Press Release Criterion Press Release: Citizen Kane (1941) (4k UHD) (Blu-ray) (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

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In the most dazzling debut feature in cinema history, twenty-five-year-old writer-producer-director-star Orson Welles synthesized the possibilities of sound-era filmmaking into what could be called the first truly modern movie. In telling the story of the meteoric rise and precipitous fall of a William Randolph Hearst–like newspaper magnate named Charles Foster Kane, Welles not only created the definitive portrait of American megalomania, he also unleashed a torrent of stylistic innovations—from the jigsaw-puzzle narrative structure to the stunning deep-focus camera work of Gregg Toland—that have ensured that Citizen Kane remains fresh and galvanizing for every new generation of moviegoers to encounter it.
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• FILM INFO
• United States
• 1941
• 119 minutes
• Black & White
• 1.37:1
• English
• Spine #1104

SPECIAL FEATURES​

• New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
• In the 4K UHD edition: One 4K UHD disc of the film presented in Dolby Vision HDR and three Blu-rays with the film and special features
• Three audio commentaries: from 2021 featuring Orson Welles scholars James Naremore and Jonathan Rosenbaum; from 2002 featuring filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich; and from 2002 featuring film critic Roger Ebert
• The Complete “Citizen Kane,” (1991), a rarely seen feature-length BBC documentary
• New interviews with critic Farran Smith Nehme and film scholar Racquel J. Gates
• New video essay by Orson Welles scholar Robert Carringer
• New program on the film’s special effects by film scholars and effects experts Craig Barron and Ben Burtt
• Interviews from 1990 with editor Robert Wise; actor Ruth Warrick; optical-effects designer Linwood Dunn; Bogdanovich; filmmakers Martin Scorsese, Henry Jaglom, Martin Ritt, and Frank Marshall; and cinematographers Allen Daviau, Gary Graver, and Vilmos Zsigmond
• New documentary featuring archival interviews with Welles
• Interviews with actor Joseph Cotten from 1966 and 1975
• The Hearts of Age, a brief silent film made by Welles as a student in 1934
• Television programs from 1979 and 1988 featuring appearances by Welles and Mercury Theatre producer John Houseman
• Program featuring a 1996 interview with actor William Alland on his collaborations with Welles
• Selection of The Mercury Theatre on the Air radio plays featuring many of the actors from Citizen Kane
• Trailer
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• PLUS: Deluxe packaging, including a book with an essay by film critic Bilge Ebiri
  
  New Cover by Mike McQuade

PURCHASE OPTIONS​

Coming soon, available Nov 23, 2021
4K UHD+BLU-RAY COMBO4 Discs $47.96
BLU-RAY3 Discs $39.96

Thank you for supporting HTF when you preorder using the link below. If you are using an adblocker you will not see link. As an Amazon Associate HTF earns from qualifying purchases

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Yikes! $50 for a 4k disc

 

[Robert Crawford]

MSRP is $47.96!

 

[Robert Crawford]

Yikes! $50 for a 4k disc

It's about what I expected as it's still a couple bucks shy of $50.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

MSRP is $47.96!

You might as well say $50 by the time you add tax and shipping. SRP is $59.95

 

[Angelo Colombus]

Not a big fan of the giant "K" cover art. Maybe one of the film posters were used instead?

 

[David_B_K]

It's about what I expected as it's still a couple bucks shy of $50.

I paid $80 or $90 for the CAV laserdisc back in 1985. $50-ish for this package sounds reasonable; though I'll wait for a sale. It has all the special features the LD had plus a lot more.

 

[Robert Crawford]

MSRP is $47.96!

Okay the MSRP is $59.95 which means my 4K purchases from Criterion will be more selective and will definitely only occur during sales which will still cost me $30 or so.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I paid $80 or $90 for the CAV laserdisc back in 1985. $50-ish for this package sounds reasonable; though I'll wait for a sale. It has all the special features the LD had plus a lot more.

That was then and this is now. There's been over 35 years of buying home video product since then so expectations are different today.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

That was then and this is now. There's been over 35 years of buying home video product since then so expectations are different today.

I agree, Robert.

Criterion’s unquestionable reputation for quality releases aside, they should not be charging this kind of money for a 4k release. The discs and the replication can’t be costing them what they are passing on to the consumer.

 

[TravisR]

Respectfully, I don't know why people are surprised by the price. $60 MSRP is what pretty much every other UHD from a boutique label costs.

 

[dpippel]

Okay the MSRP is $59.95 which means my 4K purchases from Criterion will be more selective and will definitely only occur during sales which will still cost me $30 or so.

Only Kane has a MSRP of $59.95. The other two 4K UHD Criterion releases in November, Mulholland Drive and Menace II Society, are $49.95. Both can be pre-ordered from Criterion right now for $39.96, and Kane for $47.96.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Respectfully, I don't know why people are surprised by the price. $60 MSRP is what pretty much every other UHD from a boutique label costs.

I'm not surprised as I expected $60, but misread the MSRP as being $47.96 which was a mistake on my part.

 

[dpippel]

I agree, Robert.

Criterion’s unquestionable reputation for quality releases aside, they should not be charging this kind of money for a 4k release. The discs and the replication can’t be costing them what they are passing on to the consumer.

Arrow has been doing it for quite a while now, and many of their 4K collector's editions have been selling out.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Only Kane has a MSRP $59.95. The other two 4K UHD Criterion releases in November, Mulholland Drive and Menace II Society, are $49.95. Both can brepre-ordered from Criterion right now for $39.96, and Kane for $47.96.

Yeah, I see that now.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Arrow has been doing it for quite a while now, and many of their 4K collector's editions have been selling out.

They sure got us consumers pegged.

 

[TravisR]

Arrow has been doing it for quite a while now, and many of their 4K collector's editions have been selling out.

And unlike Arrow, there's no limited edition box with poster or postcards that sells out until they release a standard edition so you can wait for a sale from Criterion's website or Barnes And Noble and get them for $30 or $25.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Respectfully, I don't know why people are surprised by the price. $60 MSRP is what pretty much every other UHD from a boutique label costs.

I am not aware of what the other boutique labels are selling 4k titles for as I generally don’t buy those. I know I have imported THE ELEPHANT MAN on 4k from (I believe) Studio Canal and it wasn’t THAT expensive.

If boutique labels are charging $60 MSRP for 4k, then so be it. If they are selling out, that’s great for the labels who are charging those insane prices. It just gives more incentive for these labels to keep charging those prices.

Times have changed. This isn’t the laserdisc era anymore. Maybe I sound like the Dana Carvey’s grumpy old man from Saturday Night Live, but I’m gonna be one of those who will be buying titles I want twice a year during the big sales.

 

[TravisR]

I am not aware of what the other boutique labels are selling 4k titles for as I generally don’t buy those. I know I have imported THE ELEPHANT MAN on 4k from (I believe) Studio Canal and it wasn’t THAT expensive.

If boutique labels are charging $60 MSRP for 4k, then so be it. If they are selling out, that’s great for the labels who are charging those insane prices. It just gives more incentive for these labels to keep charging those prices.

Times have changed. This isn’t the laserdisc era anymore. Maybe I sound like the Dana Carvey’s grumpy old man from Saturday Night Live, but I’m gonna be one of those who will be buying titles I want twice a year during the big sales.

I think I was just better prepared for the price because I do buy a fair amount of the other small labels' discs. I doubt I threw a party when I first saw what Arrow or Blue Underground was charging.

 

[David Weicker]

Aren't their Blu-Rays $40, but the majority of people only pay $20?

Why do people rant about MSRP?