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Film critics pick the 50 best movies of all time

From film critics Gail Kinn and Jim Piazza's new book 'The Greatest Movies Ever,' their picks for the 50 greatest films

2. 'Citizen Kane'

  • By Molly Driscoll

Orson Welles' 1941 film with its "breakneck pace, its play with every conceivable camera angle, its inventive use of shadows, dissolves, deep focus, ceiling shots, overlapping dialogue, and a cacophony of offscreen sounds combine into a film masterpiece unlike any other," write Kinn and Piazza.

According to Turner Classic Movies, director and star Welles cut his hands open during the scene in which he breaks things in his wife Susan's room after she leaves, and Welles injured his ankle during a scene in which Kane runs down a staircase after Boss Gettys.

Welles spoke to the New York Times about the possibility that "Kane" was based on the life of William Randolph Hearst. According to TCM, Welles said, "[The movie] is not based upon the life of Mr. Hearst or anyone else. On the other hand, had Mr. Hearst and similar financial barons not lived during the period we discuss, Citizen Kane could not have been made."

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Mark Sappenfield
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