Citizen Kane: 75th Anniversary (BD)

This review is for the two disc set of Orson Welles 1941 masterpiece Citizen Kane, which has endlessly (and rightfully) been called the greatest film ever made. Of course, I'm not going to go over the whole plot, which to film lovers is already gospel. This review is to concentrate on the technical and scholastic aspects of Kane, namely this two dvd set. And there are three very good reasons to get this particular copy of Kane. 1. The film itself, which has rarely looked better. It's a very crisp print, in which details obscured in earlier versions are now wonderfully clear. The soundtrack by Bernard Herrmann has never sounded better. Maybe the most overlooked great film soundtrack ever. All the technical wizardry at play in this film, from the lighting to the camera angles to the special effects (which, when pointed out, are absolutely astounding) seem to be just so much more breathtaking in this version. It's certainly as good as the movie can possibly look. 2. The audio commentary by the late, great Roger Ebert. (I'm guessing it was recorded in the late 90's/early 00's, before he lost the ability to speak.) Mr. Ebert stated on more than a few occasions that this was his favorite movie of all time. The commentary shows that at absolutely every turn. He's the perfect person to take you on a guided tour of the dark alleys, brightly-lit paths, strange regions and brilliant hidden corners that make this film so magnificent. I could never get tired of hearing him talk about how the deep focus camera work in Kane is so carefully and subtly handled. Or how the special effects are just as revolutionary as, say, Star Wars, without being noticed much, if at all. Or fascinating tidbits, such as how the actor who portrays the reporter, Thompson, is also the stentorian voice of the announcer in the opening News on the March segment. Most important of all, Mr. Ebert shows you how to appreciate this film, for all it's worth, like no one else can. Whether you end up loving the film and making it your cinematic lifeblood, or decide that it's too inflated, dark, slow paced, and maybe even overrated, is up to you. But you will understand why this film is considered perhaps the greatest film of all time. 3. The bonus documentary on the 2nd dvd, The Battle Over Citizen Kane, which was originally aired on PBS back in 1996 as part of the series American Experience. This nearly two hour doc is about how Welles clashed with newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, the purported inspiration for Charles Foster Kane. How the film took Hearst's life, loves, and powerful ego and transformed them into the ultimate parable of business: you were happiest when you had nothing except what you loved most. How Hearst tried to suppress, and even destroy the film. How the career of Welles took off like Comet, and then burned out into wine commercials. How the film vanished from the public view for many years, only to reappear with the position in history it still holds today. This is one of the best documentaries ever made on movies, business, power, politics, Hollywood and celebrity. I'd say it's worth the price of admission, but when you get the greatest film ever to boot, well you can't go wrong. Also there are some other features of note, such as a second commentary by director Peter Bogdonovich. This one is interesting, but not as good as Mr. Ebert's. Since PB knew Welles and hung out with him a lot in later years, it's more of a bit chummy and anecdotal in nature. Plus there are also other extras such as the original trailer for the film, (don't pass it up, it's priceless) a photo gallery and a tiny bit of film of the world premiere. In all, it's the Kane 101 you will need in your film theory class (If you're into that sort of thing.) But with a movie as classic, timeless, groundbreaking, endlessly watchable and almost symphonic as this, you may never have to go to film school. -----------------PEACE BTW- Just for the record, my favorite bit of dialogue in Kane is: "You know Mr. Thatcher, at the rate of a million dollars a year, I'll have to close this place in..............sixty years!"

