Film Credits

Screenplay by: Herman K. Mankiewicz, Orson Welles

Directed by: Orson Welles

Starring: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotton, Dorothy Comingore, Everett Sloane, Ray Collins, George Coulouris, Agnes Moorehead, Ruth Warrick, Erskine Sanford, Wiliam Alland

Review

All of us should thank the stars that the folks over at The Voyager Company are as compulsive as the famous Mr. Kane - they consider nothing is satisfactory unless it is the biggest and best possible, and that's exactly what their newly remastered "Criterion Collection" editions of Citizen Kane are like. There is no comparison. Since everything that could possibly be said about the film itself has already been written or stated nearly everywhere else, let's move right ahead and talk about what you'll find hidden inside this fabulous disc collection. For the purposes of this review, please note that we are focusing upon the deluxe CAV edition.

As you are probably aware, Citizen Kane recently celebrated it's 50th Anniversary, having been restored to full glory and reissued theatrically to select theatres to commemorate the event. While Turner's restored version is very nice indeed, Voyager chose to take matters into their own hands and went ahead with their own restoration of the film. The disc was mastered using a fine grain master positive provided by the UCLA Film and Television Archives, and "every possible form of electronic enhancement techniques has been used to make this videodisc the closest approximation of the experience Welles intended to give the viewer." They're not kidding! Not only does the new Kane look much better than Voyager's original disc releases of the title, it also surpasses the official Turner "restored" disc release available from Image Entertainment. The transfer of Citizen Kane is absolutely perfect throughout - sure, there are some soft spots, a few blemishes, and some splices here and there - but on the whole, the print is in fine shape, the imagery so incredibly sharp and clear, and the contrasts/black levels are a sight to behold. The CAV still frmaes are perfectly rendered. The CX-encoded digital RCA monaural soundtrack is in as near-perfect shape as I could imagine, featuring clear and distinct audio with a wide range. The film itself is spread over five disc sides, with supplementary materials appearing on both sides five and six. This three-disc set comes packaged inside a lovely tri-fold jacket and contain 66 listed chapter markers (29 for the film, 37 for supplementary materials). Also available from Voyager is a CLV edition, featuring the same print transfer but containing no extra features. Both discs were pressed at 3M.

Most of side five contains The Making of a Classic, a visual essay by scholar Robert L. Carringer. Broken up into 19 separate chapters (and grouped under three subdivisions), this text essay follows Kane's entire production history, from pre-production through to final release. The essay is supported by a number of production photos, storyboards, sketches, advertising and other materials. Carringer's essay was previously included with Voyager's original 1984 Citizen Kane disc release, and this 1991 reissue features all the materials presented in the 1984 version plus more than 60 new photos, storyboards and sketches. All in all, a total of 209 text frames, 230 photos/illustrations, and 22m30s minutes of motion footage are featured.

The first subdivision is "Getting Kane Ready (March-June 1940)," which details the pre-production stages of the film. Included are: details on Orson Welles' ill-fated Hearts of Darkness project (w/storyboards); Kane's scripting (with film clip); art direction (with complete storyboards on three filmed scenes, plus deleted scenes); the casting; and makeup (focusing mostly on the aging effects).

Next up is "Getting Kane Made (July-November 1940)," which discusses the actual production period of the film. Sections here are devoted to cinematography (including ten frame enlargements from cinematographer Gregg Toland's The Long Voyage Home); the Newspaper Party sequence (with film clip; also includes stills from deleted brothel scene); Orson Welles at work as actor and director; special effects; music (with film clips); and a complete breakdown of the production costs.

Finally, there is "Getting Kane Out (January-May 1941 to today)," which looks at the film's actual release. Appearing are: newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst's threatening the film's release; advertising campaigns (with poster and ad art); the original 5-minute theatrical trailer (specially made by Welles and featuring no scenes from the film)p a chapter on the film's New York, Hollywood and other premieres; Welles' departing the Hollywood scene; Kane's 1950's theatrical reissue (with ad art); Kane topping critic's "best-of" lists; The Hearts of Age, a silent black & white short made by a 19-year-old Welles in 1934, and featuring bizarre camera angles, composition and makeup (filmed and presented at 18 frames per second, the CAV for this short has three steady frames followed by one jittery frame); and a bibliography. Disc credits and color bars round out side five.

Making up the entirety of side six is The Legacy of Citizen Kane, an incredible 73-minute interactive documentary made up of 35 interviews with various directors, cinematographers, Kane collaborators and Welles' associates, all of whom are talking about how great Welles and Kane are (and rightfully so, I might add...). Broken up into 13 individual chapters, each chapter contains three separate interviews, presented simultaneously on a three-way split screen, with each interview obviously having its own audio track (digital, analog 1, analog 2). Each chapter opens with a still frame introducing each of the three participants, and includes a short list of credits. A complete chapter and audio index for all 35 participants is tacked onto the end of each chapter. The interviews were videotaped during the fall of 1990 in New York, Los Angeles and Europe, and were shot in a variety of formats, all of which transferred very well to disc. Oh, and in case you're curious, the folks interviewed include Peter Bogdanovich, Roger Corman, Joe Dante, Allen Daviau, Brian De Palma, Lynwood Dunn, Richard Edlund, Blake Edwards, John Frankenheimer, Costa Gavras, Gary Graver, Taylor Hackford, Henry Jaglom, Rick Jewell, Lawrence Kasdan, Laszlo Kovacs, John Landis, Barry Levinson, Gary Lucchesi, Frank Marshall, Paul Mazursky, Burt Reynolds, Martin Ritt, Joel Schumacher, Martin Scorsese, Ridley Scott, Susan Seidelman, Penelope Spheeris, Robert Townsend, Theo Van de Sande, Ruth Warrick, Haskell Wexler, Richard Wilson, Robert Wise and Vilmos Zsigmond.

Voyager's CAV Citizen Kane is a formidable package indeed, and is a worthy edition to every laserdisc collection.

Supplementary Recap

• Restored version.
• The Making of a Film Classic: A Visual Essay by Robert L. Carringer (includes text, photos, sketches, storyboards, film clips, etc.)
  • Introduction
  • Getting Kane Ready: March-June 1940
    • Orson Welles to Hollywood
    • Scripts (film clip)
    • Art direction
    • Casting
    • Makeup
  • Getting Kane Made: July-November 1940
    • Cinematography
    • The newspaper party (film clip)
    • Actor/director at work
    • Special effects
    • Music (film clips)
    • Production costs
  • Getting Kane Out: January-May 1941 to today
    • Hearst threatens release
    • Advertising campaigns
    • Original theatrical trailer (clip)
    • First release: May 1941
    • Welles' Hollywood demise
    • Re-release in the 50s
    • Kane tops critics list
    • Hearts of Age (clip)
    • Bibliography
• The Legacy of Citizen Kane (an interactive documentary)