Citizen Kane is a 1941 American mystery film drama by Orson Welles , its producer, co-screenwriter, director and star. The picture was Welles’ first feature film . Nominated forAcademy Awards in nine categories, it won an Academy Award for Best Writing by Herman J. Mankiewicz and Welles. Considered by many critics, filmmakers, and fans to be thegreatest film of all time , Citizen Kane was voted as such by the British Film Institute Sight & Sound Polls of Critics, until it was displaced by Vertigoin the 2012 poll. It topped the American Film Institute ‘s 100 Years … 100 Movies list in 1998 as well as ict 2007 update . Citizen Kane is particularly praised for its cinematography, music, editing and narrative structure, which have been considered innovative and precedent-setting.
The quasi-biographical film examines the life and legacy of Charles Foster Kane , played by Welles, a character based on the American newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, Chicago tycoons Samuel Insull and Harold McCormick , and aspects of Welles’ own life. Upon its release, Hearing of the film in any of its newspapers.