Is Citizen Kane the most written-about film in history?

It’s certainly plausible, at least in academic arenas: blustery, jargon-strewn essays leap from the pages of pretty much any film theory text your nearest groaning library shelf or bandwidth-guzzling database has to offer.

It’s also possibly the most lied-about film in history, in the sense that it often appears cheekily high up on lists of ‘movies we say we’ve seen’.

Fair enough, too: we're talking about one of the very few films to be credited with such near-parodic levels of cultural importance, admitting to not having seen it feels like turning up at the ambassador’s reception wearing a barrel held up with braces.

Whichever Kane camp you fall into - and let’s face it, most of us are likely to be squatting somewhere in between - we've all heard an awful lot about the movie itself.

What we're interested in here is a bit of background info; a handy leg-up to potential pub quiz glory. How did the project first come about, and who were the major players in the saga leading up to it?

Indeed, what exactly was the story behind Citizen Kane?

Next: Too much, too soon?