Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane" DVD questions

I am ashamed to admit it, but I have the DVD for this film SEALED in my bedroom closet. I HAVE NEVER SEEN THE FILM EVER!

I purchased it a while ago, and I have some sort of mental block, as I keep forgetting I have it...

Busy tomorrow, but WILL WATCH on Thursday!

 

FYI - a new 2 disc version of Kane is about to be released in the UK. It is said to contain a much better print than the US one (taken from a "newly discovered interpositive print")...we shall see !

It will also contain extras different to the current US version. This will include a different documentary narrated by Barry Norman, the famous "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast, Welles commercial recording of the "Happy Prince" starring Bing Crosby and more.

Unfortunately, it does not include the Peter Bogdanovich commentary from the US edition, which is replaced with one by film historian Ken Barnes.

Anyway, no disputing this is one helluva movie!!!

 

The US DVD was also taken from a newly discovered interpositive.

 

This new UK version is said to improve on that particular "newly discovered interpositive" still further. Does that mean cleaned up/no noised even more???!

Probably worth it for the new extras me-thinks...

 

Togo - thanks for that info - I was wondering about this, given the different extras. Where did you find out about the newly improved UK version?

I note that Amazon UK had a picture, with completely different cover art.

 

Hi Paul,

Yes, that's correct. The cover art is different for the UK version.

As usual with me, I picked up the info. through a magazine ("The Word") which carried a big feature on it this month. There are also large 2 page ads in a number of UK DVD/film publications at the moment. I also read a short news item in one of these mags (Total DVD I think) that made the claim that the new print would improve on the US version.

Obviously, I can't vouch for the actual visual/audio quality yet, but it should be interesting at least!

 

There have been a lot of great classics mentioned in this thread. What has not been mentioned is the newest Criterion release of Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast. Its an amazing improvement on the earlier Criterion release. Every film lover should have a special connection with this magical film and this release is just awsome.

Also not mentioned is Singin in the Rain. The transfer is simply stunning. I can't say if its true to the original film, but the DVD is captivating.

Another notable classic is Night of the Hunter which is a very nice transfer.

I also agree that the Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep are well worth getting. They don't look as pristine as Sunset Blvd. (for example) but are quite good.

 

This is why I didn't think anything of the lack of grain when I bought the new DVD. I just assumed that they finally found a source so close to the original that grain wasn't an issue. On my 19 inch set it looks beautiful, but I'm sure all of you with fine video equipment must be pissed at this trend (and I am too for that matter).

Didn't Disney actually ADD grain or "noise" to the VHS video release of Bambi about 10 years ago? IIRC, since the video was struck from a new negative, they added grain to mimic the original release prints.

Dan C

 

That's insane!!!

 

ARRRRGH! Damn those Disney execs! They're pure evil!

Well, at least now they've got archivists there who do a good job of keeping/preserving their stuff, at least I think. I believe he George Eastman House in Rochester, NY sometimes gets visits from a Disney archivist who shows rare footage from the Disney vaults.

 

Never knew that. Wish I didn't. I assumed Disney had one of the most complete vaults in the biz.

Dan C.

 

You have some great stories to tell, Steve. Ever thought of writing your autobiography (perhaps many years from now, when you're 64)?

 

Regarding grain

I think that any compression scheme, such as Mpeg, that exploits frame to frame similarities in order to obtain a low data rate, has big problems when confronted with a series of high grain images. The grain uses up too much of the available data bandwidth, so there wouldn't be enough room on the DVD for the various "extra features" that seem to be mandatory nowdays.

 

That's a good point, biggerdog. Relates to the observation I wrote yesterday on a different thread on the SuperBit DVD releases - those releases have bitrates consistently high, at around 8Mb/sec, whereas many DVDs drop right down in the bitrate depending on the scene. And the SuperBit discs don't have extras, because they can't fit them on the disc. A reviewer of one of the SuperBits reported much better definition and contrast in dark backgrounds - you'd expect that perhaps film grain might also be rendered more visible with a less compressed DVD.

 

Well, I ordered Citizen Kane as the 2-disc special edition from Amazon.com, and I'm waiting for it to arrive. Imagine my surprise (and annoyance) last night when I came across a news tidbit stating that a 2-disc special edition of CItizen Kane will be released in Australia in September by Warners, and it will be the exact same release, with the Ebert and Bogdanovich commentaries and the other extras.

It's great that we're getting this release in Australia, but my annoyance stems from the fact that I used up my gift voucher for something I'll be able to get locally...oh well. After a couple of years of the US version being available, I didn't think we'd see the same one released here. In fact I thought it more likely that we'd get the new UK 2 disc version on Universal, which would make an interesting comparison with the US version.

 

Paul,

From the review I've seen in Sight and Sound this month, the UK version disappointingly has problems with the newly discovered/cleaned up interpositive print...it sounds just like the US version to me.

The reviewer suggested that, when compared directly to the old VHS video release, the new DVD contained far less detail in the dark/shaded areas of the frame.

This seems to echo some of the earlier comments in the thread (not least Steve's).

Oh well, at least it is still a great movie and the extras are well worth having!!!

 

Thanks Greg - My copy of the NTSC 2-disc set arrived from the US this morning. I have been debating whether to send it back straight away, get the PAL region 4 version when it comes out, and use the store credit to get something that will probably never be released in Australia (like Roger Corman's "X-The Man With X-Ray Eyes"!).....decisions, decisions......

If I had more cash flow at the moment I wouldn't bother. Then there's the consideration of whether I'd prefer to have an NTSC version with slightly lower resolution, or a PAL version with the 4% speedup.....

 

Well, I have viewed the US 2-disc set from Warners, and it's pretty stunning. It's a keeper. I never thought I'd see Kane looking this good. I can't imagine the UK version being much better. Haven't checked out the extras yet, but the Bogdanovich and Ebert commentaries sound fascinating - can't wait to hear them in full.