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I wish he hadn’t used Citizen Kane as the example of brilliance.

He could have cited The Third Man, again one of the best movies ever made; the truly extraordinary Macbeth, with Wagnerian sets and an unparalleled use of shadow; Touch of Evil, the ultimate, perfect Film Noir.

This was a guy who truly understood film based in acting and voice, dialogue, plot, music, scenery, cinematography, and direction. Film as art, even with a small budget, survives; where the immense budget, special effects extravaganzas are forgotten in a fortnight.

Right now, Hollywood could be making ten times as much money if it was making films the way they were once made, instead of relying entirely on big budget, formulaic crap. A $10M movie that makes $50M is worth a lot more than a $200M extravaganza that brings in only $220M in its short life. Even if 19 out of 20 small budget movies fail, if that 1 in 20 hits, they are still more profitable than one big turkey.

Welles was able to obtain unprecedented artistic license from RKO when he did Citizen Kane. As a result, that film was all his, and it came out of nowhere to establish new film practices that are copied to this day. The other films you mentioned are indeed outstanding, but they weren't always Welles' films in every capacity. For example, he was in The Third Man (a masterpiece, to be sure) but it was produced and directed by Carol Reed and written by Graham Greene.

So Citizen Kane will always be Welles' most famous film and the one most cited when expounding upon his genius!