Everything you hate (Citizen Kane (DVD))

Member Name: MykReeve

Product:	Citizen Kane (DVD)
Date:	18/12/01 (210 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Superb commentaries, Excellent picture and audio quality, Nice presentation

Disadvantages: Would have preferred a more robust packaging, Documentary is a bit superficial

Consistently voted among the top ten films of all time, 'Citizen Kane' is indisputably a masterpiece of moviemaking. However, it wasn't always acknowledged as such. Snubbed at the Oscars in 1941 and originally released at only a limited number of cinemas, for ten years after its premiere the movie lay idle in RKO's vault. The reasons for this, and a lot more besides, are discussed in the Warner Brothers region 1 DVD release of the movie, which includes the movie and the Oscar-nominated documentary 'The Battle over Citizen Kane'.

THE FILM

'Citizen Kane' is the story of a man, Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles), told through the monologues of those close to him during his life. The film opens with a newsreel obituary of Kane, and then follows a reporter, Jerry Thompson (William Alland), as he struggles to discover the meaning of Kane's last word - "Rosebud".

THE DOCUMENTARY

'The Battle over Citizen Kane' is a very insightful documentary about the film, and the two men involved in it - Orson Welles, the movie's actor-director and William Randolph Hearst, the real-life inspiration for Charles Foster Kane. The careers of all three men; Welles, Hearst and the fictional Kane, follow ironically similar trajectories - from unprecedented early success through to crashing failure - and the film examines the two real life histories.

Certainly, there's a lot in the documentary that was new to me, and I found it very informative. We learn about how Welles landed the most lucrative motion-picture contract ever awarded by Hollywood, and how Hearst tried everything within his power as a media magnate to destroy both the movie, and Welles's reputation.

There's some fascinating footage in there - including clips of Welles's performance of 'Voodoo Macbeth' in Harlem, and movies of the grounds of Hearst's spectacularly exuberant Californian home, Sa
n Simeon. However, if there is any problem with the documentary, it is that it neither examines the character of Kane adequately, nor does it compare him with his real-life influences. While informative and interesting, the documentary is quite superficial, really only providing biographies of Hearst and Welles, and sadly neglecting to really discuss their influences on the character of Kane and the film itself.

Fortunately, many of the topics lacking from the documentary are covered well in the commentary tracks provided by Roger Ebert and Peter Bogdanovich that accompany the movie on the other disc.

THE DISCS

- Distributor: Warner Home Video (T6565)

- Region: 1 (United States and Canada)

- Type: 1 x DVD-9 (single side, dual layer), 1 x DVD-5 (single side, single layer)

The layer change comes at 59 minutes 47 seconds, in the middle of a conversation between Kane and Susan Alexander. However, this has to be the most surreptitious layer change I've ever encountered - I didn't notice it while watching the film, and it was only in the course of compiling this review that I've searched through the disc to find it. The moment of the layer change occurs during a brief pause in the conversation, and accompanies a change in camera angle - if only all DVD companies could choose the moment of the layer change with such skill.

- Running time: 119 minutes (movie), 113 minutes (documentary)

- Picture format: 1.33:1 NTSC

The movie is presented in its original 4:3 ratio - this isn't a cropped version of the original picture. Picture quality is outstandingly high for a film of this age - there are no visible marks on the film, apart from in the artificially aged sequences in the film's opening newsreel, and details are as sharp as they would have been in the original theatrical presentation.

The greyscale is superb - there are none of the jagged midtone transitions that are
often seen in poorly mastered DVDs. Even in dark scenes, the greys are rich with detail. This is a presentation that does justice to the film's inventive production techniques and Gregg Toland's marvellous cinematography, retaining crisp, sharply focused images throughout.

This is a region 1 disc, so is presented in NTSC format.

- Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (English)

The audio quality is as good as you would hope for in a movie celebrating its sixtieth anniversary. The audio track has been reconstructed from the highest quality surviving elements that could be found, and the result is extremely crisp and clear, though obviously not making full use of the medium's potential.

