Customer Reviews

Citizen Kane: 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition [Blu-ray]

5 star:		(221)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(30)

 

 

In June 1998, on a much-publicized list, the American Film Institute named "Citizen Kane" America's Greatest Movie, sparking a controversy that rages to this day. Since then, when people watch "Citizen Kane", they've been analyzing it and dissecting to see why it made the list. They completely have forgotten what made it so great.

I am one of those who think any greatest movie list is ridiculous (Though, if asked to, I would make up a list). How can you judge the greatness of movies by ranking them 1,2,3? And what would you judge them by? Entertainment or artistic value? That is why most critics, when they make "greatest" lists, rank them alphabetically. However, I believe the best way is for a person to have several favorite movies and, if they are asked what is their favorite, they can name one of those. But they should also know why. "Citizen Kane" is one of these I would name because it's so creative. Every scene is a delight to watch in terms of cinematography, lighting, sound, writing, music or acting. Almost the entire cast was in their film debuts. Orson Welles, Joe Cotton, Everett Sloane, Agnes Moorehead, Dorothy Comingore, Ruth Warrick, Ray Collins, Erskine Sanford, William Alland, Paul Stewart and George Coulouris are all excellent and most would have long, productive careers. It's difficult to name who is the best, but I think that Cotton (For his talk to Mr. Kane while drunk), Sloane (For his speech about the girl with the white dress) and Moorehead (For her scenes at the boarding house) were the best.

My favorite quote from the movie comes early, in the newspaper office scene between Welles and Coulouris. Here, after being asked by Coulouris "Is this really your idea of how to run a newspaper?!" Welles remarks "I don't know how to run a newspaper, Mr. Thatcher, I just try everything I can think of". As stated before, Welles and almost everyone else involved had no previous film experience, yet had been landed a huge contract to have full creative control on a movie. Much of Hollywood was envious at this and looked down upon Welles, hoping he would fail. However, Welles and company took advantage of any thing they had and doing anything and everything they could think of in the movie. No idea was too large or too small. One example was with the plot device, the last word of Charles Foster Kane called "Rosebud".

Film Critic Pauline Kael once called "Rosebud" a gimmick. Admittedly, this is correct. It seems to explain everything, but really doesn't explain a thing. What makes the movie's story so great though is that it gives us the inside on a rich and famous celebrity, the kind we are always interested in. Rosebud is the key of newsreel reporter Jerry Thompson (Alland), as well as ours, to unlocking the life of Charles Kane. Contrary to some statements, we really never sympathize with him during the story since he is a jerk. He uses people to his own advantage and kicks anyone around who gets in his way. Nevertheless, his story is fascinating. The screenplay by Welles and Herman Mankiewicz (Surprisingly, the film's only Oscar winner) was one of the first to take liberties in the plot. It doesn't have a linear narrative, but rather jumps from interview to interview, from event to event. Gaps made by one interview are filled by another and oftentimes a new gap is created.

However, there are other elements that make the film work. In addition, there is the photography of Gregg Toland (The only major team member with previous film experience), the film editing courtesy of Robert Wise (Who would become a great director in his own right), and the sound created by Bailey Fesler and James G. Stewart. One must also cite Maurice Seiderman's makeup work, which convincingly makes many of the actors look aged. In fact, some of the actors would resemble their older characters in later years (Compare Welles's appearance as the older Mr. Kane with his Detective Quinlan in 1958's "Touch of Evil"). Blend all these elements together, allow to bake and you got a great movie. Even after 60+ years of age, the movie is still as fresh and entertaining as though it were made yesterday, just as it will be 60 years from now.

If you decide to watch the movie for the first time, do not expect it to be the greatest movie you have ever seen. Instead, don't expect anything. Only expect another movie and you will get your money's worth. On the cinema mountain range, there are few on or near the same height as this one in terms of artistic and entertainment value. Sadly, many of today's teenagers aren't getting raised on films like this. In fact, when I told someone about this movie recently, he said "Citizen Kane? Is that a movie?" Most unfortunate, especially since the filmmakers of tomorrow need better inspiration than from today's good but largely forgettable movies.

i had this film as an assignment in a film noir class. i'd never seen it before and had read very little about it, knew nothing of the plot, or who bill hearst was, etc etc. if you'd asked me about "rosebud," i'd have assumed it was an obscene reference (and according to roger ebert it is). i was essentially unbiased as to the content of the film.

on first viewing i found it "sentimental," yet effective for the really good (by any standards) performances of welles, cotton, et al. it's a "life story," quite literally, from early childhood to death, of a larger-than-life figure; so it's bound to impress the viewer with the sheer scope of its subject and its inevitable tackling of monumental life issues, including the meaning of life itself in a way more direct, really, in its simplicity than has ever been achieved before or since in cinema. the ultimate sentiment implied by the word "rosebud," the snow-globe, the sled itself, is that of childhood innocence lost. that winter day when his mother handed him over to the bank might have been the last of his life. there is the idea that the world and worldly life corrupt the soul, and that his mother, though she may have felt she was acting in his interest, had therefore sold his soul to the devil as it were that day and sealed his fate.

