RAH skrev:

I can't believe that there is anything that anyone could say about Orson Welles' freshman production about a man who "wants to run a newspaper," that hasn't already been said.

Suffice to say, for those poor souls who have never heard of, or seen in some quality manner, this old black & white film, that it was a 1941 game-changer in many ways.

Filled on a closed set, in secrecy, it is extremely creative, especially for its time in terms of story-telling, cinematography and acting...

Positioning of cameras, use of contrast and shadows, exposure of ceilings (also seen in The Maltese Falcon), diopters for close and normal shots combined, layered dialogue. One could go one.

Finally arriving on Blu-ray, and apparently from the sole-surviving nitrate fine grain master, the film is generally beautiful. The original negative was lost in a fire several decades ago. Has grain been messed with a bit in clean-up? Hard to tell, but nothing looks wrong or out of place.

A bit of bromide drag, especially in dupes, which is normal, but generally the fine grain looks to have been well produced, possibly only lacking a bit in the differentiation between pure black and slightly more translucent tones just above.

I'm thrilled with this disc, and the entire set for that matter, as proper additional discs have been included -- The Battle Over Citizen Kane and RKO 281. While I'd love to had seen The Magnificent Ambersons included as a Blu-ray, it's only on DVD, and solely an Amazon exclusive. I presume we'll be seeing a proper Blu-ray of it in the future, as I believe the OCN survives. But wouldn't it have made a killer package to have both on Blu-ray, representing the work of Mr. Welles at RKO?

I'm not a big fan of exclusives.

Bottom line, understanding what one is seeing, the new Blu-ray from Warner is as good as this film will ever look, which is just short of stupendous. Audio is also fully up to the task.

If I were to modify one small thing, it would be to bring down the shot in the screening room that reveals Joseph Cotten, just a couple of points. Other than that, what I'm seeing is about as perfect as the film can get. And yes, the rain is back on Mr. Bernstein's window.

Citizen Kane is, without a doubt, one of the most important classic releases of 2011, and may just head up the list.

I'm quite jealous of those who will see this film for their first time on this Blu-Ray.

Extremely Highly Recommended.