- Subtitles: English, French, Spanish and Portugese

Subtitles are presented in white text bordered in black, which remain readable throughout the film. There are no obvious errors in spelling and grammar.

- Presentation

Presentation of the discs is very good, and the time taken to get from putting in the disc to watching the film is kept brief.

The first disc begins with the Warner Brothers logo, which is unskippable, but can be fast-forwarded. This links straight into the main menu, which is presented over an animated sequence of scenes from the film accompanied by audio from the film's opening narration. If the user doesn't select an option from the menu, then the film starts automatically after twenty seconds or so.

The second disc takes you directly to the static main menu when you put it in your DVD player, without any opening logos. However, when you start watching the documentary, you are first exposed to a graphic for the "American Experience" television show, for which the documentary was made, followed by a series of acknowledgements for the programme's funding - "major funding for the American Experience is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation... by the Cor
poration for Public Broadcasting, and the annual financial support of viewers like you, and by Scotts lawncare products." The latter announcement is accompanied by some hilariously twee shots of American children running about on beautifully kept lawns, presumably maintained by Scotts lawncare products. You'll laugh.

- Packaging

The packaging of the DVD set is quite nice, consisting of an unfolding three-panel cardboard sheet, held within a cardboard sleeve. The two discs are held on the cardboard sheet by plastic clips.

I can't help thinking that it would have been better to have had some more hard-wearing packaging for a film such as this, that most people would want to keep for a long time. The cardboard packaging seems reasonably resilient, but obviously doesn't have the endurance of an entirely plastic case.

The packaging is covered with scenes from the film, with Welles as Kane standing in front of a huge painting of Kane on the front cover of both the cardboard sheet and sleeve.

- Special Features

The first disc contains most of the special features accompanying the film. The most noteworthy of these are the two commentary tracks - one presented by film critic Roger Ebert and the other by Welles biographer Peter Bogdanovich. There's a fair degree of overlap between the two, particularly near the beginning of the commentary tracks - both feeling the need to comment on the film's famous opening scenes, as the camera zooms in on a solitary window in Xanadu. However, as the commentaries wear on, Ebert begins to offer us an insight into how the film affected Hollywood film-making and the sheer number of techniques that were first used in this production, while Bogdanovich offers more of an insight into the actors' lives. Both commentaries run almost constantly throughout the movie, with Bogdanovich scarcely stopping for breath at some points.

These are certainly amongst the
most informative and insightful commentary tracks that I have ever listened to - the commentators' enthusiasm for the subject really comes through, and both commentators came to the recording studio equipped with an impressive number of anecdotes and facts to share.

As regards the other special features, there are several pages of text - a cast and crew list, and some production notes - as well as a couple of pieces of film footage (an RKO newsreel of the film's premiere and the original theatrical trailer). The theatrical trailer is well worth a look, for its unusual presentation - Welles introduces the other members of the cast from behind the camera.

In addition, images from the storyboard, call sheets and production stills are included which are presented as video clips, the image changing every few seconds. Similarly, images from the storyboards of deleted scenes, the ad campaign, the press book (handed out at the film's premiere) and the photographs from the opening night are included as brief videos.

There's an Easter egg on the first disc too, consisting of a brief five minute interview with Ruth Warrick, who played Emily Norton Kane.

CONCLUSIONS

'Citizen Kane' is undoubtedly one of the most stunningly impressive movies of all time. The tragic story of Kane himself, based on the life of real-life press magnate William Randolph Hearst, and with its ironic parallels with Welles's own life, remains one of the most stunningly well written, acted and presented films of all time. It's thoughtful and compelling, and this DVD package does justice to the intelligence and style of the movie, providing excellent accompanying material.

While I would have liked the packaging to have been a little more robust, and although a little more meat to the documentary would have been nice, the commentaries are fascinating and filled with interesting details, and the presentation of the movie it
self is flawless.

Summary: