Citizen Kane (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Probably the most unfortunate thing that ever happened to `Citizen Kane' was that it found itself atop the AFI top film list. Now, no one can simply enjoy the film. Everyone feels compelled to scrutinize it and make a decision about its greatness. Asking whether `Citizen Kane' is the best film of the century is like asking if Marilyn Monroe was the most beautiful woman. It depends on whom you ask.

`Citizen Kane' is not the most entertaining film I've ever seen, but it is certainly one of the most important. It is a vanguard motion picture and a gargantuan achievement for Orson Welles. If you consider the fact that Welles was a 24 year old Hollywood outsider who had only done radio and theater when he landed the contract for this film, you begin to appreciate what a big deal it was. This was during a time when a few studios controlled every film that was made. How many 24 year old actor/directors can you name today, even in a world where independents abound?

The story is based on the life of William Randolph Hearst. Writer Herman Mankiewicz had an up-close look at Hearst as he had been an occasional house guest at the Hearst mansion. The similarities were striking, right down to the paramour whose career Hearst promoted, who loved to do jigsaw puzzles. The fact that this film was released at all is a marvel in itself. Hearst went on a personal campaign to crush the film and enlisted every powerful friend he had to stop it. Louis B. Mayer offered RKO $800,000 to destroy the print. John D. Rockefeller ordered the Radio City premier cancelled. All of Hearst's newspapers were forbidden to mention the film.

Hollywood was uniformly against it and Welles was branded an insolent maverick. The film was snubbed by the Academy. It was nominated for 9 Oscars and won only best screenplay. The film turned out to be a commercial failure, losing $150,000. With all the forces stacked against it, we are lucky to be having this best film debate at all.

The story has a simple moral; that money and power can't buy happiness. We see Kane's progress from a happy child, to an idealistic young journalist intent on helping the common man, and finally to a bitter and angry old man whose innocence has slipped from him. One of the most effective scenes that illustrated this was the two minute overlay of breakfast conversations with his wife. It starts with cooing lovers and progresses through increasing levels of discord. It ends in silence with the two reading separate newspapers, her disdain for him subtly indicated by her choice of the hated Chronicle as her newspaper.

What is so remarkable about this film is the filmmaking. Director after director has pointed to some aspect of this film as having influenced them. The use of shadows and various perspective shots was not unprecedented in 1941, but never before had they been used with so much dramatic impact. What was unprecedented was that `Citizen Kane' was the first film ever to depart from the strict narrative format, which moves forward chronologically. The film starts at the end and jumps around in time based upon the perspective of the person who is telling his or her story about Kane. So the next time you see a flashback, remember it started here.

The makeup was revolutionary. Welles often went through four hours or more of makeup to be properly aged for each scene. The film also launched a number of brilliant careers. Besides Welles, Joseph Cotton and Agnes Moorehead went on to long and prominent film careers.

If `Citizen Kane' is not the best film of the century it is certainly one of them. Its influence on a generation of filmmakers cannot be ignored in the equation. People who watch this film and ask, "What's the big deal?" are comparing it with modern films that have borrowed from this film's techniques and undergone 60 years of evolution. It's like going back to Kitty Hawk and saying, "What's the big deal, the flight only lasted a few seconds."

There is only one rating to give to a film of such monumental importance. It is the consummate 10.

This is a great DVD set for any fan of Citizen Kane... it was ranked best film of all time by AFI. It was also nominated for 9 academy awards and won for best original screenplay. This box set includes 3 discs as I have listed below...

Disk #1 - Citizen Kane (the Feature Length Film including the Movie Premiere Newsreel, Rare Production Photographs, Storyboards, and more)

Disk #2 - The Battle Over Citizen Kane (the Academy Award Nominated Feature Length Documentary detailing the bitter struggle between film director Orson Welles and newspaper magnate, William Randolph Hearst)

Disk #3 - RKO 281 (Golden Globe Nominee for Best Mini-Series, Best Actor, and Best Actress, this HBO drama is filled with exciting performances from some of Hollywood's greatest stars)

In addition, this box set includes a collectible senitype with an image from the motion picture and its corresponding 35mm film frame. Plus, a 16-page commemorative booklet is included that also features images from the motion picture.

