Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #213 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-01-05
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Black & White, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 136 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The most acclaimed film in cinema history, Citizen Kane receives extra bolstering each time it tops a "greatest films ever" list. As a piece of filmmaking it ticks all the right boxes: a precociously talented director and lead actor in Orson Welles, Gregg Toland's innovative cinematography, a strong screenplay by Welles and Herman J Mankiewicz, rich scoring from Bernard Herrmann, and so on. For its time, it was technically groundbreaking, and laid out a blueprint for Hollywood filmmaking that's still influential. But, most importantly, as a viewing experience it's still one of the most mesmerising and beautiful films in existence. From its opening scenes--Kane's eerie Gothic mansion, his lone figure muttering the word "Rosebud" as he dies, journalists discussing the newsreel footage of his obituary--Kane lays out an enigma: who exactly was this man? Looping flashbacks build up a portrait of a contradictory figure who, despite living in the public eye, remained a mystery at heart.

A testament to the corrupting influence of money, fame and the media and at its centre the tale of a man in search of love, Citizen Kane is a personal tragedy on an epic scale. Technically, it's a lesson in filmmaking in itself whose daring aesthetics nonetheless remain unobtrusive. It's doubtful that a debut director will ever be given such free reign by a studio again and even if this happened, it's doubtful that such a masterpiece would be created.

On the DVD: Citizen Kane in this DVD special edition is beautifully remastered and comes with a feature illustrating the before and after of the restoration process. A 50-minute documentary, "Anatomy of a Classic", hosted by Barry Norman, delves into the making of the film as well as trying to deal with some of the myths that surround it, like the (untrue) rumour that Welles ran over both time and budget. Film historian Ken Barnes takes over for a commentary and Welles himself is featured in his controversial 1938 radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds and 1945 broadcast of The Happy Prince. A photo gallery, extensive cast and crew profiles, breakdown of all the films expenses and trailer round off this admirable package.--Laura Bushell

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!

The most influential movie ever made
Last year, the American Film Institue released their second poll declaring the 100 Greatest Films ever made. Citizen Kane, for the second time around, came in at number 1. After watching, one doesn't have any trouble seeing why it was voted as the greatest film of all time. The acting, particularly from Orson Welles, who at 27 did a performance which spanned six decades, is remarkable. The cinematography, editing and music too are astonshing. However, it is the way that through it you can see a wide range of techniques used in lots of films following it that makes watching it an experience, not a way of passing the time.

Beyond the cult, the myth
The natural question ,we have to wonder about when watching this film, in its new splendor after restoration, is whether Orson Welles did not try to make a movie about himself. He sure did. I would even say it is a posthumous autobiography in prospective expectation. It is an American film about America and the Americans. The grandiose grandeur of those who are dreaming America into being and the petty narrow-mindedness of those who are only defending their own interests. Which tribe is most important? No one can know. The dreamers get isolated and lonely, at times in the golden heart of wealth and money. The self-centered ones just cut the cake and are very careful to give a very thin slice to others and an enormous slice to themselves. Then they all die sooner or later and only the dreamers survive. The others disappear in the darkness of hell, the underworld of forgotten anti-history. But this film reveals, and at the time it was probably scandalous, the power of the press as for building public opinion and the absurdity of the Americans as for forbidding politicians to have a normal private life, I mean the right to have a private life of their own and only their own. The tragic dimension of this character is that he is trapped by the very first, the power of the press he had used tremendously and had even boosted up in incredible proportions, with his very private life. Then the rest is only vanity and vain pretence: he tried to prove what he did not have to prove and he used other people to do so, particularly his second wife, which led to the end of the dream that had turned into a nightmare with a brain stroke and death. One can only prove what is really real and not what is virtually eventually maybe possible. Then of course we have to admire the technique of this film and the marvelous black and white finish and gloss. We also have to point out the film is renewing the genre of the biography of a great man by creating some mystery around one word, "rosebud", which probably has no value at all and is there to make us look at the pictures and images with a more attentive eye, as if we were supposed to be private eyed sleuths. Some say this film is a masterpiece and they must be nearly right. They would be totally right if they said it is one of the few masterpieces of the war years, the years that needed some boosting of the Americans and America. Orson Welles did it with a big tongue in his vast cheek, but probably had more positive effect than all the propaganda films that were filmed by second grade "directors", if they can be at times called directors at all.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines