretation of the film's themes, saying "You learn in 'Kane' maybe wealth isn't everything, because he had the wealth but he didn't have the happiness. In real life I believe that wealth does in fact isolate you from other people. It's a protective mechanism — you have your guard up much more so [than] if you didn't have wealth...Perhaps I can understand that."[108]

Official website

at AllMovie

Citizen Kane

at the American Film Institute Catalog

Citizen Kane

at IMDb

Citizen Kane

at Metacritic

Citizen Kane

at Rotten Tomatoes

Citizen Kane

at the TCM Movie Database

Citizen Kane

at Cinema Belgica

Citizen Kane