I got the two disc DVD set of Citizen Kane. The film was quite controversial of the time and RKO Pictures originally was not going to play it because of the pressure put to bear by William Randolph Hearst, famous newspaper magnate and philanthropist. Even to this day, the Hearst Corporation has its fingers in every pie: radio, television, cable, satellite broadcasting, etc. Hearst did not like that Orson was making what amounted to an unauthorized criticism on Hearst himself. Similarities? Oh yes! Although the names were changed, the film follows Hearst's life to a Tee, with a lot of creative license being taken. Orson Welles, only 24 years old, who, flushed from his success on the Mercury Theater and his famous (or infamous) broadcast, War of the Worlds, he created what many consider the best film of all time and many consider the beginning of the end of Orson's career as a radio, stage and film master of entertainment. [For those who do not know, on Halloween night back in the 1930s, with America concerned about Hitler's advances in Europe, Welles adapted H.G. Wells War of the Worlds with realistic-sounding newscasts and had the Martians invading Grover's Mill, New Jersey. Many people actually believed these broadcasts to be REAL and panicked! Radio was like TV is today, with soaps, westerns, news, and so on as main entertainment and so having your shows interrupted by newscasts and bulletins was common. This created major controversy and put Orson on the map!] But back to the review: Charles Foster Kane, as a child, is being taken away as the family can no longer have him. His mother is played stoically by Agnes Moorhead, a strong character actress in her own right (well before "Bewitched!" the cheesy sitcom of the Sixties.). Kane gets a newspaper, expands his empire, builds a castle (in Florida rather than San Simeon (current location of Hearst Castle), collects art as well as pretty girls, runs for office, confronts scandal and finally dies, dropping a snow globe and whispers "Rosebud." Why Rosebud? Well, the newspaper guys who are creating the news reel (News On The March!) want to know more about Kane and what Rosebud is. The film then goes through a lot of flashbacks and personal interviews with fictional (and thinly disguised) friends of Kane to find out more about the man, his mission and what was Rosebud. Was Kane a self-seeking vampire who sucked the spirit out of everyone he came in contact with? Or did his childhood memories still haunt him decades after the fact? Melodramatic to the extreme, some scenes were slow-paced. The black & white photography was simply gorgeous. And getting a peak at life as it might have been like in the early 20th Century was enjoyable and fascinating. Disc Two: Wow, this was great. Actual filmed interviews with Orson Welles done in the 1980s before his death. You can see his eyes light up as he recalled the creative energy he possessed as a very young man, creating plays in Harlem with an all Black cast in creating Shakespeare for the masses. Touched on are the Mercury Theater broadcasts for CBS and the War of the Worlds broadcast. The narrator said it best: Orson accomplished it all at a young age and then was burned and never came back after Citizen Kane. Extensive biographical data on Welles and Hearst, both driven men, both creative geniuses in their own ways, proud and gifted and heading on a collision course with each other. "A film is never really good unless the camera is an eye in the head of a poet." -Orson Welles "Even if the good old days never existed, the fact that we can conceive such a world is, in fact, an affirmation of the human spirit." Orson Welles "I started at the top and worked down." Orson Welles More on Orson Welles: Orson Welles: Volume 1: The Road to Xanadu Orson Welles: Volume 2: Hello Americans More on War of the Worlds Broadcast: War of the Worlds: Featuring Orson Welles The Orson Welles' War of the Worlds Scandal More on Willam Randolph Hearst: Citizen Hearst: A Biography of William Randolph Hearst The Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst

Yes, great film...perhaps the greatest for myriad reasons many of us know and those who do not should excitedly discover on their own. But has anyone ever commented until now that in addition to being an examination of the title character, CITIZEN KANE contains a devastating, damning commentary on the basic idiocy of most "investigative" reporters - in this case the "truth"-seeking Thompson. But was it intentional - or a script oversight - that when Raymond the Butler is giving his two cents worth (in his case actually a thousand bucks worth!) to the meaning of Rosebud.....Thompson - a basic idiot-in-the-shadows (is this then why he is always in shadows? To show he is the man-in-the-dark...the man who cannot see what is before him? Who can't even do his job well!) - when Thompson is told by Raymond that Kane utters the word "Rosebud" both when Susan left him and he pocketed "something" and "that other time" when he dropped the glass ball - yet Thompson does NOT even ask what the hell the glass ball was! If he had known it was of a snow scene he might have had the wits to trace it back to young Kane's winter of discontent when the bank seized hold of him and stole him from his beloved sleigh. How dumb could one get? (Perhaps as dumb as many investigative reporters are who fail to deliver the goods or come up with erroneous nonsense that they pass off as truth - or WMDs?) Anyway - I will forever wonder if Thompson's not picking up the "ball"(in this case albeit a glass, smashed one) was intentional by the makers of KANE or was Thompson just tired at the end of the day or was this a script glitch? Also not mentioned - to my knowledge - is the preponderance of fireplaces in the