The greatest American tragedy

Rating: 10/10 (15 June 1999)

Although Kane did not top my personal list (it lost a photo finish to Casablanca), it is easy for me to see how it tops so many others. Although its technical aspects have long since been surpassed, you must remember that, like any great piece of art, Kane cannot be removed from its place in time. It is not terribly difficult to create a fake Picasso, for example, but the original has value because of the vision of the artist, not the brush strokes themselves. Welles was certainly not lacking in vison for Kane. What further separates Kane from the pack is its strong acting and great tragedy; that of a man that achieved great wealth, power, and fame, was destroyed by it and on his deathbed yearns for the simple life of his youth that was later denied to him.