AFI - CITIZEN KANE NAMED TOP US FILM

Citizen Kane has retained its American title as the best film of all time.

A jury of more than 1,500 film artists, critics and historians voted for Orson Welles' story of an unscrupulous media baron in a poll for the American Film Institute (AFI).

The 100 greatest movies of all time were revealed by the AFI yesterday in a television special hosted by Oscar winning actor Morgan Freeman on the CBS network.

Citizen Kane – the 1941 film written and directed by its main star Welles – pipped The Godfather to the number one spot.

The epic 1972 gangster movie climbed to second place after being ranked third in the original AFI poll when it was conducted a decade ago.

Meanwhile the 1942 love story Casablanca slipped from second to third place.

Raging Bull, Singin' in the Rain, Gone with the Wind, Lawrence of Arabia, Schindler's List, Vertigo and the Wizard of Oz also made the top ten.

But the top 100 poll was dominated by old classics, with just four out of 43 eligible films released between 1996 and 2006 making the grade.

The Lords of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, Saving Private Ryan, The Sixth Sense and Titanic were the only new releases, which qualified for inclusion in the AFI chart, to be ranked.

Steven Spielberg was the most prolific director in the list, with five of his films recognised in the poll.

Commenting on the results, AFI president Jean Picker Firstenberg said: "American film has always reflected and, in many respects, defined who we are.

"But like all art forms, our perceptions of the movies change over time," she added.