film...leading up to the end one which consumes the secret for all time. (Notice the fireplace directly behind the young Kane when he is given a new sleigh by Thatcher - portent of things to come.) One other thing that I have never seen mentioned in commentaries of the film is this: the great Kane-as-a-boy snow scene....the snowman....it is a forecast of the endless statues that the elder Kane will collect; plus...it somewhat looks like the bald-domed, fatter Kane when we last see him: in the Colorado scene we thereby have child and future man, together. The fact that a snowman is frozen- as Kane is emotionally frozen (especially at the end of the film after Susan leaves) is another point to be considered. So when we first see the dying Kane he God-like holds his past world in his hand, yet being a limited human being afterall (despite Kane's seeming unlimitness of power and money, etc) he cannot enter the scene in the ball...just like he cannot return to that moment in Time. Conversely, when we first see Kane as a boy, he is in the world of the glass ball - but that world is also about to be shattered by the adults who plot his future within the confines of the warm boarding house. It is then - from this interior - that we see child Kane framed...as he is also about to be "framed" for a crime he did not commit and sentenced to a life of wealth and riches he never asked for - or may have ever even wanted. In both cases, however, the dying Kane at the film's opening and the first time we see K as a child - in both instances, he is....alone. Existentially alone in a frozen world that only the human heart and hearthside can warm. One last thing to anyone familiar with the music of Rachmaninoff: listen to his magnificent tone poem "Isle of the Dead" and you will hear what is essentially the Kane motif throughout it. I absolutely love the music of Bernard Herrmann but cannot help thinking he was influenced - however subconsciously - by Rachmaninoff's piece. Even the painting that Rachmaninoff based his tone poem on is reminiscent of Xanadu, somewhat. Anyway - CITIZEN KANE is the ultimate film about ALL of us....not just powerful, multimillionaire publishers....but ALL of us...because we ALL have a "Rosebud" in our souls and minds that will be on our lips when the curtain closes. "Rosebud" is, in its most basic form, the desire we all share to....start again, conquer Time, turn back the clock and NOT have die and end our dreams or our bodies. This is what ultimately makes KANE....a CITIZEN.

Yes. Count me in as one of "Them." A Kanenite. Orson Welles's initial motion picture effort, CITIZEN KANE, not only is Welles's best film--it's the best film ever made. Because of the story? Well, that's certainly interesting enough in its own right, but it's not the reason this powerful film is the best ever captured on celluloid. Look, any film that spawns books, documentaries, commentaries, and makes countless "Best Films of All Time" lists has got something unique and magical going for it. So what is it? To explore this topic, I highly recommend you get this TWO-DISC SPECIAL EDITION of CITIZEN KANE. Made in 1941, when Welles was a mere twenty-five, CITIZEN KANE was light years ahead of its time in production, imagery, lighting, sets--unparalleled cinematography. Easily one of the most creative and innovative of all films, CITIZEN KANE is a haunting presentation of moving camera shots (often through what are supposed to be inanimate objects), of rooms with low ceilings made of cloth (for lighting purposes, plus the cloth easily hid the boom mikes), of scene lighting contrasts where one character is in light, the other in total silhouette, of scenes shot entirely by a below-ground-level camera, of surreal close-ups, of a despondent Kane walking across the screen, his reflection captured in hundreds of mirrors. All of the visual tricks and optical illusions serve to enhance and symbolize the story of Charles Foster Kane, a newspaper tycoon so extravagant and outrageous in his efforts to attract acceptance and love he ultimately garners neither--and loses everything, especially a connection to his childhood. ("Rosebud.") That Welles was making a thinly-disguised biography of mogul William Randolph Hearst was lost on no one, especially Hearst, who made so much trouble with RKO Studios the film was quickly shelved, and didn't find an appreciative audience until years later. While this special edition contains several extras, you must view movie critic Roger Ebert's commentary. Ebert, an unabashed and enthusiastic student and fan of CITIZEN KANE, is a wealth of information about all the scenes and their background history, about all the tricks and gimmicks and optical illusions Welles and cinematographer Gregg Toland (the real star of this movie) dreamed up to make watching this film so mesmerizing. For supporting actors, Welles brought over his Mercury Theater radio performers, who all made their screen debuts here, including Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore (playing a very shrill and petulant second wife), Agnes Moorehead, Ruth Warrick, Everett Sloane, and William Alland (a longtime Welles assistant). On disc two you'll find the documentary "The Battle Over Citizen Kane," a 1996 PBS production; it explores the lives of Hearst, Welles, and the controversy surrounding the production of CITIZEN KANE in meticulous and fascinating detail. The delicious irony here, in the film and in all of the extra features, is that not only is CITIZEN KANE the portrayal of William Randolph Hearst--it is also a thorough examination of the personality of Orson Welles himself. Best movie ever? A resounding yes. --D. Mikels, Author, The Reckoning

Subtitles in another language. If you learn to ignore them it's a good film.