The one negative about this box set is that (although you see it in Amazon.com's picture)... the theatrical poster is not included. I suppose this is because it would have to be folded and then would not be in good condition for framing or hanging. Therefore, they include a "free" mail-in offer to get it sent to you... the catch... there is a shipping and handling charge. I was disappointed by what I consider to be an outrageous shipping fee, especially after shelling out the $$$ to buy this set.

I still gave this set 5-stars because it is such a great movie!

I had no intention of writng a review, but after reading several I couldn't stop myself.

It seems like most of the people here are falling into two camps, the "Film Snobs" and the " Folks whose brains have been rotted by MTV, etc..."

The comments of the"MTV people" seem to be typified by this quote I picked from out of many bad reviews: "Maybe you intellectual, artsy types go for this, but give me Star Wars any day!"

Where the "Snobs" counter back with:

"I cannot think of another film which so challenges the viewer time and time again. I still pick up little nuances, incredible effects and camara angles, and overlapping dialog on subsesquent showings. Gregg Toland's camerawork is justifiably among the most memorable in film."

Oh boy!

I, of course believe Citizen Kane is a great film, but I believe both sides in this argument are missing the point.

I really wish those who defended this movie spoke about it in human terms, rather then talk about the camera work, or Welles' age or it's "impact" on film history.

It is great because (if you let it)it will tell you a deeply emotional story.

It is no accident that the very first and very last image of the film are the same. A locked gate with a sign that says,"No Trespassing." For in this movie, Kane is a guy with a virtual "no trespassing" sign around his neck. He is a man who wants so deeply to control those around him, to FORCE them to love him, that he allows nobody close. He essentially locks out all hope of love!

Give it a chance...don't expect Star Wars. Pay no attention to the camera work and special effects, they are beside the point. Welles is talking about the very saddest, deepest, loneliest part of us all...you might find something to relate to....if you are patient.

Don't buy this version of Citizen Kane. 1.) Two of the DVDs come stacked on top of each other, something Warner Brothers (the makers of the regular and collector's version) highly do not recommend. 2.) Hairline cracks: my first copy came with hairline cracks in the feature disc and with severe cracks in one of the supplemental discs; my second copy came with hairline cracks in one of the supplemental discs; again Warner Brothers themselves warned me not to play a disc with hairline cracks. 3.) Within 5 minutes of buying this version the glue on the box failed and it started to fall apart.
I thought the problem was with Warner Brothers, but they disowned any connection to the gold version. Save yourself the headache and just get the special edition version and not the Gold.

I have just been going through the poor reviews of this film, and I would like to respond.

(1) If you approach this film as the greatest movie of all time, you are bound to be disappointed. With expectations that high, what film could possibly match up? Expectations are everything. I try very hard to be noncommittal when recommending a movie I love to my friends so that they can approach it with limited expectations.

(2) The film is 60 years old. If you dislike black-and-white, or are unwilling to make some adjustments for older styles of acting, etc., it's not for you.

(3) I don't think it's a very lovable film. It is simply not the kind of old movie that sweeps us away emotionally like, say, Casablanca. We watch these characters from outside; we're not really invited to empathize with them much.
It's not surprising that those reviewers who cite Gone With the Wind as the greatest American movie, with all its romance and emotion, are outraged that the AFI selected Kane over it.

(4) We all have our favorite movies. Saying one movie is the "best" is a silly sort of game anyway. I'd bet that most of the 5-star reviewers could name movies that are as much or more a personal favorite than Kane.... I can not think of a movie that I think is superior to Kane in craftsmanship.

(5) Yes, Kane does take concentration and alertness to follow. One of the key motifs is a jigsaw puzzle, and the film is definitely constructed that way. To those who love it, the intricate structure is a source of endless enjoyment. But if you just want to kick back and let the movie do all your work for you, this is not the film.

