Citizen Kane at 80
CITIZEN Kane is 80 and to mark that significant birthday Criterion have released a seriously lavish Blu-ray edition of Orson Welles' most beloved cinematic creation.
A 4K Ultra HD transfer, a 48-page book, posters, stills and commentary tracks from the likes of director Peter Bogdanovich and critic Robert Ebert suggest this may just be the ultimate re-issue of Welles' 1941 debut, but is Kane as is often suggested really "the greatest film of all time"? That's a different matter.
There's no doubting the technical quality of its controversial tale of the rise and fall of a wealthy newspaper magnate, of course. The race through the colourful life of Charles Foster Kane and the search for meaning in his enigmatic last words is delivered at a mighty pace, while Welles dazzles throughout in the lead role as the larger than life mogul.
It was nominated for a total of nine Academy Awards in its year of its release and the grand scale of the storytelling and the technical prowess displayed in almost every single frame make it a truly unique slice of Hollywood film-making.
The wild kinetic energy that Welles harnesses on screen is echoed by his performance behind the camera as he offers up a startling array of cinematic styles, from gothic horror to melodrama and German Expressionism, proving he's aware of just about every trick in the film-making book.
Citizen Kane breaks rules like any good and genuine artistic game changer should. Kane's career is revisited through flashbacks and news reports that use stock footage, interviews and special effects to explain the rise of the film's enigmatic main man. Through all this bravura storytelling, Welles creates a multi-layered figure who's simultaneously overblown yet oddly believable.
My problem with it is nothing to do with the film from a technical perspective. Ground-breaking and envelope pushing, Citizen Kane is a genuinely breathtaking slice of cinema at its most adventurous and risk taking. There is, however, something objectionable about that central figure of Kane that leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
Hard as it is to imagine the man actually sitting down to enjoy a movie in any shape or form, this is apparently a favourite film of Donald Trump and there's a preening sense of vanity and a chest-beating bravado on show here which makes that suggestion totally believable.
Such personal misgivings don't matter when we consider the film in a wider perspective of course. As a writer, director and actor, the possibilities seemed boundless for Welles (then just 25-years-old, remember) which leaves you with an almost palpable sense of sadness at what might have been. The man's career thundered relentlessly downwards in the decades that followed and he never reached the heady heights he hits here. That's sad whatever way you view it.
It may not be my favourite film of all time, but Citizen Kane still stands proud as an incredible piece of art all the same – and this new release is the best possible way to enjoy it.