A classic and worth watching again. The movie was on sale so I purchased it versus renting it. I recommend this classic movie and story

Citizen Kane was created when Orson Welles was only 26 years old, and came out in 1941, just before the attack on Pearl Harbor. The film is based on the life of William Randolph Hearst and there were many legal battles between Welles and Hearst. It's always hard to read or watch a "classic" without having huge expectations - and perhaps not just enjoying the film. That's true for books you're required to read in high school as well as for movies. You might really have enjoyed reading "Pride and Prejudice" - but if you're forced to read it and told "this is a great book!" you might not enjoy it at all. Let me say first why this is a classic. There are a TON of visual puns, lighting effects, production effects, that had never been used before. The in-focus effects were spectacular when this movie came out. It was an incredible groundbreaker - one that inspired thousands of other filmmakers. If you weren't around in 1941, then in essence everything you watch is "based" on this. It's like praising Edgar Allen Poe for writing mysteries, if you love mysteries that exist now. They draw their origin from that spectacular start. If you were born after 1941, you might say "well that's interesting, but I don't have to like the pyramids of Egypt to like modern architecture. I like Van Halen even though some of their songs were really written by classic blues artists 40+ years earlier; I don't like the blues original songs. I like current stuff and don't care about what it was based on." That is of course true, and a human trait. So if you're not a fan of "tracing the roots" of movies you love, let's just take the movie itself as a standalone entity - as the story of a man. Orson Wells made this as his very first movie - and he not only acted in it but also directed it. He was a newbie. He did some amazing things in his very first attempt every to make a movie. To start with, you as the viewer are really "drawn in" to the movie in a way that most movies don't do. The interviewer is usually in the lower right, i.e. sort of where you, the audience, are sitting. You and the interviewer are both directly talking to and interacting with the people on the screen. Kane was "stolen" from his family at a very young age - raised by strangers, sent off to schools and training. He grew up alone, with only some friends to keep him company. He decides when just out of college to run a newspaper, sort of a lark. He has great ideals - to help the little man. Once he gets a taste of power and public affection, he gets addicted to it. He begins to create stories that don't really exist, to "make world events happen". He starts to manipulate the people around him to get him more and more attention. When he gets abandoned, you feel sorry for him - but you also know it's completely his own fault. These aren't just random vague events that are happening in outer space. They are very personal events happening to a "real person" - this was of course based on real life events of that era. Not only that, but they could happen to any of us. We all have tasks that we do, that bring us joy. We all have the potential to have growth with our dreams - but if we got that growth, would we do "good" with that power, or would we start to be tainted? If we had power over those we love, would we use it 100% for their own good, or would we do subtle things that made US happy and not necessarily them? How many parents, for example, pushed kids to go to a particular college because it appealed to the parent, even if it wasn't the perfect match for the child's personality? This obviously isn't a hack and slash movie with a lot of combat and violence. It's a movie about the trade-offs we all make as we go for our dreams, find success, find failure, try to make love work. This isn't the story of a 23 year old having a fun college life. It's the story of the full life of a man - from sad, lonely young child, to idealistic young man, to a sad, lonely old man. The way life affects us - and the way in which our choices affect our life - are universal concepts that are really important to pretty much every human being. It might be that some particular humans might not care yet. Certainly I remember for example when I was a teenager that I didn't give a lot of thought to the nebulous "long off future". Now that I'm a bit older, though, the thoughts of choices made, opportunities missed and long term goals are very important to me. Citizen Kane is a very touching portrayal of one man's journey through the years.

