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Article: Citizen Kane. (motion picture)
- Article from:
- History Today
- Article date:
- March 1, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 History Today Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The production history of Citizen Kane reads like a film script. Unfettered by the constraints of the Hollywood studio system, a boy genius is granted his wish to produce a film without studio interference, hire his theatrical friends and use the best technicians in Hollywood. When Orson Welles signed his contract in July 1939 with RKO, one of Hollywood's major film studios, he was given final cut: complete control over what eventually appeared on screen, provided the film did not exceed a modest budget of $500,000.
This unusually generous contract was part of RKO's strategy to attract new talent and confer artistic respectability on a film industry which had ...