'Citizen Kane' unveiled on Blu-ray

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In the year of its 70th anniversary, 26 years after bombastic actor-director Orson Welles died, 60 years after its putative real-life inspiration William Randolph Hearst died, the legendary American film Citizen Kane remains worthy of debate, dispute, deconstruction and deification.

The powerful newspaper magnate Hearst had a savage hate on for being depicted in such a thinly veiled fiction. Especially because his mistress Marion Davies was given such a cruel caricature. Citizen Kane is the story of the rise and fall of a powerful, corrupt and morally questionable American tycoon named Charles Foster Kane. Thanks to Hearst’s influence in Hollywood, Citizen Kane was almost bought and destroyed before its original release on May 1, 1941. While the release did go ahead on a modest scale, the Boy Genius’ reputation was ruined. Welles’ film survived, barely, then fell into limbo. In the 1950s, it made a startling rebirth. It is always now cited as one of the greatest films in cinema history. Often it is named as THE greatest, although not everyone agrees. Famed Swedish director Ingmar Bergman called it "a total bore." He is wrong. But even those who withhold the label of greatness concede that Citizen Kane is one of the most technically innovative, influential and controversial films to ever originate in Hollywood.

The debate is renewed now because Warner Home Video has cobbled together the 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition. This three-disc box set was unveiled Sept. 13 as part of an ongoing series of pampered re-releases involving classic films plucked from the vaults. Each gets a Rolls Royce restoration first. That suits Blu-ray beautifully. While each title is available in both the DVD and Blu-ray formats, the high-definition versions have been a startling revelation in every case, including the Technicolor classics The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind. Ben-Hur and Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory are next. Citizen Kane is no exception to the rule, although it is Greg Toland’s revolutionary black-and-white cinematography that is enhanced, along with Bernard Herrmann’s equally unusual musical score.

As for "cobbling together" the Kane box, it is misleading to mention three discs in the Blu-ray set. Kane is presented on a single Blu-ray. The others are standard DVDs. One contains the 113-minute, 1996 documentary that David McCullough presented on public television in The American Experience in 1996. It is plodding but informative. The other contains the 1999 television film, RKO 281, with Liev Schreiber as Welles and James Cromwell as Hearst. It is colourful but cheesy. The box set also offers souvenirs: A small book; a miniature re-print of the original program handed out at the premiere; and a collection of miniature posters.

The single Blu-ray is a monument to the film. I cannot overemphasize how splendid the film now looks, better than earlier DVDs. All bonus materials, however, are recycled, such as footage from the New York premiere and vintage interviews with surviving actors (no principal is alive today). The two feature-length commentaries belong to critic Roger Ebert and to filmmaker (and Welles friend) Peter Bogdanovich. Both have been heard before. Both should be heard again. Ebert is wonderful to listen to for his penetrating insights. In life, he has had his voice taken away by cancer. But Ebert cannot be silenced here.

Nor can Citizen Kane. Yet it does remain an enigma. Just like reporter Thompson searching for the truth throughout the film, you are left wondering about Rosebud. Just a plot gimmick involving a sled? A Freudian reference to Welles’ own lost childhood? Or was it, as rumour has it, an inside joke. Rosebud, supposedly, was Hearst’s nickname for his mistress’ clitoris.

Source: Comic Book Movie

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