Rating: 
Summary: Still the best movie EVER
Review: The AFI (American Film Institute) said that this is the best American film ever. They were close. Citizen Kane isn't only the greatest American movie ever, it's the best movie ever. Period. And not because of all the hype, camera work, editing, make-up, special effects, and directing; but because of the acting and screenplay. For two hours you don't see Orson Welles as Orson Welles, you see him as Charles Foster Kane. The lost little boy who is incapable of love until he finds his rosebud. And the story. The way Welles left a trail of bread crumbs for us to follow that led nowhere. This film represents what a true movie is. It gives you all the questions, but not even half of the answers. We all know what rosebud is, but who was Charles Foster Kane? We'll never know for sure. Go buy this movie and see if you can find out.
Rating:
Summary: Best? Dunno. Great issue of a great Movie? YES.
Review: Is Citizen Kane the best film ever? I don't know. I'm not sure it's either possible or advisable to quantify art in such a manner. I love it. I also love Young Frankenstein. Is THAT the best film ever? Probably not. Best is a lousy word to bandy about here. Is this an extremely lovingly-made issue of a classic, influencial piece of particularly well-realized film history? ABSOLUTELY.Like it or not, Kane had a massive influence on nearly everything that followed, all the way up to Pulp Fiction. Simply put, my recommendation would be to get this DVD for three reasons. It's a foundation of the techniques we take for granted in film today. It's a beautifully done set of DVDs, extras galore & a stunning transfer. It's an engrossing character study/morality tale set up in a challenging non-linear story. As for the rest of fine reasons to own it, other more eloquent reviewers have already weighed in. Check 'em out. One or two caveats. This movie isn't for everyone by any means. Want to sit back and simply be entertained? This may not be your cup of tea. As I said, the narrative isn't plot driven so much as a lifelong character study, so it may not immediately engage you the way, say, Rear Window might. Certainly this isn't for everyone. Often artistic achievments aren't (I still can't get into The Sound & The Fury; I respect it, but I just can't enjoy it; Oh well). (...) As many have mentioned, widescreen didn't happen in the theaters until 1953, partially as a reaction to television in the home as a way of setting movies apart & attempt to regain lost audience. The aspect ratio of Kane is almost identical to that of your standard TV, so pop it in and for once enjoy a bit of art appropriate without black bars. I suppose in summation I should say that this is a wonderful, challenging, idiosyncratic work, full of amazing and groundbreaking technique, presented in a beautifully wrought DVD that does justice to it's rank as a great film, and that many people predisposed to rankings feel it's the best film of all time.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT MOVIE MAKING.
Review: The film is maube the best movie ever but the DVD set doesn't offer too much. I would have liked there to be more than the special. Maybe another interview with Welles.
Rating:
Summary: Gets more brilliant and better with each year
Review: This film is without a doubt my favorite film of all time. The reason for this is that this film contains so much that has later become standard in movies. The gorgous photography, which looks even better on this magnificent DVD, the acting, dialogue, music, story, special effects. Everything about this movie is done perfectly. When one sees this film, it seems as though the film costed almost as much as any high budget film in Hollywood, but it wasn't. Welles planned the film down to each shot, which is why he made those transitions so perfectly and seemlessly. (...)This film, like all films made in the sound period before 1953, was photographed in the Academy ratio, which was 1.37:1. Since the television screen has an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, would the picture have minor cuts on the sides. This film, though, is photographed making full use of the width of the screen, so on the Criterion laserdisc version of this film were there a couple of scenes that the extreme left or right side was cropped, but on this transfer have they fixed this. If one talks about that a film that was orginally filmed at a ratio of 1.37:1 would have to be letterboxed to be able to see the whole picture, is that person just being silly. It simply would not be worth the effort, in comparision to transfering films that were filmed in the old Cinemascope ratios of 2.35:1 and 2.55:1 that would badly need letterboxing. But such a picture didn't come out until 'The Robe(1953)', 'How to Marry a Millionaire(1953)' and 'White Christmas(1953)' when CinemaScope and VistaVision was introduced.
