Citizen Kane (Two-Disc Special Edition) | Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten

Citizen Kane (Two-Disc Special Edition) | Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten | Rose...but?

DVDs:

Citizen Kane (Two-...

	Citizen Kane (Two-Disc Special Edition) Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten Turner Home Ent, 2001 average customer review:based on 694 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

You don't tneed hese reviews to tell you what to think

You don't need these reviews to tell you what to think.

Watch this movie and see for yourself -- not whether you think "it was the greatest movie of all time" whatever that means -- but rather whether you connected with Kane, a man with a life in search of meaning.

Born anonymous Kane's life was dramatically altered when his mother found herself in possession of great fortune. How would the existence of this fortune affect Kane? Would, could money buy him happiness?

Or was happiness something more elusive?

On the one hand this story is sort of the ultimate counter factual for all of us: that if given the money, our lives would not have any more meaning than they otherwise would have. On this hand Kane is like George Bailey from "It's a Wonderful Life" and we all come away realizing that money can't buy happiness and that all was, at the end of the day, for the best.

On the other hand, this story is the ultimate lie: Of course money can't buy happiness but it can secure possession of condos and cars and things and with it the kind of experiences that all too often accompany happiness. In this view, Kane's problem isn't the human condition but simply his lack of imagination.

What ever your views you certainly have a couple hours to sit and view this movie.

Yes, there are the officiandos who know the identity of the camera guy or how many hours it took Welles to prepare for filming or what they served each day for breakfast but those things don't make a film enjoyable.

Watch it for yourself and just see if you connect.

That's what matters.

for more information click here

Rose...but?

I have seen many movies in my time, and this not one of them. I have "borrowed" this movie from my boss countless times and have never viewed it. Despite this, I feel that this film should be counted among the greatest films of our time. While I personally deplore Mr.Welles and his mop people, this film is so wonderful that I can overlook my feelings and say "Whozaa!" and "Hallelujah". Anyone who looks at the puzzles in this film and is not brought to tears is truly without feeling. My only issue with this marvelous piece of filmage is that it is not longer. I could look at those puzzles forever.

for more information click here

Classic Masterpiece. Timeless Archive Of American History. Orson Welles' Debut-A Masterstroke Of Pure Genius. A MUST-SEE!!!

Orson Welles' film debut is nothing less than a masterstroke of pure genius. A modern "Tragicall Historie Of Dr. Faustus" (written by Christopher Marlowe; the play, NOT THE MOVIE), this deeply sentimental portrait of lost love is remarkable not only for its thematic elements, but for the camerawork (considered revolutionary in 1941; expertly shot by Gregg Toland, who had worked on the successful "Wuthering Heights" two years earlier). This film deserves to be seen not just by film students, but by everyone. What a shame that this film was not a box-office hit upon its initial release in 1941. The only movie over which Orson Welles had complete creative control (he was subjected to his films being severely re-edited and reshot, most notably "The Magnificent Ambersons,"
"Macbeth," "Othello, Moor Of Venice" and "Touch Of Evil," among others, for the remainder of his career), this film remains his best. Not Rated.

for more information click here

A TRUE WORK OF FILM ART!

When wealthy media magnate Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles) dies, he utters the enigmatic word "Rosebud". An obituary newsreel documents the events in his public life. The producer of the newsreel asks a reporter, Thompson (William Alland), to find out about Kane's private life and personality, in particular to discover the meaning behind his last word. The reporter interviews the great man's friends and associates, and Kane's story unfolds as a series of flashbacks.

First, Thompson approaches Kane's second wife, Susan Alexander (Dorothy Comingore), who refuses to tell him anything. Thompson then goes to the library of Mr. Thatcher (George Coulouris). It is there that Thompson learns about Kane's childhood. In the first flashback, Kane as a young child is abandoned by his mother (Agnes Moorehead) when he becomes suddenly wealthy, and sent to live with his banker, Mr Thatcher, despite the misgivings of Kane's father.

Other flashbacks show Kane's entry into the newspaper business and his profit-seeking with low-quality "yellow journalism". He takes control of the newspaper and hires all the best journalists (which he gets from the Inquirer's rival, The Chronicle). His attempted rise to power is documented, including his first marriage to a President's niece and his campaign for the office of governor. A "love nest" scandal ends both his marriage and his political aspirations. Kane remarries, but his domineering personality destroys his relationships and pushes away his loved ones.

Despite Thompson's numerous interviews with the people in Kane's life, he is unable to solve the mystery; he concludes that "Rosebud" will remain an enigma. However, the camera pans over workers burning some of Kane's many possessions. One throws an old sled, with the word "Rosebud" painted on it, into the fire, the same sled that Kane was riding as a child the day his mother sent him away. There is a shot of a chimney with black smoke coming out. After this twist ending, the film ends as it began, with the "No Trespassing" sign. The closing shot shows the "K" on top of the iron fence.

Susan with a symbolic jigsaw puzzleCitizen Kane has inspired myriad interpretations over the decades. In Orson Welles: Hello Americans, Simon Callow argued that Citizen Kane should not just be understood as a fictional work but also as a post-fictional piece: a piece where the audience is drawn in to view themselves in the process of watching the film. In a 1941 review, Jorge Luis Borges called Citizen Kane a "metaphysical detective story," in that "... [its] subject (both psychological and allegorical) is the investigation of a man's inner self, through the works he has wrought, the words he has spoken, the many lives he has ruined..." Borges noted that "Overwhelmingly, endlessly, Orson Welles shows fragments of the life of the man, Charles Foster Kane, and invites us to combine them and reconstruct him." As well, "Forms of multiplicity and incongruity abound in the film: the first scenes record the treasures amassed by Kane; in one of the last, a poor woman, luxuriant and suffering, plays with an enormous jigsaw puzzle on the floor of a palace that is also a museum." Borges points out that "... At the end we realize that the fragments are not governed by a secret unity: the detested Charles Foster Kane is a simulacrum, a chaos of appearances."

The film combines revolutionary cinematography (by Gregg Toland, with whom Welles shared a title card, which was a gesture of Welles' appreciation for Toland's overall contribution to the film, much like John Ford previously shared credit with Toland for The Long Voyage Home) with an Oscar-winning screenplay (by Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz -- though most film history circles consider Mankiewicz's contribution to the screenplay to be far greater than that of Welles), and a lineup of first time film actors, associates of Mr. Welles from his stint at the Mercury Theatre, such as Joseph Cotten and Agnes Moorehead.This a true work of film art and many have tried to unsuccessfully emulate the camera angles and the methodology of the angles and pathos.

Noel Serrano
Gala Foundation

for more information click here