HOT 4K NEWS
MANY CONSIDER “Citizen Kane” the most dazzling debut feature in cinema history, twenty-five-year-old writer-producer-director-star Orson Welles synthesized the possibilities of sound-era filmmaking into what could be called the first truly modern movie. In telling the story of the meteoric rise and precipitous fall of a William Randolph Hearst–like newspaper magnate named Charles Foster Kane, Welles not only created the definitive portrait of American megalomania, he also unleashed a torrent of stylistic innovations—from the jigsaw-puzzle narrative structure to the stunning deep-focus camera work of Gregg Toland—that have ensured that Citizen Kane remains fresh and galvanizing for every new generation of moviegoers to encounter it.
SPECS:
Video: New 4K digital restoration from the camera negative and HDR10 and Dolby Vision grading.
Audio: Uncompressed monaural soundtrack
EXTRAS:
On three Blu-ray discs
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
Selection of The Mercury Theatre on the Air radio plays featuring many of the actors from Citizen Kane
Trailer
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Plus: Deluxe packaging, including a book with an essay by film critic Bilge Ebiri
Comments