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Article: The Story Behind `Citizen Kane'; HBO Film Traces Struggle Between Welles, Hearst
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- November 14, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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Around the movie lot, RKO 281 was code for the 281st film on the
RKO production slate.
But by the time it was completed and released in 1941 under the
title "Citizen Kane," the film would enjoy anything but the anonymity
of a number.
Even before it was released, the movie was at the center of a test
of wills, influence and power between its creator, Orson Welles, and
the man whose life was exposed in the film's storyline, publisher
William Randolph Hearst.
The conflict and controversy that surrounded the film is examined
in an HBO Pictures docudrama, "RKO 281," Saturday at 8 p.m. on the
pay cable channel. The film in question, "Citizen Kane," which the
American Film Institute voted the top ...