I've always heard people talk about how this is the perfect movie so I had to see it for myself. I think it's perfect for FILM STUDENTS. If you just want to watch a movie that's interesting, it might not be for you. It certainly wasn't that entertaining for me. Probably the most interesting part of the movie for me was where they were having an "outdoor luncheon" or something, and in the background you were supposed to see birds flying around, except those weren't birds: They were pterodactyls from the movie "Son of Kong" since they were too cheap to get their own "rear projection" for that scene. I'll have to admit the whole "ROSEBUD" thing is a pretty good hook to make you wait for the ending to find out what the hell it was (spoilers are all over the internet though). I just found the whole thing to be dry and kinda boring. I'm sure it's technically perfect in the execution, but I'm not interested in talking about film theory or editing. It's still watchable, but make sure you don't watch it late at night without some kind of energy drink or you might doze off before the ending and you don't want that.

Citizen Kane is one those films that, watching it after reading enthusiastic reviews saying it's the best film ever, you might not agree. Because Citizen Kane is a film whose main values are not so apparent and easy to get by everyone. It is a film for film fans and movie experts, but this does not mean is not a great, unique, magnificent film. It just means that you have to watch it both with an emotional and dramatic approach (that of normal viewers) and with a more careful focus on what a film is made of. And Citizen Kane is made of a powerful drama, structured in a modern and innovative way (an investigation where the puzzles never seem to be enough) dealing with universal and intimate questions (ambition and solitude, will of power vs need of love) as well as a sharp vision of power as based on (self)image and communication and all oriented to embrace and own the world, exactly like a baby does when he thinks that there is no boundaries between his will and the world around him. And it's a sociological and historical revolutionary pamphlet about American Society yet filled with fascination for its dark side and the mavericks, like Kane, who embody it. And last but not least, it is a film where the language not just back and support the story, but complete it and sometimes replace the classic narration through a supermodern visual language, like the fantastic sequence reassuming the whole story between Kane and his wife in few quick scenes all set in the same room and linked by camera pans and ellipsis. And Kane is also photographically evocative and impressive, is grand in its character, the lines of his dialogues and monologues, the impact of shots and scenes, the reckless representation of journalism and politics as well as the collusion between business and war. It is too much for a film but still you can find it cold, calculated, not engaging, like often Welles seems to be. But you can't ignore it and, if you do, you will not recognize it in all the films that came after, up to now, and not able to tell the copy from the original. Because a lots of things come from this film. This edition is the best available, it does not just present a fantastic blu ray transfer, but it is full of extras and has a great box and an interesting little book inside.

At some point, most people have probably heard or seen a Citizen Kane reference -- I knew what Rosebud was long before I saw the film. But knowing what Rosebud is isn't the importance of the film -- it's the journey and the art. Welles' performance is incredible, but perhaps even more impressive is the composition of the film. There are multiple shots, camera angles and techniques that somehow look fresh and astounding even today. For me, the haunting, otherworldly shots of Xanadu will always stand out as one of the most impressive film scenes I've seen. As for the Blu Ray itself, the quality is very impressive given the age of the movie. The restoration is carefully done, and the contrast is as it should be (dark blacks) instead of the more washed out look some of the previous releases had. The level of detail is fantastic, and the sets and matte paintings used to construct them appear even more impressive once you can see the full details. Overall, it is a noticeable step up from the DVD releases (as expected). The sound, mixed from a mono source, doesn't quite have the same pop as modern sound does, but that is to be expected, and it still does a wonderful job, The only disappointment I had with the film is the extras. In terms of what they offer, they're quite excellent -- we get things like commentary, as well as the initial trailer and scenes from the screening, but the real gems are the 'The Battle Over Citizen Kane' documentary and the 'RKO 281' HBO movie, both of which chronicle the creation and release of the movie. Unfortunately, what brings them down is that they're both in standard definition, which is a bit jarring given the gorgeous high-def picture of Citizen Kane itself. Overall, this is a fantastic release package for an even more impressive movie, and is absolutely worth checking out if you haven't experienced Citizen Kane before.

