The iconic film Citizen Kane, directed by and starring Orson Welles, will be released on Blu-ray on September 13 with the ultimate package, filled with historical extras, commentaries and extra films for collectors.
Considered the No. 1 film of all time by the American Film Institute, Welles’ influential 1941 masterpiece was an innovative groundbreaker. It follows the story of Charles Foster Kane, a newspaper tycoon, corrupted as he built his wealthy empire. Loosely based on real media mogul William Randolph Hearst, the story also reveals the mystery of his last words: “Rosebud.”
Warner Bros. studio restored the original nitrate film with high definition clarity, in an extensive frame-by-frame process from the scanned image, according to Blu-ray.com, which gave the version a 5.0 rating.
Collectable extras in this 2-disc collector’s edition include a 48-page book, a 20-page reproduction of the original 1941 program, lobby cards, the theatrical trailer, the premiere of featurettes, and deleted scenes, and artifacts such as a production memos.
Also included is the full-length documentary The Battle Over Citizen Kane, the Golden Globe- and Emmy-winning HBO Films’ docudrama RKO 281, starring Liev Schreiber and James Cromwell. Plus Welles follow-up film The Magnificent Ambersons is also on DVD.
This 70th anniversary edition will also be available on digital services: iTunes, On Demand, VUDU and Amazon Instant Video.
The special edition retails for US$64.99 and Amazon’s price currently is US$39.99 — buy it here.