Citizen Kane Criterion 4K

[Barry]

Citizen Kane 4K review

"Charles Foster Kane was a man who got everything he wanted, and then lost it. Maybe Rosebud was something he couldn't get or lost. No, I don't think it explains anything.  I don't think any word  explains a man's life.  No guess Rosebud is just a piece in a  jigsaw puzzle - a missing piece."

You probably  know by now that Rosebud was the name for his Universal Remote Control.

Citizen Kane is the first 4K movie released by the Criterion Collection. Criterion, since my Laser Discs days had released great restored editions of great and interesting movies. Often with wonderful features.  Urged to release movies in 4K they finally started and 1941’s Citizen Kane is one of their first.

This is just a great movie, one of the greatest ever made, with, of course, great direction, great photography and a great script.

Briefly, a reporter tries to discover the key to the life of Charles Foster Kane, a newspaper publisher. The movie is not told in chronological order, but is very easy to follow. The photography, even by today standards is exceptional and helps teel the story.  The score, very present on this edition but not so much on the old TV versions of this two hour film, is also impressive.

There are massive bonus features and commentaries. But sadly, no original negative. So the movie was restored using many different masters and prints of the movie. First, it looks really nice, better than the blu-ray, but not that much better. The blacks are blacker and there are no noticeable scratches.  But here are scenes with a great deal of grain. Deliberately, the newsreel at the beginning of the picture is made to look like a newsreel, with scratches and stuff. But Citizen Kane has neve, in my lifetime, looked better than this, it looks great.  And it sounds great too, but no better than the last Criterion Blu Ray.

• In the 4K UHD edition: One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and three Blu-rays with the film and special features
• Three audio commentaries: from 2021 featuring Orson Welles scholars James Naremore and Jonathan Rosenbaum; from 2002 featuring filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich; and from 2002 featuring film critic Roger Ebert
• The Complete “Citizen Kane,” (1991), a rarely seen feature-length BBC documentary
• New interviews with critic Farran Smith Nehme and film scholar Racquel J. Gates
• New video essay by Orson Welles scholar Robert Carringer
• New program on the film’s special effects by film scholars and effects experts Craig Barron and Ben Burtt
• Interviews from 1990 with editor Robert Wise; actor Ruth Warrick; optical-effects designer Linwood Dunn; Bogdanovich; filmmakers Martin Scorsese, Henry Jaglom, Martin Ritt, and Frank Marshall; and cinematographers Allen Daviau, Gary Graver, and Vilmos Zsigmond
• New documentary featuring archival interviews with Welles
• Interviews with actor Joseph Cotten from 1966 and 1975
• The Hearts of Age, a brief silent film made by Welles as a student in 1934
• Television programs from 1979 and 1988 featuring appearances by Welles and Mercury Theatre producer John Houseman
• Program featuring a 1996 interview with actor William Alland on his collaborations with Welles

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[AVSCraig]

I really need to pick this up. I haven't seen it since I took a film appreciation class in college. 

[bmoney]

Never seen it. But obv as a movie buff it’s a must watch. I have it in the queue but haven’t watched it yet. Maybe soon. 

[tripplej]

I have seen this many moons ago, while I liked it, I wouldn't say I loved it..

Will have to revisit it.

[David Vaughn]

I have seen this many moons ago, while I liked it, I wouldn't say I loved it..

Will have to revisit it.

I've seen it once and thought it was just OK. What made it so special at the time is all of the photography innovations it utilized, which were revolutionary at the time. Nowadays, they are commonplace. 

[tripplej]

I've seen it once and thought it was just OK. What made it so special at the time is all of the photography innovations it utilized, which were revolutionary at the time. Nowadays, they are commonplace.

Thanks David for the insight.. I see what you mean about the innovations and why folks love it. For me thou, it is acceptable for the movie going experience but it is not one of my top 10 to see that is for sure.

[Paul Heroy]

It's like listening to Charlie Parker. Incredibly innovative and brilliant but the sound quality is mostly poor and the things he did that were astounding have permeated jazz and elsewhere, so it's virtually impossible to experience to it the way it was experienced in the 1940s.