In "Citizen Kane" geht es um die Geschichte des Presse-Moguls Charles Foster Kane (der hatte ein reales Vorbild, nämlich William Hearst, in den 20er bis 40er Jahren Amerikas größter Zeitungsverleger mit erheblichem politischen Einfluß). Die Story mag heute nicht mehr jeden ansprechen, es ist auch ein typisch amerikanisches Thema vom Aufstieg und Fall eines berühmten Mannes (Allerdings kann man vergleichsweise darüber spekulieren, daß ein Film über Axel Springer, der sein Privatleben ausschlachtet, in den 50er oder 60er Jahren in Deutschland für einen vergleichbaren Skandal gesorgt hätte, und daß die Springer Presse mit ähnlich drastischen Mitteln gegen den Film vorgegangen wäre wie Hearst gegen Welles: am liebsten hätte Hearst alle "Citizen Kane"-Kopien vernichtet). Warum dieser Film heute so häufig als "bester Film aller Zeiten" angesehen wird, das begründet sich in dem (für 1941 wirklich sensationellen) WIE, nämlich die Art, wie die story erzählt wird: in (verschachteleten) Rückblenden! Das war nicht wirklich neu in Hollywood, aber neu war die subjektive Erzählweise: Der Film beginnt mit dem Tod von Kane. Auf dem Sterbebett in seinem märchenhaften Schloß "XANADU" flüstert er als letztes Wort "Rosebud" (Rosenknospe). Ein Reporter soll die Bedeutung dieses rätselhaften Wortes und damit auch den WIRKLICHEN Charles Foster Kane ergründen. Er befragt Weggefährten, Zeitzeugen, Reporterkollegen, Fosters Ex-Frau, Freunde, Feinde...aus deren Erzählungen werden in nicht-chronologischen Rückblenden wie in einem Puzzle Stationen aus dem Leben Kanes geschildert. Wie in einem Puzzle wird auch der Zuschauer gezwungen, sich daraus sein eigenes Bild von Kane zusammenzusetzen ohne wirklich einer obkektiven Wahrheit näherzukommen. Virtuos wird dabei Gregg Tolands Kamera quasi zum "Miterzähler" des Films. Welles und Toland arbeiteten zum ersten Mal mit Tiefenschärfe und speziellen Weitwinkelobjektiven, die Perspektiven verzerrten und es ermöglichten, Figuren im Vordergrund abzubilden, während der Hintergrund genauso "scharf" war. Dabei konnten Personen mal als "Riesen", mal als "Zwerge" erscheinen, prägnante Gegenstände in den Vordergrund gerückt,Räume tiefer gezeigt und Schnitte weitgehend vermieden werden, indem man die Tiefe des Raumes ausnutzte und ganze Einstellungen ohne Schnitte in einem einzigen Raum filmte.Überblendungen, schnelle Montagefolgen (die an Eisenstein erinnern), unterschiedliche Filmgeschwindigkeiten, die Bewegungsabläufe entweder verzögerten oder schneller werden ließen, wurden als Stilmittel eingesetzt, Kontraste erzeugt. In einer Szene etwa befinden sich Kane und sein bester Freund Leland in den Büros des Zeitungsverlages. In dieser Szene scheint die Kamera förmlich im Boden versunken zu sein, durch diese Untersicht wirkt der Raum überdimensional riesig (ebenso Kane, während Leland "klein" im Hintergrund gelassen wird). Tolands Bildersymbolik spiegelt ständig in Darstellung der subjektiven Größe oder den Bewegungen von Kane seine Gemütszustände wieder: mal gigantisch als "Riese" einen ganzen Raum ausfüllend, mal "klein" und aus Untersicht, mal kindlich und in den letzten Szenen geradezu statuenhaft erstarrt, als ihn seine Frau verläßt (die ihm übrigens ganz treffend sagt, sie habe sich nicht anders gefühlt als die vielen Statuen und Kunstgegenstände, als "Eroberung" und Sammlerobjekt für Kanes eigene Befriedigung). Die Kamera ist ständig in Bewegung und wechselt ständig die Perspektiven. Neu war auch eine der Anfangssequenzen des Films, wo in einer fiktiven "Wochenschau" ein Nachruf auf Kane gezeigt wird. Welles wird hier in einige "echte" Szenen mit