Orson Welles' audacious first film, Citizen Kane, has often been voted the greatest film of all time, a deserved, though highly arguable distinction -- but there is no arguing the crucial importance of Welles' film on the history of American comic books.  The film appeared at a crucial time in comic book history.  The first wave of the superhero comics had established the comic book genre as an important new mass medium, but artists were eager to expand their visual vocabulary and take advantage of the visual narrative potential of the comics format.  Naturally movies were a major influence on comics from the beginning, but Citizen Kane with its worm's eye views, plunging perspectives, deep focus compositions, and dramatic lighting was a revelation.  In his bestselling novel about pioneering comic book creators, The Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, Michael Chabon includes a key scene detailing the crucial influence of Kane on his protagonists, an influence that has been acknowledged by Will Eisner and many other comic pioneers.

 

Now Warner Home Video is issuing a special two-disk collector's edition DVD of Citizen Kane that includes the two-hour documentary The Battle Over Citizen Kane, which was produced for the American Experience.  Both film critic Roger Ebert and film director (and Welles biographer) Peter Bogdanovich are providing feature length audio commentaries.  Subtitles are available in English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese.  The disks also include a newsreel of the film's New York premiere, a gallery of storyboards, rare production photos, call sheets, the original theatrical trailer, and other memorabilia.

 

To create the best possible visual master for the film itself, Warners went on a three year restoration process that included searching for the best available film elements and then applying modern digital techniques to create a film that actually looks and sounds better than it did when it premiered some 60 years ago in the fall of 1941.  The Citizen Kane DVD has a street release date of September 25.  Kane will join a raft of new DVD releases that will make this a highly competitive fall (see 'Phantom Menace Bows').   Citizen Kane will have a standard retail price (SRP) of $29.99 with a minimum advertised price (MAP) of $24.95.