Kane

 I treated myself with the 3 disc blue ray edition of citizen kane from Criterion because they are having their half sale event via barnes and noble. The film looks gorgeous I saw things that I never noticed before, like reflections of rain on a desk and that childhood scene of snow and sadness still moves me. Its a remarkable film. Its rich in images, sound and gossip. My relationship with Kane goes back to my childhood when one of my favorite programs on t.v. was "Million Dollar Movie." Each week they showed one film twice a day and that's where as maybe a ten or 11 year old I saw Kane for the first time. Chopped up of course to fit the time slot, with commercials and on our small tv. I still loved it. It caught my attention and imagination and I think I watched it every day it was on, driving my family nuts. There was also the theme music for the show from Gone With The Wind, and one week there was Kane, and the next week there was an Abbott and Costello comedy. I think I finally saw the complete movie when I was a late teen on a double bill with The Magnificent Ambersons probably at the Thalia and afterwards me and my friend Howard had Mexican food for the first time, we remember these things don't we. I think we loved Ambersons more than Kane this time. For a time Kane was always picked by Sight and Sound as the greatest film ever made, until it was kicked off the top by another childhood favorite of mine Vertigo and how many times have I seen that one. Some things about Kane bother me, like the glaring old age make up on Welles, but there are so many amazing things in it, like that strange parrot and Dorothy Commingore who is so sad as his mistress wife. And then there's Gregg Toland who Welles shared credit with at the end for his great cinematography. The package has so many extras that it will take me a while to get through all of them.