Friday, September 5, 1941. Citizen Kane.

Citizen Kane, which many film buffs and film critics regard as the greatest movie ever made, or the greatest American movie ever made, was released.

Of course, whether it's the greatest is something that is too subjective to really determine, but it is a great film to be sure, and the widely held view that it is the greatest cannot be discounted.  It's certainly the greatest Orson Welles film, and Welles was a great actor and director.

The film is a fictionalized account of the life of William Randolph Hearst with Welles in the central role, as the fictionalized version, Charles Foster Kane.  The film goes from Kane's infancy in Colorado, where his ambitious mother sends him off in the care of a financial adviser after her boozy husband strikes it rich in Colorado from gold, through his early life, onto a publishing career, and into a miserable adulthood.  It's not a flattering portrayal of Kane/Hearst, although it is a sympathetic one.  Be that as it may, it was flattering in a "great guy" sort of way, but in a "destroyed soul" sort of way, and Hearst really hated it.  His papers took up attacking Welles as a result.

It was Welles first feature film, and by far his best.  It was Joseph Cotten's best film as well, although he'd show up very favorably in Twelve O'Clock High.

If you have not seen it, and you like movies, you really owe it to yourself to see it.

On the same day, the B-17E made its first flight.

The E variant of the B-17 was the first one that took on its familiar form.  It was a larger airplane than the prior variants and was designed for offensive, not defensive, warfare.  Earlier US thinking on heavy bombers was really geared towards coastal defense. The focus was now switching towards continental offensive strategic bombing.

B-17E on New Caledonia.

On the same day, perhaps illustrating the points noted above, Royal Air Force B-17s unsuccessully attacked the German ship Adrimal Speer.

Both of the times above are also discussed here:

Today in World War II History—September 5, 1941

The SS drove 1,500 Jewish residents of Pavoloch, Ukraine to the local Jewish cemetery, made them dig their own graves, and murdered them.

On the same day, as noted in the Today In World War II History item noted above, the Soviet government evacuated residents of 12 years of age and younger from the city.

Elsewhere, all over the US, troops were training for a coming war which was obviously coming for all who had eyes to see, although many still hoped it wouldn't come.

 Camp Blanding, Florida, September 5, 1941.