To sum up, I first saw this movie several years ago, with extremely high expectations, and felt let down. I received the excellent DVD for a Christmas present. I approached the movie with lukewarm expectations based on my previous experience and was totally knocked out! It truly is a brilliant film, but try to approach it as just another movie. Forget all the "best American movie"... If you are the sort of person who is able to appreciate a 60-year-old, black-and-white movie that is emotionally cool but artistically stimulating, you're in for a treat!

I was pretty shocked, listening to Roger Ebert's commentary, on how much special effects played a role in creating Citizen Kane. Citizen Kane is as contrived as anything in Star Wars, states Ebert in a great feature length commentary that touches on just about everything from the revolutionary deep focus film techniques to amusing on-screen gaffs by some of the actors. There is also a commentary by Welles biographer and director Peter Bogdanovich, which is similar to Ebert's although not quite as engaging and enthusiastic as the plump critics'. Listening to Ebert is like sitting down in your favorite class with your favorite professor...I love the guy and his commentary is one of the reasons I bought the disc.

The actual movie looks beautiful. The engineers did a great job in transferring the film to digital form and the picture is bright and brimming with detail. And if you consider the fact that I use RCA cables rather than S-video let alone component video with progressive scan, it emphasizes how beautifully the film has been remastered.

The package also contains an extra disc with the 2-hour long documentary "The Battle over Citizen Kane." The program gives an in depth look at both Orson Welles and William Randolph Hearst and how the controversy surrounding Citizen Kane was as epic, influential and far reaching as the film itself. The discs also boast some interesting special features. One section reveals some letters written to Welles documenting initial reaction to the film from fans and studio heads as well as some nice still shots of the Citizen Kane premier and the deleted brothel scene.

Besides the fact that the beautifully transferred movie is superior entertainment, the commentaries and documentary disc make it a superior educational experience as well. I have a pretty large DVD collection of around 100 titles or so and I know quality when I see it. Citizen Kane Special Edition delivers and no DVD collection should be without it!

A lot of the reviews here stew over Citizen Kane's place in history, its watchability for people who aren't film buffs, and all that. I'd come down on the side of this being an amazingly well-written, engaging movie, myself. Hey, I was one of those skeptics when I first saw Kane, but it's a great story, told in a really winning way, with fantastic acting and a real sense of honesty to everything about it.

Even leaving that alone, though -- wow, does this DVD ever understand what makes you want a DVD.

First of all, the image transfer is astonishingly clean. If you have an old tape of this movie, you're going to sit up in your chair three or four times and realize you never even saw this or that whole scene before; the images are that much clearer than your bleary old VHS copy. It has that visual zing that you get from really good DVDs.

Then there are the extras. You get a whole extra two hours' worth of the American Experience episode, which is extremely satisfying entertainment for anyone who's ever liked a televised biography. (American Experience bios are sometimes breathtakingly good, and this is a superb example.) You get original storyboards for scenes. You get letters from Orson Welles. You get studio memos from the censors. You get production photos. The two soundtracks' worth of commentary are quite different, complementing each other well, and both of them are good fun. (I wish Roger Ebert could stop talking long enough to breathe, or that the sound balance was a little lower [or less consistent] on him during his soundtrack, but he has a lot to offer.)

If you're on the fence, Kane is absolutely worth buying in this form. The only DVD I've been quite this impressed by is the Criterion Collection version of The Third Man, for similar reasons: superb restoration; loads of fun extras; and a dazzling, classic, complex and satisfying movie to begin with.

This isn't my personal favorite film, but I certainly understand why many people revere it as the greatest. There's no denying the expressive way it uses the resources of the medium, the great power of the tragic story (which penetrates deeply into both human nature and American civilization), and the film's tremendous influence on other directors. As an example of the last point, think of how Lawrence of Arabia is structured: it begins with the protagonist's death, then jumps to a reporter trying to reconstruct the great but flawed man's story, and finally works its way at the end back to the man's death. Sound familiar? Yes, there are good reasons why professional directors and critics have voted this the greatest film, not only in the AFI poll, but also in the international Sight & Sound poll in 1962, 1972, 1982, 1992, 2002 . . .