Rating: 
Summary: Citizen Kane--The DVD
Review: The AFI has ranked "Citizen Kane" as the #1 film of all time. Enough said. I agree. A critique of the DVD itself might be in order, especially since the word "Dolby" is attached to its processing. Having not purchased the DVD personally in a store, I trusted that "Dolby" would ensure the highest standards of production, and I believe that to be true. Unexpected is that those working for the Turner group would process the audio in MONAURAL, just as it was when the film premiered. Yes, indeed, the sound emanates only from the center channel. In disbelief, I read the box, which confirmed a monaural film but stereo commentaries and Disc 2 documentary portions. Restoration without enhancement seems wasted. Even the VHS issue of 1951's sci-fi classic, "The Day the Earth Stood Still", was in HI FI/STEREO, which made the purchase that much more worthwhile. Assuming purists might be offended at the thought of a 5.1 "Kane", an audio setup feature allowing the viewer to choose an audio format (much like the video on many DVDs) would have been a plus. With all the bells & whistles a DVD can afford, I found it truly disappointing that audio options were ignored. Incidentally, the music scores for both "Citizen Kane" and "The Day the Earth Stood Still" were by Bernard Hermann-lucky audio mastering for "Earth", not so for "Kane."
Rating:
Summary: Great movie, great DVD, crummy subtitling
Review: I did not notice anyone mentioning a minor, but nagging problem with the otherwise-wonderful DVD. The subtitling is awful! One of the joys of the DVD is the available commentary--one by Ebert, one by Peter Bogdanovich (sp?). When I listen to commentaries, I usually turn on the subtitling for the movie dialogue. In Kane, the subtitles are gross abbreviations with lots of missed dialogue, changed words etc. Maybe I'm overly sensitive (or know the dialogue too well) but I found it incredibly distracting. Other than that--great stuff.
Rating:
Summary: The Masterpiece is Worth All the Praise
Review: It took me until last week to finally see Citizen Kane, the so-called greatest american film ever made. Such a subjective idea-greatest of all time. However, Citizen Kane is truly a masterpiece. Taken in isolation or in the historical context this is one movie that works just about way you look at it. Welles' best? Matter of debate, but it is undeniablely one of the masterworks of cinema. It is a brillant film in structure, techinque, and overall emotional pull. The best part? Well, that is an individual choice. The print is so pristinet that you might have thought it was shot with a digital camera (well, George Lucas is no Orson Welles). Both commentary tracks are fascinating (Ebert just won a major award for best commentary track of '01), if a bit dry. The documentary on disk II sparked a fascination about both men (welles and Hearst) in me. Just look at the film clips in the doc, you won't believe how amazing the new transfer is. This entire film--the story, the script, the backstory, thefights--etc. is an important part of our history. This preserves it. Also, see HBO's RKO 281 about the battle. It is not great cinema, but well worth the watch. Next up, the new bio of Hearst. This movie will change you. It is well worth the praise.
Rating:
Summary: No less than FIVE stars!!!
Review: I can't believe this release has anything less than five stars by anyone - unless he didn't actually see it... I neither rate nor describe the feature film since that would be VERY redundant. The important focus is this highly anticipated DVD release: * I believe that the picture and sound is better than any other DVD I have yet seen - and that includes modern pictures. That speaks volumes for a 1941 picture, folks. * The extras are WONDERFLY GENEROUS! They threw in what was once a separate film unto itself ("The Battle Over Citizen Kane"). All the archival footage and documents are cool as well. Of the two commentary tracks, I've so far only listened to Bogdanovich's which is extremely insightful. He points out things I never would have noticed - I might only expect the Ebert track will at least equal the magnitude. So let's not have any more uneducated or utterly moronic reviews from fools that want to boycott a film that IS presented in its original aspect ratio (there is a huge difference between "full-frame" and a chopped "pan & scan" picture). Just given the production value of these discs any normal person would be impressed and satisfied by the time they took to present this film. And as for the film... that's a whole other positive review that's been done way too many times to even fathom.
Rating:
Summary: This is not a widescreen movie.
Review: This is for the person who is still waiting for Warner Brothers (the "philistines" according to you) to stop "being colossally stupid and actually release the entire film." This is it, buddy. This DVD is, in fact, presented in the correct aspect ratio. It is not pan & scan, nor did they, as you so eloquently put it, chop "half or more of the film off before releasing it!" Take a deep breath and enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Is this pan and scan? I don't think so
Review: Is this really pan and scan? After watching it, I can't detect it.
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