there were a few points i missed the first time through, so i decided to watch it again with one of the commentaries - roger ebert's. this is certainly one of the better commentaries i've heard on dvd; all too often they degenerate into brainless pedantic ramblings that have nothing to do with anything, but ebert brings his knowledge of the making of the film, of welles himself, of the sundry ground-breaking techniques and effects used in the film - nearly every shot is a special effect - and of the many layers of meaning in the elements of the story, adding comprehensively to one's knowledge and appreciation of the film. plus he actually talks about the scenes that are on the screen as he's talking. how often can you say that. so i watched the whole thing again, and the vista widened.

the next day i watched it again, this time with the peter brogdonovich commentary. this was just as informative as ebert's, and by the time it was over, i felt like i'd made the damn movie. i also felt like i never wanted to see it again, it having occupied something like 9.5 of the last 24 hours of my life. of course, i did watch parts of it again and again as i wrote my paper.

by the way i got an "a". these director commentaries on dvds are great for film classes. (the teacher recommended we watch them, i wasn't "cheating" at all.) very comprehensive and facinating. oh - i watched that hearst documentary and the "making of" thing too, they also helped a great deal. i bought this dvd for this asignment, but i havent watched it since my paper, i admit - i did burn myself out on it. but it's still a powerful movie, unique in the history of cinema for the degree of nigh-omnipotence the hollywood "powers that be" allowed to be invested in one genius - the 26-year-old orson welles - to realize the project, and for the inevitable epoch-making backlash thereby incurred, which really did cripple welles' career permanently and probably set everybody back a few decades.

a legendary film in every sense. i can't believe another reviewer called it "boring" but hey, no accounting for tastes. he probably thinks "dude wheres my car" is the paradigm.

I can very well see why this movie is considered as one of the best movies yet made. It is intelligent, and soul-penetrating. The story is a simple telling of the rise and fall of a newspaper magnate. But the movie ascends this commonplace theme by working like a 'sometimes dreamy / often dark' documentary about the life of Kane, intertwined with (and this is important,) the MEDIA BUZZ created by one single word at his deathbed, ".....Rosebud."

Who is Rosebud? The film finds its driving force in this one simple question amidst subthemes of greed, power and corruption. And, the true magnificence of "Citizen Kane" lies not in the solution to this mystery, but in the viewer's realization of the central human truth attached to it. There couldn't have been a more appropriate name other than Rosebud, for this movie is indeed a rosebud in itself. The real meaning is hidden until the petals of mystery unravel themselves.

I leave you to unravel the mystery of Rosebud......

Anyone giving this film less than 5 stars is demonstrating their ignorance. This masterpiece should be watched carefully by anyone who thinks they "know" movies. The reality, much too often, is that people only see the latest postmodernism films that pale in comparison to this work. One may not enjoy this movie, but one cannot deny it is a masterpiece. Personal taste and criticism are very different things.

It makes me ill to read some of the negative reviews posted for this movie. A perfect example of the MTV generation more interested in action, gore and sex than a movie as poignant and profound as Citizen Kane.

Don't read this review thinking of some desiccated old reviewer who remembers "the good old days" of film making, as I am only a normal 22-year-old guy, and had only seen the movie for the first time yesterday. Then I saw it a second time later that night, and a third time this morning.

Boring? Slow? The time seemed to fly by watching the movie. With the cinematography better than any I've seen today, and with the intriguing story of an equally intriguing man who never finds what he needs the most in anything he did in his life filling your mind with possibilities of exactly what Rosebud is. A movie that makes you think 60 years after it was made. Then again, it is probably that fact that makes this movie such a turn off for the younger crowd. They don't want to think, all they want is a mind-numbing action-packed drug of a movie, if you will.

It pains me to imagine a persons mind so restricted to the point where any picture outside of what is "normal" sends their minds into a fit of rejection.

Was this the best movie of all time? I'll have to think about it. But it certainly ranks up there with the best I've seen.

In case you were wondering, I will buy this movie, and add it to my collection of DVD's, and it will be the first black and white movie I own. I'm a science fiction guy first and foremost, owning Independence Day, Men in Black, The Fifth Element, Fight Club, Gattaca, Dark City, The Abyss etc. I will make Citizen Kane a proud addition to them.

What is the one thing a man who has everything could never get back? If you can answer this question, you know the secret of what Rosebud is.

Don't criticize a movie just because you don't get it. People of small minds have a problem reaching beyond the trash put out by the studios today. Believe me, most of it is trash, I try to go to the movies once a week, and have yet to see a movie this year I will buy when it comes out on DVD.

Rent it, borrow it, buy it. Just watch it. You won't be disappointed.

...

Sometimes "they" are right, and that's all there is to it. "They" say that _Citizen Kane_ is still the best American movie ever made, and so it is.

Best for its innovative cinematography (shot after shot have been copied by other filmmakers ever since), witty script, and superb acting - with Joseph Cotten, in my opinion, taking the honours from Welles himself on that score. But also best for being so incredibly entertaining while being self-consciously clever. There are lots of good jokes (including one famously rude in-joke*), and it's splendidly cynical about business and politics in a way that US films probably aren't allowed to do any more.