Hitler oder Winston Churchill "hineinkopiert", diese "halbdokumentarischen" Tricks hatte man so noch nicht gesehen, und sie wirken total realistisch (Woody Allen's "Zelig" greift diese Methode - mit Sicherheit auch als Hommage an Welles - wieder auf). Die Kameraperspektiven lassen Welles mal als "groß und machtvoll", mal als "winzig und gescheitert" erscheinen, sie prägen im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes subjektive Charakterzeichnungen. Sensationell war auch Welles'eigene schauspielerische Leistung: er, damals erst 25, durchlief dabei in überzeugender Maske und Gestik alle Altersstufen bis hin zum 70jährigen. Die Tonspur ist mit Halls, Echos, unterschiedlichen Lautstärken, überbetonten Geräuschen ebenfalls sehr prägnant und erfindungsreich eingesetzt, daneben gibt es fast stumme Szenen, die eine ganze Episode rein visuell erzählen.Nie weiß der Zuschauer mehr als der ermittelnde Reporter (der im ganzen Film nur von hinten gezeigt wird), erst ganz zum Schluß macht die Kamera den Zuschauer zum Mitwisser und enthüllt uns die wahre Bedeutung des Wortes "Rosebud" - und damit auch viel über die Psyche von Kane, über die tiefliegenden Gründe seiner Besessenheit und seines beruflichen und privaten Scheiterns.Denn was ein Mensch macht und wie er sich entwickelt, liegt oft in der Kindheit begründet. Welles spielt ebenfalls mit der Zeit, manche Ereignisse dehnt er aus, manche verkürzt er wie unter einem Brennglas, etwa diejenige Szene, in der in zwei Minuten der Zerfall von Kanes Ehe nur an einem einzigen Alltagsritual deutlich wird: beim Frühstück. Frisch verheiratet, unterhalten sich die beiden angeregt, cut - die zweite Frühstücksszene zeigt das Verhältnis deutlich abgekühlt, Emily macht ihm deutlich, daß sie sich vernachlässigt fühlt, in der dritten fällt kein Wort, Kane liest seine Zeitung und Emily das Konkurrenzblatt. Am Schluß erkennen wir zwar, was eine tiefe Verletzung für Kane bedeutet hat, trotzdem bleibt uns der Mensch Kane weitgehend ein Rätsel wie für den Reporter - weil Welles uns durch seinen Subjektivismus abwechselnd Sympathien und Antipathien für Kane zuweist und wieder entzieht. Wenn wir überhaupt mit einer Figur des Films sympathisieren sollen, dann ist es wahrscheinlich Leland, der eine aufrichtige ethische Haltung darüber hat, was Journalismus bedeuten soll und Kane ständig daran erinnert. Neben den unterschiedlichen Einschätzungen über die Person Kanes schwankt der Film konsequenterweise ständig zwischen Ernsthaftigkeit, (Real-)Satire, überschwenglichen und traurigen und zuweilen bizarren und grotesken Szenen, er ist visuell dermaßen "voll", daß man ihn mehrere Male sehen muß, um zu erfassen mit welchen Mitteln Welles uns seine Vorstellung von Materialismus und Reichtum vermittelt. Erst beim mehrmaligem Sehen erfaßt man auch Welles'Hinweise auf die Lösung des Rätsels Rosebud: In einer Szene mit Mr. Bernstein brennt im Hintergrund ein Kaminfeuer, das schon auf den an ein Krematorium erinnernden Ofen, in dem privater Plunder von Kane am Filmende verbrannt werden,hindeutet. Die Glaskugel mit Schnee und der Blockhütte taucht mehrere Male im Film auf. Doch viele Zuschauer haben vermutet, daß diese Glaskugel, die an Kanes Kindheitsabschiedsszene vor dem winterlichen ärmlichen Blockkhaus seiner Eltern erinnert, aus eben jenen in einem Laherhaus verstauten Besitztümern Kanes stammt. Irrtum: Schaut man aufmerksam hin, so kann man in einer Szene bei Susan Alexander zuhause (in der Sequenz als sich beide kennenlernen) auf dem Garderobentisch deutlich jene Glaskugel erkennen. Mehrmals führt uns Kane mit versteckten oder offensichtlichen