Citizen Kane 1941

type: Movie

language: English

duration: 119 min

genre: drama

theme: war

director: Orson Welles

Score: 8 / 10

Citizen Kane is a 1941 American drama film by Orson Welles, its producer, co-screenwriter, director and star. The picture was Welles's first feature film. Nominated for Academy Awards in nine categories, it won an Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay) by Herman J. Mankiewicz and Welles. Considered by many critics, filmmakers, and fans to be the greatest film ever made, Citizen Kane was voted as such in five consecutive British Film Institute Sight & Sound polls of critics, and it topped the American Film Institute's 100 Years... 100 Movies list in 1998, as well as its 2007 update. Citizen Kane is particularly 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.

Plot

In a mansion called Xanadu, part of a vast palatial estate in Florida, the elderly Charles Foster Kane is on his deathbed. Holding a snow globe, he utters a word, "Rosebud", and dies; the globe slips from his hand and smashes on the floor. A newsreel obituary tells the life story of Kane, an enormously wealthy newspaper publisher and industrial magnate. Kane's death becomes sensational news around the world, and the newsreel's producer tasks reporter Jerry Thompson with discovering the meaning of "Rosebud".

Awards

Cast

More details

author	Herman J. Mankiewicz John Houseman Orson Welles
award	Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Screenplay National Board of Review Award for Best Film National Board of Review: Top Ten Films National Film Registry
contentLocation	Florida New York City
director	Orson Welles
editor	Robert Wise
genre	drama
keywords	1929 stock market crash alcoholic around the world attack attempted suicide belong best friend build business man charles foster kane deathbed discover estrange force governor of new york invest life story madison square garden married mine newspaper publisher newsreel opera house political scandal public scandal publish retirement home run run away sing sled snow globe spanish–american war stock market crash xanadu yellow journalism
musicBy	Bernard Herrmann
nomination	Academy Award for Best Actor Academy Award for Best Art Direction, Black and White Academy Award for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White Academy Award for Best Director Academy Award for Best Film Editing Academy Award for Best Original Dramatic Score Academy Award for Best Picture Academy Award for Best Sound Mixing Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Screenplay
producer	Orson Welles
productionCompany	Mercury Theatre
publisher	RKO Radio Pictures
recordedAt	Malibu San Diego
theme	films à clef narrative opera war