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DVD Citizen Kane
Arguably the greatest of American films, Orson Welles's 1941 masterpiece, made when he was only 26, still unfurls like a dream and carries the viewer along the mysterious currents of time and memory to reach a mature (if ambiguous) conclusion: people are the sum of their contradictions, and can't be known easily. Welles plays newspaper magnate Charles Foster Kane, taken from his mother as a boy and made the ward of a rich industrialist. The result is that every well-meaning or tyrannical or self-destructive move he makes for the rest of his life appears in some way to be a reaction to that deeply wounding event. Written by Welles and Herman J. Mankiewicz, and photographed by Gregg Toland, the film is the sum of Welles's awesome ambitions as an artist in Hollywood. He pushes the limits of then-available technology to create a true magic show, a visual and aural feast that almost seems to be rising up from a viewer's subconsciousness. As Kane, Welles even ushers in the influence of Bertolt Brecht on film acting. This is truly a one-of-a-kind work, and in many ways is still the most modern of modern films from the 20th century. --Tom Keogh
For years I had heard of this Citizen Kane movie. I heard that it was the one of the greatest films, if not the greatest film of all time. But I had always had my doubts on this movie. It seems to me that almost every film that people consider "classics" or "masterpieces" are nothing more than overrated, over-hyped films that aren't that great to begin with. After finally watching "Citizen Kane" for the first time, I must say that my opinion about these "classic" films are still the same. I went into this film with an open mind, really expecting a good movie, but that's not what I got. I got quite a long, boring film with a weak plot and storyline. Heck, I knew what "Rosebud" meant 15 minutes before the movie ended!!I found myself not caring about any of the characters at all, especially Kane. As many people have already written, I do give credit to Welles for the inovatitive camera angles and some creative lines of dialogue here and there, but I see NOTHING in the this movie that would make me think that this movie is ANYWHERE NEAR one of the greatest films of all time.
A film I enjoy.
Okay, I hadn't looked at the reviews for Citizen Kane before, and, well, they are about what I expected. Love and hate.
No problem. This film is not for everyone.
That said, I love it. It draws me in, and I think it does so because it makes me curious. I want to know more about the characters, and I am ultimately disappointed as much as the reporters are.
That said, I'm not too happy with this dvd. I had the GREAT pleasure of seeing aphenominally high-quality print at the Crest theater in Sacramento 15 years ago, a print that was used to the 50th anniversary video tape. It was clear, and very detailed.
This dvd is clear and detailed, but somehow just doesn't look right. It's too clean, too clear, and at times I feel that not just dust and scratches have been removed, but also details in the film. Somethings are just plain missing - raindrops disappear, and the opening newsreel seems to have been too cleaned up as well. It needs to look beat up!
So, four stars. Nice try, too much restoration.
For those who don't like the film, don't buy it.
For those who do, stop arguing, and go watch the film again. :)
Never bored after over 165 viewings
Others have analyzed the greatness of this film far better than I could ever hope to..... I just think that it might of interest to tell you all that as a Drama teacher for 35 years, I showed this classic to every one of my classes..That makes over 165 viewings...not to mention the times I showed it to friends or just watched myself..And THE FILM NEVER FAILED TO FASCINATE ME! With every viewing I discovered a new golden nugget of genius...NUFF SAID!
A truly perfect movie, the 1942 Casablanca still wows viewers today, and for good reason. Its unique story of a love triangle set against terribly high stakes in the war against a monster is sophisticated instead of outlandish, intriguing instead of garish. Humphrey Bogart plays the allegedly apolitical club owner in unoccupied French territory that is nevertheless crawling with Nazis; Ingrid Bergman is the lover who mysteriously deserted him in Paris; and Paul Heinreid is her heroic, slightly bewildered husband. Claude Rains, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and Conrad Veidt are among what may be the best supporting cast in the history of Hollywood films. This is certainly among the most spirited and ennobling movies ever made. --Tom KeoghMore Info about this DVD Director(s): Michael Curtiz - Scott Benson (II) DVD Release Date: Released the 15 February 2000 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Still the tightest, sharpest, and most cynical of Hollywood's official deathless classics, bracingly tough even by post-Tarantino standards. Humphrey Bogart is Dashiell Hammett's definitive private eye, Sam Spade, struggling to keep his hard-boiled cool as the double-crosses pile up around his ankles. The plot, which dances all around the stolen Middle Eastern statuette of the title, is too baroque to try to follow, and it doesn't make a bit of difference. The dialogue, much of it lifted straight from Hammett, is delivered with whip-crack speed and sneering ferocity, as Bogie faces off against Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet, fends off the duplicitous advances of Mary Astor, and roughs up a cringing "gunsel" played by Elisha Cook Jr. It's an action movie of sorts, at least by... More Info about this DVD Director(s): John Huston - William Dieterle - Jean Negulesco DVD Release Date: Released the 03 October 2006 Usually ships in 4 to 11 days
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There's no getting around a simple, basic truth: watching Lawrence of Arabia in any home-video format represents a compromise. There's no better way to appreciate this epic biographical adventure than to see it projected in 70 millimeter onto a huge theater screen. That caveat aside, David Lean's masterful "desert classic" is still enjoyable on the small screen, especially if viewed in widescreen format. (If your only option is to view a "pan & scan" version, it's best not to bother; this is a film for which the widescreen format is utterly mandatory.) Peter O'Toole gives a star-making performance as T.E. Lawrence, the eccentric British officer who united the desert tribes of Arabia against the Turks during World War I. Lean orchestrates sweeping battle sequences and breathtaking... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Peter O'Toole DVD Release Date: Released the 03 April 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Billy Wilder's noir-comic classic about death and decay in Hollywood remains as pungent as ever in its power to provoke shock, laughter, and gasps of astonishment. Joe Gillis (William Holden), a broke and cynical young screenwriter, is attempting to ditch a pair of repo men late one afternoon when he pulls off L.A.'s storied Sunset Boulevard and into the driveway of a seedy mansion belonging to Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson), a forgotten silent movie luminary whose brilliant acting career withered with the coming of talkies. The demented old movie queen lives in the past, assisted by her devoted (but intimidating) butler, Max (played by Erich von Stroheim, the legendary director of Greed and Swanson's own lost epic, Queen Kelly). Norma dreams of making a comeback in a remake... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Billy Wilder DVD Release Date: Released the 26 November 2002 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Marlon Brando's famous "I coulda been a contenda" speech is such a warhorse by now that a lot of people probably feel they've seen this picture already, even if they haven't. And many of those who have seen it may have forgotten how flat-out thrilling it is. For all its great dramatic and cinematic qualities, and its fiery social criticism, Elia Kazan's On the Waterfront is also one of the most gripping melodramas of political corruption and individual heroism ever made in the United States, a five-star gut-grabber. Shot on location around the docks of Hoboken, New Jersey, in the mid-1950s, it tells the fact-based story of a longshoreman (Brando's Terry Malloy) who is blackballed and savagely beaten for informing against the mobsters who have taken over his union and sold it out to... More Info about this DVD DVD Release Date: Released the 23 October 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
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