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Dom Robinson reviews

Citizen Kane

The Classic Story of Power and the Press

Distributed by

Cat.no: 051 894 2
Cert: U
Running time: 114 minutes
Year: 1941
Pressing: 1999
Region(s): 2 (UK PAL)
Chapters: 18 plus extras
Sound: Stereo
Languages: English
Subtitles: English
Fullscreen: 4:3
16:9-enhanced: No
Macrovision: Yes
Disc Format: DVD 5
Price: £17.99
Extras : Scene index, Trailer, Booklet

Director:

Orson Welles

Confidential Report, The Immortal Story, The Lady from Shanghai, Macbeth, The Magnificent Ambersons, Othello, The Stranger, The Trial

Producer:

Orson Welles

Screenplay:

Herman J. Mankewicz and Orson Welles

Music:

Bernard Herrmann

Cast:

Charles Foster Kane: Orson Welles

Compulsion, Confidential Report, The Immortal Story, Jane Eyre, Journey Into Fear, The Lady from Shanghai, A Man For All Seasons, Othello, RoGoPaG, The Stranger, The Third Man, The Trial, Waterloo

Susan Alexander: Dorothy Comingore

Jedediah Leland/Newsreel Reporter: Joseph Cotten

Airport 77, The House Where Death Lives, Hush...Hush Sweet Charlotte, Journey Into Fear, The Magnificent Ambersons, Niagara, Soylent Green, The Third Man, Tora! Tora! Tora!

Mrs. Kane: Agnes Moorehead

Dark Passage, Hush...Hush Sweet Charlotte, Journey Into Fear, The Magnificent Ambersons, Showboat

Citizen Kane aka Charles Foster Kane, is dead. That's how the film begins and from therein follows a string of flashbacks as his life story is told from his birth, through the sum of money that was left to him, his two marriages and how he came to head the Chicago Daily Inquirer. As well as the good, came the bad. While running for congress, an affair with a "singer" put paid to his chances. After all, we can't have someone in office if they've had an impromptu toot-on-the-flute can we ?

The flashbacks are dropped in as a result of the present day reporters who are looking back over his life, interviewing everyone who ever knew him and trying to get an overall picture on what he was really like.

The film was Orson Welles directorial debut and he certainly turns in a great performance in his own right, but I still prefer the barrister role he played in Compulsion, a cinemascope version of Hitchcock's Rope, starring Dean Stockwell (Quantum Leap, Blue Velvet) and Bradford Dillman. I don't know any of the other actors in the film though as the 40s is not my area of speciality when it comes to film eras.

When it comes to picture quality, on the plus side it's free of artifacts, but being an old film there are many flecks and small dropouts in the print. Perhaps a remastering is in order? As for the ratio, the film is presented in its original Academy ratio, although it can often comfortably be zoomed in to 14:9 on a widescreen TV. The average bitrate is 5.4Mb/s, once peaking over 9Mb/s.

The soundtrack is labelled as stereo, but all other releases have been mono and I don't hear any differences between the output of either front left and right speakers, so I presume this follows suit.

Extras :

Chapters :

18 chapters - the usual amount for Universal DVDs, from a company previously known as Polygram, but a few more wouldn't go amiss. The original theatrical trailer is included and lasts approximately three-and-a-half minutes.

Languages & Subtitles :

English in mono and subtitles in the same language for the deaf and hard of hearing.

Booklet :

An 8-page booklet is also included which tells the "Production Story" on Wells and the making of the film, generally what you'd usually see on the disc itself in the form of production notes.

Menu :

Orson Welles atop a few newspapers with the options to start the film, select a scene, toggle the subtitles or watch the trailer blended in very well.

Overall :

Citizen Kane is often cited as the best film of all time. I wouldn't go as far as to say that but it's a mildly entertaining watch that does have its slow points. Then again, I'm sure that those who vote to put this film at the top of the tree don't often sing the praises of Tony Scott's films as I do (ie. Enemy of the State, The Rock, Con Air, etc.)

However, it's a shame Universal didn't see fit to include the "Reflections on Citizen Kane" documentary, already rated by the BBFC and included on the video release, in which Ridley Scott, Martin Scorsese and Brian DePalma relate how their own work has been influenced by this film.

I don't know of a Region 1 DVD being available, but the NTSC Laserdisc 50th Anniversary Edition, released in 1991, also contained an audio commentary, "The Hearts of Age" - a short film by Welles when a student aged 18, stills, storyboards and a 73-minute documentary, "Legacy of Citizen Kane". If Universal had been able to release all that on a disc together, it would've been quite a coup for DVD owners.

FILM	 		: ***
PICTURE QUALITY 	: **½
SOUND QUALITY		: **
EXTRAS			: *½
-------------------------------
OVERALL			: **

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1999.

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