Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941) has been regarded as the best movie ever created. It is consistently being used as a comparison and the gold standard of films for many directors, actors, and producers. It has kept it’s novelty for decades after its release which proves that it is extremely well-known and difficult to top.

This film, Citizen Kane, was released by the famous studio “RKO” in 1941. In this time period, it wasn’t as well developed as modern studios are today. However, many films were not produced by large companies at this time, therefore the fact that this movie managed to be produced by a largely known studio already shows that it is significantly better than most movies released in this century. Sound was already introduced to the film- making world along with a start to incorporating in colours using the technicolour process famous to have been used in The Wizard of oz. However, this process was very expensive and so for a long duration film, like Citizen Kane, it was ultimately decided to leave it as black and white. This appeared to be a better choice for the film anyway because the contrast of lighting helped intrigue the viewer and displayed his changes throughout the film in terms of his money, physical health and his personality. The darkness at the end of the film foreshadows his death due to the drastic change of lighting contrast which creates a setting of sadness.

RKO had a beneficial impact on the film’s display and success. Cameras had been improved to create a better developed fluidity within the film in terms of movement. Not many films at the time were able to depend on these types of things. An example of this is during a scene at the beginning of the film, A camera moves from showing the front of a room, moves through a table in which it opens up, and then closes again to show the other side of the room after the camera comes out again. This was an impressive effect which allows the audience to appreciate the film much better compared to many other films. 

Overall, Citizen Kane was a masterpiece due to many reasons but mostly because of its incredibly well used and sophisticated technology and help from its studio system which made it very well-made for its time. Despite the film not being anywhere near as well-developed as films in this day and age, the studio systems still managed to portray a very amazing plot of the famous Charles Foster Kane. Its use of sound mixing, lighting, foreshadowing, and use of cameras lead it to be the most famous movie of all time.