Citizen Kane

MSRP: $29.99

Number of Discs: 2

That film audiences ever got to see Citizen Kane at all is no small wonder in itself. That the film was made by a 24- year old theater phenom, Orson Welles, who had never sat behind a camera in his life, makes it truly miraculous. Welles based his narrative on the life of newspaper tycoon Randolph Hearst, who blacklisted Welles for the rest of Hearst’s natural life. The film’s original print was saved from destruction several times and, at Hearst’s threats, Citizen Kane was banned from all but one movie house in North America. Citizen Kane was nominated for nine Academy Awards but only won one—Best Screenplay—and for years the film sunk into oblivion. Such tales make The Battle for Citizen Kane, the documentary featured on the second disc, thoroughly captivating, but what of the film itself?

The documentary provides the back story to perhaps the single greatest and most revolutionary piece of cinema ever constructed. A political commentary, a compelling and an extraordinary study in cinematography, Citizen Kane, originally veiled in ignominy, was exalted in subsequent years. The American Film Institute named Citizen Kane the number one American Film of all time, and it has long (but deservedly) been the darling of cinema’s intelligentsia. This relatively no frill treatment has restored the picture to an almost resplendent shine. Press photos, original trailers, advertising campaigns and storyboards abound, but the true treat is the audio commentary. Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert surprises with adroit and shrewd insight into the film’s technical aspects while Welles biographer Peter Bogdanovich fills in historical and personal minutia. This is the Citizen Kane we’ve all been waiting for.

The Godfather DVD Collection

MSRP: $105.90 (Many stores sell for $74.95)

Number of Discs: 5

Whether you want to call it a trilogy, “two sequels and an epilogue” or two brilliant brothers and a bastard child, The Godfather trilogy’s cultural import cannot be overstated. With Nino Rota’s haunting score, Coppola’s deft storytelling, Gordon Willis’ exquisite cinematography and any number of superlative cast performances, the first two films are as close to pitch-perfect filmmaking as any ensemble has ever attempted. However, woe betide the one who actually decides to play the DVD to Part III. If you do, the universe will collapse into a pinpoint of matter so dense that from it no light will escape. The third installment of the Corleone crime family epic should never have been made, and Coppola admits as much on III’s commentary, despite occasionally (but weakly) defending the film.

In the five disc set, each disc has Coppola’s audio commentary (Part II spans two volumes) and the supplementary disc positively brims with additional features. No less than 34 deleted scenes—some of which were inserted into television versions of the films—have found their way off the cutting room floor. Author Mario Puzo comments in his narrative and Coppola’s interviews reveal how frighteningly close The Godfather came to never being made. Add cast biographies, a Corleone family tree, Academy Award acceptance speeches, and a rare audio recording of Rota’s musical musings, and the result is an indispensable set. The trilogy is a little pricey, but with elegant packaging highlighting the aging Corleone patriarchs, this is a cinephile’s dream; truly this is “the reason why DVD was invented.”

Oldies but Goodies

These discs from the past few years still hold their own against the upstart crop.