Criterion

Citizen Kane

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In 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.

THREE-BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

  • New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • Three audio commentaries, featuring Orson Welles scholars James Naremore and Jonathan Rosenbaum, filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich, and 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
  • Two video essays, by film scholar Robert L. Carringer and filmmakers David Cairns and Randall William Cook
  • New program 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
  • Production stills
  • Newsreel footage
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: Deluxe packaging, including a book with an essay by film critic Bilge Ebiri

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