Citizen Kane, a widely acclaimed film by actor and director Orson Welles, premiered.

Citizen Kane is a 1941 American drama film directed by, produced by and starring Orson Welles and co-written by Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz. It was Welles's first feature film. The quasi-biographical film examines the life and legacy of Charles Foster Kane, played by Welles, a composite character based on American media barons William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer, Chicago tycoons Samuel Insull and Harold McCormick, as well as aspects of the screenwriters' own lives.

This is a list of films voted the best in national and international surveys of critics and the public.

George Orson Welles was an American director, actor, writer, producer, and magician who is remembered for his innovative work in film, radio, and theatre. He is considered among the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time.