Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #411 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-01-05
• Rating: Universal, suitable for all
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Black & White, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 136 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Arguably the greatest of American films, Orson Welles' 1941 masterpiece, made when he was only 26, still unfurls like a dream and carries the viewer along the mysterious currents of time and memory to reach a mature (if ambiguous) conclusion: people are the sum of their contradictions and can't be known easily. Welles plays newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane, taken from his mother as a boy and made the ward of a rich industrialist. The result is that every well-meaning or tyrannical or self-destructive move he makes for the rest of his life appears in some way to be a reaction to that deeply wounding event. Written by Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz, and photographed by Gregg Toland, the film is the sum of Welles's awesome ambitions as an artist in Hollywood. He pushes the limits of then-available technology to create a true magic show, a visual and aural feast that almost seems to be rising up from a viewer's subconscious. As Kane, Welles even ushers in the influence of Bertolt Brechton film acting. This is truly a one-of-a-kind work, and in many ways is still the most modern of modern films this century. --Tom Keogh

Synopsis
In his mansion house in the middle of his sprawling Florida estate, newspaper tycoon Charles Foster Kane utters 'Rosebud', his last word before dying. No one has the first clue as to the meaning of the word and so reporter, Jerry Thompson, is assigned the task of finding out the meaning of the word. Thompson interviews Foster's friends, family and work colleagues to discover the truth...

Customer Reviews

Great 2-disc set
A couple of the negative reviews on this page are actually referring to a very poor earlier DVD; yet Amazon (in their wisdom) have posted them on this page! Finding the best DVD (or the best copy for the money) is tricky enough without mixing the reviews up. It looks like they've posted the wrong product details as well. For the record, I'm talking about the NTSC R1 two-disc with a gold band at the top. The picture is a great improvement on earlier editions (at least one of which had sync problems, too). There's a lot more detail visible and with a film shot in gorgeous, deep-focus B&W that makes a big difference!

Flawed DVD publication
It goes without saying that this movie is a 20th century masterpiece from a cinematic and dramatic genius. Being a film that undoubtedly gains through repeated viewing it would seem a natural for the new digital medium. However this DVD release is marred by the quality of the print which looks like it could do with some serious restoration but more importantly by the abysmal quality of the DVD digitisation. It appears suspiciously as though this disc was produced from a 30 fps NTSC video master and standards converted to 25 fps PAL frame rates, badly. Consequently the viewer is almost constantly aware throughout the movie of the 'jaggies' caused by the TV interlace which is very prominent on edges, excessively so during movement. Frankly this not good enough for a 35mm movie of this importance and particularly so on a high priced DVD. It's release in this condition would seem at best cynical and at worst insulting to both the audience and the work of a great filmic artist. As if to underline the cheapskate nature of this release the disc lacks any additional supporting material in the form of interviews and documentary footage. This is all the more bizarre given this was such a controversial movie and one which led to the dramatic and untimely end of the directors Hollywood career. If you're a fan or even an ordinary movie goer and think you're going to enjoy the benefits of digital quality with this magnificent film you'll probably be disappointed. If it wasn't for the power of the movie story telling this disc would be practically unwatchable. Looks like the money grubbing bean counters have won out once again. Disgraceful.

Great film, abysmal DVD
The R2 version of Citizen Kane - the one with the yellow cover - has to be one of the worst DVDs ever. There's no extras, aside from the (rather good) trailer, and the picture and sound quality is truly awful.

For example, there's a scene near the end, where Kane as an old man is walking down a long flight of stairs. I swear, he appears to jump a dozen stairs in one go. That's how bad the picture quality has been mangled.

If you've got a multi-region player, go for the R1 Special Edition instead. Picture and sound have been massively cleaned up (Kane now walks down ALL of those stairs!), plus there's some cracking extras too.