One thing I find brilliant about this movie is the central metaphor of the jigsaw puzzle. We see Susan Alexander Kane working them at Xanadu, and the reporter Thompson makes a reference to one at the very end. Clearly, the structure of the film is like a jigsaw puzzle, with Thompson (and the viewer) trying to put the pieces together. In that sense it's a mystery story, but not a "whodunnit." Rather, it's an attempt to reconstruct one man's life. There's a piece of the puzzle missing that only the viewer (not Thompson) gets to see. But does it explain everything? Thompson doesn't think it would, and I think I agree with him. It's suggestive, but in the end there's "No Trespassing" on the secret life of another.

I'll just make a few quick comparisons with "the competition." Some of my criteria for "greatness" will be explicit, some implicit. These, of course, are just my opinions, but that's what this forum is for: to exchange opinions. First, I think a great film isn't merely escapist; it has to give us some insight into our reality, just as a great work of literature does. For that reason, I'll drop popular favorites such as Wizard of Oz, It's a Wonderful Life, Star Wars, E.T., etc. out of the running. Delightful as they are, they don't offer a whole lot to mature, reality-based interests. Casablanca? It features a wonderful script and acting, but the direction is nothing special and certainly not innovative. It's a great film if you want "a good story," but it doesn't offer much in the way of sustenence for the mind or cinematic artistry. The American films that compete most directly with Kane in terms of sheer cinematic brilliance, such as Vertigo and 2001, are genre pictures with fantastic elements; they don't go to the heart of American civilization the way Kane does. Ultimately, I don't think they offer as much, even though they offer quite a lot. So what other film combines cinematic brilliance with thematic depth in such generous helpings? The "New American" films of the late 60s and 70s give one a lot to pick from and certainly dig deep into the American experience. Bonnie and Clyde, Chinatown, and the first two Godfathers are all obviously great films, but all belong to clearly defined genres (gangster picture, film noir) instead of transcending genre the way Kane does. And their view of life is more bleak and one-sided than Kane's is. To my way of thinking, they aren't as grand or as generous. The constraints of genre also apply to the great musicals like Singin' in the Rain and the great westerns like My Darling Clementine and The Searchers (which are very great pictures indeed!). Nashville, The Last Picture Show, Taxi Driver, and Raging Bull transcend genre and explore complex American realities. But their subject matter is more limited and less universal (country music, small-town life, urban psychosis, boxing) than Kane's (politics, business, media). And one-sided bleakness is again a limitation with so many of the better films from that era, which lack the comic and nostalgic elements of Kane. It has been mostly downhill since, as we enter the age of spectacle over substance. I might pick Raging Bull as #2 for its stunning and uncompromising brilliance, but LaMotta is a dwarf of a human compared to Kane--a truly great man (externally) and a fit subject for tragedy. He's an American equivalent, if you will, of a Shakespearean antihero: articulate, charismatic, self-conscious, and deeply flawed. Kane, by my estimate, not only surpasses the competition in terms of cinematic and thematic qualities (i.e., human interest), but it also has one of the great screenplays and an original one at that--not a mere literary adaptation like Gone with the Wind, Grapes of Wrath, etc. etc. Then, add to that an innovative flashback narrative, a great cast of characters played by some first-rate actors, one of the great scores (by the very great Bernard Herrmann), and some phenomenal make-up artistry (Welles himself is aged so convincingly, it has held up completely over the years--give credit here to his immense acting ability as well). So there you have a few reasons why I agree with those who rank Citizen Kane #1 among American films. Actually, if the studio hadn't butchered The Magnificent Ambersons (Welles's next project) it would probably be the toughest competition: Welles himself thought it was the better picture. But in its diminished form I don't think it can be considered as great, wonderful as its fragments undeniably are. Is Kane a "thinking person's film"? Yep. The more you think about it and analyze it, the more you'll get out of it. But it has a huge heart too, and that's what keeps us coming back.