Citizen Kane

Director: Orson Wells, Cast: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore. Oscar Winner for Best Writing, Best Original Screenplay, 1941 New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Film, Village Voice Film Poll Winner for Best Film of the Century, PG

Citizen Kane was an extraordinary debut feature for the 25-year-old Orson Welles who wrote, produced, directed, and starred in the film loosely based on the life of William Randolph Hurst. The film synthesized the possibilities of sound-era filmmaking into what could be called the first truly modern movie. In it a reporter, assigned to decipher newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane’s dying words, gradually reveals the fascinating portrait of a complex man who rose from obscurity to staggering heights. “A potent metaphor for the betrayal of principles, the souring of the American Dream, and an intelligent mediation on the corrupting nature of power.” —David Wood, BBC.com