Though other films have entered the conversation over the years, it’s largely been two in particular that have dominated the debate over the greatest movie of all time. A large swath of experts and fans will say it can only be Casablanca, while others will try to ᴀssign that highly coveted тιтle to Citizen Kane.
It’s interesting that the two movies at the forefront of this discussion were released just a year apart. In 1941, Orson Welles directed, wrote and co-starred in Citizen Kane, which was instantly hit with critical acclaim. It was handed a long list of Oscar nominations and won for one (Best Original Screenplay), but ultimately didn’t take home the main prize – Best Picture.
A year later, Warner Bros. paired Humphrey Bogart with Ingrid Bergman for an epic, wartime romance, and under the helm of Michael Curtiz, it too was a mᴀssive hit. Casablanca earned some impressive accolades of its own. It picked up three Oscar wins, including Best Picture, succeeding where Citizen Kane had failed.
Despite that, Citizen Kane’s popularity endured, and even seemed to surge after its release, to a point where it’s frequently cited by several notable filmmakers, not to mention hordes of critics and fans alike, as the greatest film ever made. Of course, it has plenty of compeтιтion, not the least of which is Casablanca.
The Case For Citizen Kane As The Greatest Movie Ever Made
Orson Welles created a masterpiece when he made Citizen Kane. It had a wonderful cast, with the director himself putting in a compelling, tortured performance as Charles Foster Kane. It used a unique format to tell his story, having a reporter played by Joseph Cotton unravel the tale through his investigations, which led to a slew of flashbacks from multiple perspectives, weaved together brilliantly by the filmmaker.
Fundamentally, storytelling is only a small part of what made Citizen Kane work so well. A bigger part of it was the various ideas that went into Orson Welles’ directing approach, such as his use of lighting, shadows, and different types of cuts.
Admittedly, many had been employed in the past, but Citizen Kane delivered the complete package, combining all these creative directing techniques to supplement the tone and emotions it was working to convey to the viewer. Everything that it was able to wrap into one film has a lot to do with the reputation its held for so long.
The Case For Casablanca As The Greatest Movie Ever Made
The case for Casablanca as the greatest movie ever stands in stark contrast to the main arguments made for Casablanca. Michael Curtiz naturally gets a lot of the credit for his directing, but there are multiple facets of the film that make it the classic that it is. Ultimately what it boils down to is the story; the love story of Rick and Ilsa is beautifully told, and sets up one of the best movie endings in Hollywood’s history.
Casablanca builds an incredible character arc for Rick Blaine, whom Humphrey Bogart effectively – and quite unforgettably – portrays as a cynical, self-centered and bitter nightclub owner. He even considers letting his resentment toward his ex-girlfriend keep him from helping a war hero escape the Nazis.
But in despite of his clear character flaws, Rick Blaine – helped in large part to some classic one-liners, still manages to come across as likable, which is a testament to Bogart’s acting, the script, and Curtiz’s directing.
Casablanca develops his story perfectly, showing Rick Blaine defying his worst impulses to make a truly selfless decision and one that even enables the woman he loves to go off with another man.
How he gets to this point is filled with some amazing moments, including a dramatic sequence where a quietly brooding Rick drinks away his sorrows, a great example of a movie finding a way to impress an idea on the viewer through visual means and the power of acting rather than words.
Casablanca Holds Up Much Better Than Citizen Kane
Looking at the overall body of work presented by both films, it’s fair to say that Casablanca has held up better than Citizen Kane. After all, a big part of Citizen Kane’s legacy stems from its status as an innovator. It was tremendously impactful, with Martin Scorcese, Steven Spielberg, Sergio Leone, and Ridley Scott all being among the legion of directors to cite it as an influence on their work.
Filmmakers learned a great deal from what Orson Welles accomplished with Citizen Kane, given that many of the techniques ᴀssociated with the cinematography of his film have since become mainstream. As an unfortunate consequence of this, Citizen Kane may not feel as special or unique to someone watching for the first time in 2025 than it did in 1941.
This speaks to the idea that even though Citizen Kane is a truly great film, a substantial portion of its longstanding appeal stems from its significance to the industry and cinematic history as a whole. This may make Citizen Kane the single most important or influential movie ever made, but perhaps not the greatest of all time.
In that regard, Casablanca has a stronger case. Casablanca’s spectacular cast and emotionally gripping story, not to mention its mulтιтude of iconic moments, lend a great sense of timelessness to Michael Curtiz’s movie. It’s true that it didn’t have the broad influence that Citizen Kane had, but from top to bottom, Casablanca is the better film with a superior set of characters and a more engaging storyline.
