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Stills must not be reproduced, copied or downloaded in any way.
Film details
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Featuring
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Country
USA
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Year
1941
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Genre
Drama
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Type
Film
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Category
Fiction
Introduction
“Nothing can detract from the film’s vivid Balzacian rendering of a dynamic society, its high-powered American virtuosity: the effect of Citizen Kane on the art of film has been incalculable.”
Charles Higham and Joel Greenberg, Hollywood in the Forties, 1968
The 26-year-old Welles, already renowned for his work in radio and theatre, used the unprecedented artistic license offered to him by RKO to create a fictionalised portrait of one of America’s most powerful men – press baron William Randolph Hearst. Charting the rise of Charles Foster Kane (played by Welles himself) – who decides to start a newspaper with his inherited fortune – Welles’ film is a classic story of the corrupting effects of power.
The use of deep-focus photography (keeping both foreground and background in focus) and abstracted camera angles, the non-chronological narrative structure and overlapping dialogue, were just some of the myriad formal innovations that Welles brought together for his groundbreaking debut. Such novelty and controversy proved a curse for Welles, whose career never enjoyed such indulgence again.
Any film to go after the dark heart of the American dream, from The Godfather (1972) to There Will Be Blood (2007), owes Citizen Kane a debt.
Cast & Credits
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Cast
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Jedediah Leland/newsreel journalist
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Susan Alexander Kane
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Mary Kane
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Emily Norton Kane
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James 'Boss' W. Gettys
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Herbert Carter/newsreel journalist
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Mr Bernstein
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Jerry Thompson/narrator
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Raymond
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Walter Parks Thatcher
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Matiste
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John, El Rancho headwaiter/newsreel jour
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Mr Rawlston
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Bertha Anderson
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James Kane
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Kane III
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Kane, aged 8
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Charles Foster Kane
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Solly
Al Eben (uncredited)
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Miss Townsend
Ellen Lowe (uncredited)
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entertainer
Charles Bennett (uncredited)
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Doctor Corey
Irving Mitchell (uncredited)
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Jennings
Joe Manz (uncredited)
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reporter
Alan Ladd (uncredited)
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reporter
Brandon, Harriet (uncredited)
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reporter
Jack Santoro (uncredited)
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reporter
Louise Currie (uncredited)
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reporter
Eddie Coke (uncredited)
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reporter
Walter Sande (uncredited)
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reporter
Arthur O'Connell (uncredited)
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reporter
Richard Wilson (uncredited)
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reporter
Katherine Trosper (uncredited)
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reporter
Milton Kibbee (uncredited)
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newsman
Bruce Sidney (uncredited)
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newspaper man
Lew Harvey (uncredited)
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reporter
Louis Natheaux (uncredited)
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Teddy Roosevelt
Thomas A. Curran (uncredited)
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civic leader
Edward Peil (uncredited)
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civic leader
Charles Meakin (uncredited)
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politician
Mitchell Ingraham (uncredited)
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politician
Francis Sayles (uncredited)
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maid
Louise Franklin (uncredited)
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nurse
Edith Evanson (uncredited)
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orchestra leader
Arthur Kay (uncredited)
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chorus master
Tudor Williams (uncredited)
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prompter
James Mack (uncredited)
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stagehand
Gohr Van Vleck (uncredited)
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stagehand
Jack Raymond (uncredited)
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city editor of Chicago Inquirer
Herbert Corthell (uncredited)
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hireling
Shimen Ruskin (uncredited)
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hireling
George Sherwood (uncredited)
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hireling
Eddie Cobb (uncredited)
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expressman
Olin Francis (uncredited)
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Ethel
Frances Neal (uncredited)
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photographer
Robert Dudley (uncredited)
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copy boy
Tim Davis (uncredited)
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copy boy
George Noisom (uncredited)
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chief printer
Jack Curtis (uncredited)
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investigator
Landers Stevens (uncredited)
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ward heeler
John Dilson (uncredited)
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ward heeler
Walter James (uncredited)
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Thatcher's secretary
Joe North (uncredited)
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Thatcher's secretary
