Citizen Kane 1941

Edwin Schallert, Los Angeles Times: It can be classified as, in a number of aspects, one of the most arresting pictures ever produced. Read more

Bosley Crowther, New York Times: Citizen Kane is far and away the most surprising and cinematically exciting motion picture to be seen here in many a moon. As a matter of fact, it comes close to being the most sensational film ever made in Hollywood. Read more

Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader: It is still the best place I know of to start thinking about Welles -- or for that matter about movies in general. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: More than a great movie; it is a gathering of all the lessons of the emerging era of sound. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Fifty years after its release, Citizen Kane still seems richer, bolder, more spectacularly alive than any other film of the studio-system era. Regardless of how many times you've seen Orson Welles' 1941 masterpiece, it always feels like the first time. Read more

Richard Brody, New Yorker: An ecstasy of light and shadow, of clashing textures and graphic forms, such as hadn't been seen since the silent era. Read more

Kate Cameron, New York Daily News: Some day, and the time won't be long in arriving, Welles will be the greatest director in Hollywood. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Motion picture archives and collections across the world would be poorer without copies of this film, which will forever be recognized as a defining example of American cinema. Read more

TIME Magazine: It is a work of art created by grown people for grown people. Read more

Tom Milne, Time Out: A film that gets better with each renewed acquaintance. Read more

Ben Walters, Time Out: Many of the novel techniques Welles developed with cinematographer Gregg Toland were calculated to offer new angles on film space. Read more

John C. Flinn Sr., Variety: Welles has found the screen as effective for his unique showmanship as radio and the theatre. Read more