Bildern und Kameraeinstellungen in die Irre. Die Raffinessen vor allem auch der Tonspur kann man besser in der Originalfassung erfassen, die deutsche Synchronisation ist für meine Begriffe nicht immer glücklich. Und das einzige Manko dieser hervorragend restaurierten Fassung ist eben leider auch, daß der Soundtrack von Bernard Herrmann immer noch nicht vollständig wiedergegeben wird, denn auch die Musik als "subjektiven Stimmungserzeuger" hat Welles überzeugend integriert. Der Film hat seinen bleibenden Wert auch als Essay über Macht, den Verlust von Idealen und als kritische Abrechnung mit dem american way of life. Kane macht nichts anderes als sich den Liebesentzug, den er in seiner Kindheit erfahren hat, durch zu einer regelrechten Profilneurose gesteigertes Geltungsbewußtsein zurückzuholen. Macht, Einfluß und Besitz werden ihm wichtiger als ehrlicher Journalismus - eigentlich treibt er seine Zeitung und die Entwicklung seines Imperiums von Anfang an wie einen Eroberungsfeldzug voran. Und nicht zufällig gemahnt sein Name (und das Schloß Xanadu, daß er sich erbaut hat) an einen anderen Machtbesessenen: Kublai Khan. Und wer sich auf die Kino-Magie, die oft ihre eigenen Gesetze hat, einläßt, sieht auch mit einem Lächeln über die wohl größte Logik-Lücke der Filmgeschichte hinweg. Das Wort "Rosebud", welches Charles Foster Kane kurz vorm Exitus flüstert, hat NIEMAND außer ihm selbst gehört... Ein findiger Reporter hatte das auch schon 1941 erkannt und Welles darauf angesprochen. Welles sagte: "Erzählen Sie das ja niemandem weiter!"

Ma critique porte sur l'édition US multizone Citizen Kane 70th Anniversary [Blu-ray ]. Il s'agit d'un digibook publié par Warner comportant le Bluray du film avec quelques bonus (bande-annonce originale, célébrités présentes à la première du film, et deux interviews d'acteurs d'une dizaine de minutes chacune. Le livret d'une cinquantaine de pages en anglais raconte l'histoire du film et quelques anecdotes, quatre pages du synopsis ainsi que des photos du tournage et des portraits des acteurs. Enfin un DVD, également multizone, comporte le documentaire "The Battle over Citizen Kane", de 90mn environ, sous-titré en anglais. Tout d'abord il faut savoir que seul le film est sous-titré en français (et en espagnol), le reste ne l'étant qu'en anglais pour malentendants. La restauration du film est simplement magnifique, tant pour l'image que pour le son qui jouent un rôle égal et radicalement nouveaux, dans ce film qui synthétise non seulement tous les acquis du cinéma d'alors, mais pousse la construction du récit vers des sommets et ds recoins non-linéaires qui, empruntant au cubisme, à l'art baroque, à l’expressionnisme et au roman joycien, constitue un objet filmique unique et radicalement nouveau lors de sa sortie en 1941. Tous les grands cinéastes ultérieurs: Rossellini, Godard, Kubrick, Resnais, même Spielberg, savent qu'ils doivent tout au travail d'Orson Welles. Le son, en Dolby PCM mono, est parfaitement remasterisé et l'image comporte un contraste parfait et aucun défaut. Les cinéphiles les plus "enragés" voudront lire le maître-ouvrage Orson Welles Cinéaste Coffret en 3 volumes : Mais notre dépendance à l'image est énorme... ; Les films de la période américaine ; Les films de la période nomade : Une Caméra Visible . Sinon on regardera la conférence de l'auteur intitulée « Cours de cinéma: "Citizen Kane" d'Orson Welles » (disponible sur Dailymotion) pour apprécier la portée de ce film dans l'histoire du cinéma.

Classic cinema, often claimed to be the greatest film ever made - and not too long, as many contemporary movies are.