William O'Brien (uncredited)
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housemaid
Dona Dax (uncredited)
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governess
Myrtle Rischell (uncredited)
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newswoman
Petra De Silva (uncredited)
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Gino, waiter at El Rancho
Gino Corrado (uncredited)
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Marie, French maid
Suzanne Dulier (uncredited)
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shadowgraph man
Major George C. McBride (uncredited)
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Jetsam
Karl Thomas (uncredited)
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Flotsam
Glen Turnbull (uncredited)
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Portuguese labourer
Harry J. Vejar (uncredited)
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general
Captain Garcia (uncredited)
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speaker at Union Square
Art Yeoman (uncredited)
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politician
Philip Morris (uncredited)
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gorilla man
Albert Frazier (uncredited)
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man
Guy Repp (uncredited)
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man
Buck Mack (uncredited)
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butler
Jack Morton (uncredited)
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bit
Edward Hemmer (uncredited)
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maid in Xanadu corridor
Carmen Laroux (uncredited)
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bit
Marie Day (uncredited)
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dubbed Dorothy Comingore singing
Jean Forward (uncredited)
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Credits
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Unknown:
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Director
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©
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Production Company
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Presents
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Producer
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Associate Producer
Richard Baer (uncredited)
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Editorial Supervisor
John Houseman (uncredited)
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Production Assistant
William Alland (uncredited)
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Production Assistant
Richard Wilson (uncredited)
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Assistant Director
Edward Donahue (uncredited)
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Assistant Director
Fred A. Fleck (uncredited)
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Continuity
Amalia Kent (uncredited)
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Screenplay
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Screenplay
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Director of Photography
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Camera Operator
Bert Shipman (uncredited)
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Assistant Camera
Eddie Garvin (uncredited)
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Camera for Early Makeup/Wardrobe Tests
Russell Metty (uncredited)
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Retakes/Additional Shooting
Harry J. Wild (uncredited)
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Gaffer
William J. McClellan (uncredited)
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Grip
Ralph Hoge (uncredited)
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Stills
Alexander Kahle (uncredited)
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Matte Artist
Mario Larrinaga (uncredited)
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Special Effects
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Effects Camera
Russell A. Cully (uncredited)
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Editor
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Montage Effects
Douglas Travers (uncredited)
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Assistant Editor
Mark Robson (uncredited)
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Art Director
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Art Director (Associate)
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Assistant Art Director
Hilyard Brown (uncredited)
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Set Decorator
Darrell Silvera (uncredited)
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Assistant Set Decorator
Al Fields (uncredited)
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Principal Sketch Artist
Charles Ohmann (uncredited)
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Sketches/Graphics
Al Abbott (uncredited)
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Sketches/Graphics
Claude Gillingwater Jr (uncredited)
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Sketches/Graphics
Albert Pyke (uncredited)
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Sketches/Graphics
Maurice Zuberano (uncredited)
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Property Manager
Charles Sayers (uncredited)
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Newspaper Props
Harry Reitz (uncredited)
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Costumes
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Wardrobe
Earl Leas (uncredited)
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Wardrobe
Margaret Van Horn (uncredited)
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Make-up
Maurice Seiderman (uncredited)
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Assistant Make-up
Layne Britton (uncredited)
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Make-up Department Head
Mel Berns (uncredited)
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Optical Printing
Linwood G. Dunn (uncredited)
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Music/Music Conductor
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'Charlie Kane' lyrics
Herman Ruby (uncredited)
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Dance Choreography
Arthur Appel (uncredited)
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Recorder
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Recorder
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Sound Department Head
John Aalberg (uncredited)
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Boom Operator
Jimmy Thompson (uncredited)
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Sound Effects
Harry Essman (uncredited)
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Publicity for Mercury Theatre
Herbert Drake (uncredited)
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General Press Representative
Barret McCormick (uncredited)
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