Warner Home Video
Length: 119 mins.
Rated: PG
Format: Fullframe
Languages: Feature: English Dolby Mono – Extras Dolby Stereo
Subtitles: English, French,
Spanish, Portuguese
Extras: Commentary
Tracks Feature Documentary Newsreel Footage Theatrical Trailer Storyboard Image
Galleries Production and Filmmaker Notes
Cast (in credits
order)
Joseph Cotten.... Jedediah Leland/Newsreel Reporter
Dorothy Comingore.... Susan Alexander Kane
Agnes Moorehead.... Mrs. Mary Kane
Ruth Warrick.... Emily
Monroe Norton Kane
Ray Collins.... Boss James 'Jim' W. Gettys
Erskine Sanford.... Herbert Carter, Inquirer Editor-in-Chief/Newsreel Reporter
Everett Sloane.... Mr. Bernstein, Kane's General Manager
William Alland.... Jerry Thompson/'News on the March' Narrator
Paul Stewart .... Raymond, Kane's Butler
George Coulouris.... Walter
Parks Thatcher
Fortunio Bonanova.... Signor Matiste, Susan's Opera Coach
Gus Schilling.... The Headwaiter
Philip Van Zandt.... Mr. Rawlston
Georgia Backus.... Bertha
Harry Shannon .... Kane's Father
Sonny Bupp.... Charles Foster Kane
III
Buddy Swan.... Kane, age eight
Orson Welles.... Charles Foster
Kane
Directed by…Orson Welles
Writing credits
Herman J. Mankiewicz and Orson Welles
John Houseman…uncredited
Orson Welles .... producer
Original Music by…Bernard Herrmann
Charlie Barnet… (song "In A Mizz") (uncredited)
Pepe Guízar… (song "A Poco No") (uncredited)
Non-Original Music by
Frédéric Chopin (from "Sonata No. 2") (uncredited)
Gioacchino Rossini (from opera "Il barbiere di Siviglia") (uncredited)
Richard Wagner (from opera "Tannhäuser") (uncredited)
Cinematography by…Gregg Toland
Film Editing
by…Robert Wise
Art Direction by…Van Nest Polglase
Set Decoration by…Darrell Silvera
Writing
a review about "Citizen Kane" is not easy. What can be added that has
not already been discussed in the sixty since the film’s release? Books,
dissertations, American college courses and various ‘Arty’ books have been
devoted to examining, analysing, deconstructing and making something extra of
Orson Welles’ first film, made when he was 25.
It is, after all, one of the films that most people have heard of but so
few have actually watched, especially in a cinema.
Orson Welles had already made a name for himself – but not much money – with
such theatre work as the staging of Shakespeare in Harlem and his famous 1938
"War of the Worlds" radiobroadcast that sent America into a panic.
RKO Pictures gave him carte blanche in directing his first film and after
several false starts on other projects (including an aborted attempt at filming
Joseph Conrad’s "Heart of Darkness"), Welles collaborated with
screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz to flesh out his vision of an American
tragedy.
Looking at the studio as "the greatest train set a boy could ever play
with," Welles surrounded himself with equally gifted individuals:
cinematographer Gregg Toland, composer Bernard Herrmann and RKO staff
editor Robert Wise (later to direct "The Sound of Music" and
"West Side Story")
Welles knew perfectly well what he was doing when he modelled Kane on real
newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst. He
used incidents and actual published words from Hearst for his own character
Kane. Kane’s Xanadu mirrors
Hearst’s San Simeon on the California coast and the way that Kane built his
newspaper empire followed the real life exploits of Hearst, however it was the
portrayal of actress Marion Davies (Hearst’s mistress) as Kane’s lover
failed singer Susan Alexander that caused the bitter feud between Hearst and
Welles. Hearst was quite used
to people being rude and spiteful about him – but with his money and power he
did not care – but the idea that his lover was portrayed as a failed singer
and a drunk caused such anger that Hearst tried to destroy both "Kane"
and Welles, marshalling his considerable media forces (among them gossip
columnist Louella Parsons) in an all-out campaign to eradicate the film and
discredit its creator.
The film was released in 1941 but was not a success. Due to wartime or whatever,
the public did not want a powerful melodrama about the rich and famous.
Unlike, say, Rupert Murdoch, William Randolph Hearst was not a world-wide
media baron so although he did what he could to kill the film with negative
columns in his newspapers and a refusal to take advertising for the film this
only explains partly why the film was a failure in the US – not the rest of
the world.
What
about the DVD?
I have seen the film a number of times in the cinema, and each time the print
was – at best – adequate, and the showings on tv and the video released a
few years ago have not been much better.
Warner Home Video’s two-disc DVD special edition on the other hand comes from
the recently restored fine grain master, presented in its original 1.33 ratio,
the transfer just glows. Like, for
example, Criterion’s “The Third
Man”, “Citizen Kane” shows what a wonderful medium well photographed Black
and White is for a dramatic story. With
a pristine transfer, clean audio and a lot of extras including commentary tracks
by director/Welles biographer Peter Bogdanovich and film critic Roger Ebert,
archival materials as well as the PBS documentary "The Battle Over
‘Citizen Kane.’" This all adds up to a must for the serious film buff.
Two feature length commentaries deconstruct the film from slightly different
angles. Film director / Welles biographer Peter Bogdanovich goes on at a
leisurely pace, giving some scenes specific information and then taking off on a
tangent about John Ford or Herman Mankiewicz. The musings on Roger Ebert’s
commentary track, however, dissect the film frame by frame, pointing out how
lighting, edits, close-ups and long shots reflect earlier moments or foreshadow
later scenes. This is from someone
who thinks that “Citizen Kane” is the greatest film ever, when quite clearly
it isn’t. “Citizen Kane”
ranks in the world top 100 films, but only in the top quarter.
The
supplements continue with footage from the 1941 New York premiere at the Palace
Theater. Only a minute, the RKO-Pathé newsreel highlights the arrival of Orson
Welles (with Dolores Del Rio) as well as showcase the elaborate marquee and
throngs of moviegoers having their ticket stubs processed by very well dressed
ushers. The original theatrical trailer shows some physical wear
(speckles, scratches) and the tinny sound pales when compared to the
feature. Running three and a half
minutes, Welles narrates the coming attraction, touting the stars and subject
matter in a manner all his own.
The remainder of disc one contains the galleries and other memorabilia
documenting the film’s inception, production and release. "The
Production," "Post Production" and "Production Notes"
mark each chapter of archival materials. Press book shots, posters, even a
letter from George Gallup breaking down the audience reaction demographics.
Also, on the Special Features menu page, there is a sled. Cursor over to
it, hit "Enter" and a four-minute interview with Ruth Warrick (Emily
Norton Kane) pops up. Filmed in 1997, she talks about how it was her first film
and of course working with Orson.
Disc Two contains the documentary "The Battle Over Citizen Kane",
produced in 1995 for American PBS, it briskly charts the historical paths of
William Randolph Hearst and Orson Welles and how they were seemingly destined to
clash. In Thomas Lennon and Michael Epstein’s two-hour film, they crosscut the
upbringing of Welles and Hearst, how both were born of privilege and how both
became barons in their respective fields.
Over all a wonderful DVD set – a good film with an excellent transfer and
interesting extras is all anybody can ask for.
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review done 3 Jan 2003