The DVD release does everything a DVD should: giving us a generous supply of outtakes, "making of" information that help you look at details (even now) with a fresh eye, discussions with the people who made the film, and some of the many critics who've carved themselves a living out of talking about it.

But in the end, I don't expect I'll watch all that other stuff very often. Maybe once more. In the end it's the film, _Citizen Kane_, in a format that beats the hell out of video, looking crisp and clear and sounding terrific, that makes this a worthwhile buy.

Cheers!

Laon

* "Rosebud" wasn't just a symbol of Kane's innocent, lost,childhood. It was also, out in the real world, a pet name that William Randolph Hearst used for, er, an intimate part of his lover's (Marion Davies) body. And though in public Welles insisted the film was not getting at any corrupt and powerful newspaper magnate in particular, that detail made it clear to Hearst that Welles meant Hearst, and he meant it _personally_. No wonder Hearst went out to destroy Welles. I might have been annoyed myself.

If you're reading this review then you're almost convinced to watch CITIZEN KANE. I'll try my best to convince you some more to watch this fantastic movie with epic proportions. To begin, you must watch the movie through antiquated eyes. Relative to today's movies there is no real originality of CK. Relative to the movies made in the 40's and even the 50's, CK sticks out like a sore thumb. The choreography, the music, the story, and even the dialogue all hold original qualities. This original approach consequently became a path for other movies to follow. Although Kain was a successful man, the movie is in fact a tragedy. Some of my own-adapted themes: -capitalism vs life; is it all worth it? ie: Money and identity does not equal love. The richness of life is purer than any sum of money. Kane had everything, but he didn't have happiness. Happiness comes not from boardroom meetings or fancy Dinner Balls, but from inside of oneself. He knew this, but he never found a way to grasp it.

The best review of Citizen Kane - perhaps of any film - I've ever read is the one titled "Narrative and Eye Disconnect" posted by "A viewer from Richmond, VA USA" on March 21, 2004. I recommend searching through Amazon's reviews to find it, then watching Citizen Kane and re-reading that review. Even though the reviewer gives Kane just one star, s/he writes with great insight into the movie and cinema in general, and has enhanced my appreciation of Citizen Kane exponentially. Thank you, "Viewer from Richmond," whoever you are!

When this film came out originally in 1941 it courted a lot of controversy because Orson Welles based Charles Foster Kane on William Randolph Hurst, the newspaper magnate. But what Orson Welles did with this film was create a masterpiece and added a couple of strokes of pure genius into the mix. What you see in the whole of the film is that everything in foreground and background is in focus. A camera technique that hasn't been done before or since. Also, the use of the editing and music is masterful. When Orson Welles made this phenomenon of a film he was only 25 years old and this was his directorial debut.

It tells the story of a journalist (Joseph Cotton) who goes round interviewing the people who knew Charles Foster Kane professionally and personally to find out what sort of a man he was to work with and live with. And also it's his mission to find out the meaning of the last word 'Rosebud' uttered by Charles Foster Kane on his deathbed. What happens next is that we go back to flashbacks as each person tells their own story to the journalist and recants to him all they know about the mysterious Citizen Kane.

Orson Welles, with this his first feature film, created a work of, in my mind, masterful brilliance. The techniques he used at the time were revolutionary and what some directors take for granted today. This is story-telling of the highest order and as far as I'm concerned possibly the best film ever made. This is a wonderful film on so many levels. I mentioned the camera technique used in this film. I mean it's staggering that a 25 year old first time director asks his director of photography if he could make everything in shot foreground and background in complete focus. Also his use of the music along with the editing and sound is exemplary. That's what I mean about genius.

I can sort of understand the negative reviews of this film by a lot of the reviewers. But compared to quite a lot of the sub-standard dross that gets churned out nowadays this film is very special and quite possibly an inspiration to some directors.

The special features disc on the British version of this 2-disc special edition includes a look at how the film came about and features a whole host of special features looking at the making of a classic amongst others. A truly spectacular piece of pure cinema.

Many of you, like me, may have had your Kane interest piqued by its "#1 Film of All Time" rating by the AFI (American Film Institute). Be forewarned that the AFI also honors "Jaws", "Rocky" and "Snow White" in the same breath. So whatever. If you dive into this film head first expecting the greatest thing to hit the screen, you will be disappointed. The audio commentary itself (included on this edition) states that Welles' "Chimes at Midnight" is a superior film.

Personally, I thought Citizen Kane was very impressive. But I am easily impressed by camera lenses, lighting techniques and 1940s nostalgia. It isn't the acting, script or plot of Kane that appeals to me so much as its artistic storytelling.

If you read through these reviews, you'll be puzzled at how some people can proclaim it a work of art while others are bored and irritated by its pageantry. It's the same with a Picasso painting or a Beatles song or a Chicago skyscraper. Art can be found in anything if you have the patience to look for it. I was patient enough to find 4 stars worth of art in Citizen Kane. Good luck.