We just got a bit of good news for Hi-def fans and lovers of classic films. Amazon.com is offering for pre-order the Amazon Exclusive release of the 70th Anniversary Edition of Orson Welles's 1941 masterpiece, Citizen Kane with a new blu-ray restoration. But wait, that's not all. The package will also include a new DVD master of the long-unavailable-on-video version of The Magnificent Ambersons. Ambersons has been out of print in the US, and a UK version that has been circulating is of less than optimal quality, so the second part of this announcement is certainly as significant as the first.
Warner Home Video hasn't yet released a specific list of features, but a quick glance at the listed items over at Amazon shows a fairly expansive collection of extra features and bonus items such as the interviews with Ruth Warrick and Robert Wise, lobby cards, booklets, replica documents, and poster art. The set will also reportedly include, wait for it… the Roger Ebert commentary that imparts more film knowledge than in any Film Studies 101 class at any University in the country.
Only a couple of letdowns to this announcement: The Magnificent Ambersons will not get the blu-ray treatment for this collection (you'll probably have to wait for the triple-dip for that to happen); and it will be the studio-mandated 88-minute cut of the film rather than the longer, 131-minute uncut version. Still though, that The Magnificent Ambersons will now be available (even on DVD) is huge news. Would be really cool if this package were topped off with a little toy or trinket like a snow globe or miniature sled.
Amazon.com has the set currently listed at $49.99 (already down from $55.99) but has not published a specific release date. We expect some time later this summer or even early fall.
The complete current list of Bonus features for the Citizen Kane (70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Edition + The Magnificent Ambersons on DVD) is as follows:
- Bonus Disc: The Magnificent Ambersons (DVD)
- Bonus Disc: RKO 281 (DVD)
- Bonus Disc: American Experience: The Battle Over Citizen Kane (DVD)
- Commentary by Peter Bogdanovich
- Commentary by Roger Ebert
- The Battle Over Citizen Kane Documentary
- Opening: World Premier of Citizen Kane Vintage Featurettes
- Interview with Ruth Warrick
- Interview with Robert Wise
- Storyboards
- Call Sheets
- Still Photography with Commentary by Roger Ebert
- Deleted Scenes
- Ad Campaign
- Press Book
- Opening Night
- 10/30/38 Mercury Theatre Broadcast of War of the Worlds (Audio Only)
- 10/28/40 KTSA, San Antonio Broadcast of H.G. Wells Meets Orson Welles (Audio Only)
- Theatrical Trailer
*Note: Special Features are on DVD format
You can check out the cover art for the collection below:
