"The Battle Over Citizen Kane" and "RKO 281"

Films/DVD Asylum

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These are great introductions for someone who has either never seen "Citizen Kane" or who saw it and just didn't like it or wonders what all the fuss is about.
The first is a PBS documentary now on DVD as part of Criterion's superb CK box set. It jumps back and forth bewteen Hearst and Welles, shows what a cruel genius each was, and chronicles their inevitable showdown. It's amazing how close the studio came to seling the CK negative and all prints to a group of rival studio heads being basically blackmailed by Hearst to snuff out the film.
"RKO 281" is a thoroughly enjoyable fictionalized telling of the making of CK, the title being the film's working title at the studio.
Particularly effective is John Malcovich as the drunken screenwriter Herbert Mankiewitz. Lief Schrieber stars as Welles and James Cromwell as Hearst, with Melanie Griffiths as Marion Davies.
These two, plus the Ebert and Bogdanovitch commentaries (the former far more effective) help make a masterpiece even more enjoyable.

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Topic - "The Battle Over Citizen Kane" and "RKO 281" - rico 09:23:00 04/30/04 (3)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe that the DVD release you're referencing is Criterion. - Audiophilander 16:17:29 04/30/04 (1)

Re: You are correct - rico 08:16:39 05/01/04 (0)

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