Citizen Kane

Everybody's talking about it!

review by  Darth Buzz

Picture: 10

Sound: 9

Menus/Extras: 9

Overall: 9

Notes:  Last time I saw Kane was on an extra craptacular VHS and I was quite happy with the movie and didn't know any better about the picture and sound quality.  This DVD takes a sledgehammer to that old VHS that I saw.  The picture is nothing short of stunning.  The sound is in Mono and you might say, " Gee Buzz, a 9 for a Mono soundtrack?  What the hell is wrong with you?"  and my answer would be that this soundtrack sounds just like it should.  This isn't a popcorn summer flick.  This is cinema!  Besides, last time I saw this on Shitvision VHS it had a bonus of pops and hiss in the soundtrack.  All pops and hiss have been removed from this DVD version.  It sounds like it should.  As for the extras, I don't expect much from a film where the creators of the film are dead, but Citizen Kane has a bunch of quality extras.  It has two feature-length audio commentaries, one with Roger Ebert and one with Welles Biographer Peter Bogdanovich, The Battle Over Citizen Kane (an Oscar nominated documentary), a 1941 movie premiere newsreel, a gallery of storyboards, photos, alternate ad campaigns, studio correspondence, and other stuff.  In short this DVD kicks ass.

Darth Buzz

SCORE: 10

What is there to say about a film that many call the best film of all time? The American Film Institute ranks this film as #1. Go look at the AFI 100 Greatest Movies and tell me that isn't a kick ass list, and Citizen Kane is at the top. It probably deserves that spot too.

From the lighting to the camera angles, to the dialog, to the story, everything in Citizen Kane is stylistically over the top. Nothing before it was even close and everything after owes it some credit. What's more incredible is that this was young Orson Welles'(25) first shot at directing a film. To quote Mr. Welles himself, "I started at the top and worked down."

If you're any kind of a movie fan at all and haven't seen Citizen Kane it's kind of like being a basketball fan and not knowing anything about Michael Jordan. Get your head in the game. Go see Citizen Kane.