Part of The Sight and Sound Top 10 (#3)
When a reporter is assigned to decipher newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane’s (Orson Welles) dying words, his investigation gradually reveals the fascinating portrait of a complex man who rose from obscurity to staggering heights.
“It is cynical, ironic, sometimes oppressive and as realistic as a slap…. And, although it may not give a thoroughly clear answer, at least it brings to mind one deeply moral thought: For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? See CITIZEN KANE for further details.” —Bosley Crowther, New York Times (May 2, 1941)
“It is one of the miracles of cinema that in 1941 a first-time director, a cynical, hard-drinking writer, an innovative cinematographer, and a group of New York stage and radio actors were given the keys to a studio and total control, and made a masterpiece.” —Roger Ebert (May 24, 1998)