Citizen Kane

Citizen Kane (1941) — watch online on iFILM the film Orson Welles wrote, directed, and starred in at age 25. A journalist is assigned to find out what "Rosebud" meant to Charles Foster Kane, a media baron who just died alone in his Florida fortress. One word, no witnesses, and a life that somehow turned enormous wealth into total isolation.

The investigation moves through newsreels, diaries, and reluctant interviews. Jedediah Leland (Joseph Cotten), Kane's oldest friend, remembers a man who started out wanting to give the poor a voice and ended up buying elections instead. His ex-wife recalls a different story. So does his business manager. None of the accounts add up to the same person.

Cinematographer Gregg Toland developed a deep-focus technique for this RKO production that let foreground and background stay sharp in the same frame — a method filmmakers were still borrowing decades later. Stream Citizen Kane (1941) in full on iFILM.