re: Citizen Kane - 9/13/11
 

Ok. For future reference, however, that information has nothing to do with the Ultra-Resolution process (which only pertains to transfers from three-strip Technicolor elements).

re: Citizen Kane - 9/13/11
 

No release date yet, but this Amazon-exclusive collector's set will include Magnificent Ambersons on a bare-bones DVD. Sheesh, so much for a flagpole Ambersons release.

re: Citizen Kane - 9/13/11
 

Wow, what exciting cover art for CK...

re: Citizen Kane - 9/13/11
 

Big ole picture:

re: Citizen Kane - 9/13/11
 

yeah...that's a shit move from WB. Ugh...that is a nice package though...

re: Citizen Kane - 9/13/11
 

I appreciate the puzzle motif, but how could they not include a picture of Welles?

re: Citizen Kane - 9/13/11
 

what the fuck......way to drop the ball on the biggest blu-ray release to date.

re: Citizen Kane - 9/13/11
 

You said it. Well, I guess it reflects the treatment Ambersons got on initial release.

re: Citizen Kane - 9/13/11
 

That's a pretty nice set there. CK is one of my favorite movies!

re: Citizen Kane - 9/13/11
 

who the hell leads the guys that design the package and contents? Why would you NOT put TMA on BD? Yet...include it...on DVD?! Ugh...

re: Citizen Kane - 9/13/11
 

Wow. I seriously have to pay $56 to get The Magnificent Ambersons on DVD?

It's actually been lowered to $49.99, $25 each for Citizen Kane and TMA? Eh.

re: Citizen Kane - 9/13/11
 

*facepalm*

Mind you, I still plan on getting this release, and the fact that TMA is available gives me further incentive to order from Amazon, but WHY? Why not give it it's own release? Hell, why not give it a Blu-Ray release, instead of JUST DVD?

re: Citizen Kane - 9/13/11
 

I wonder if their plans for TMA didn't turn out right, like maybe they couldn't find a decent master and are just dumping an old transfer here.

re: Citizen Kane - 9/13/11
 

Knowing Warner, they were probably gonna throw Ambersons in their archive because it wasn't worth their trouble to do a pressed disk. If not for this release.

re: Citizen Kane - 9/13/11
 

they might as well not put it in, honestly.

re: Citizen Kane - 9/13/11
 

I'd rather have it on DVD than not at all.

re: Citizen Kane - 9/13/11
 

Obviously, they're not a charity but, whatever the sales picture might look like at this point, Warner really kind of owes it to history to not just release Ambersons on BD, but to give us both the studio cut and Welles' cut. There aren't many movies I'd say that about, but Ambersons is definitely one of them.

re: Citizen Kane - 9/13/11
 

I'm pretty sure that most of the footage that would make Welles' cut was destrotyed by RKO, which was standard practice back then. To get rid what wasn't used in the final film.

re: Citizen Kane - 9/13/11
 

It's too bad WB couldn't have licensed Ambersons to Criterion - they already released a stacked laserdisc of it, and I'm sure would have given it the treatment it deserves.

re: Citizen Kane - 9/13/11
 

It isn't just that it was standard practice; in addition, the RKO board was fed up with Welles. When Nelson Rockefeller, who had been Welles's main supporter at RKO, was ousted from the board, RKO moved as quickly as they could to sever ties with Welles, pulling the plug on It's All True and shortening and simplifying TMA, fearing that it would be a big money loser like CK (which it was -- who knows if the full version would have fared better commercially). Rockefeller felt the film had artistic merit and suggested that RKO give a print of the full version to the Museum of Modern Art, but this wasn't done (probably because neither Welles nor Rockefeller were in RKO's good graces at the time). All of the cut material was vaulted but was destroyed a few years later per studio records.

re: Citizen Kane - 9/13/11
 

Have to agree. Would like a separate DVD and BD release, but this is better than nothing.

My guess is they'll milk this release for a while then release TMA by itself like a year later.

re: Citizen Kane - 9/13/11
 

Perhaps we'll get lucky and some "collector" in a South American county will have it lying around in a vault somewhere.

re: Citizen Kane - 9/13/11
 

I'd wish to have that happen in my lifetime. Was so happy to hear about that shit happening to Metropolis.

re: Citizen Kane - 9/13/11
 

I have an excellent Ambersons release on DVD. R2 from France, deluxe packaging, plenty of extras. Movie looks very good, IIRC. Cost me less than $30. So fuck Warner for dumping it onto a barebones DVD as a footnote to Kane.

re: Citizen Kane - 9/13/11
 

Interesting. I had no idea Jerry Lewis was in The Magnificent Ambersons. Perhaps it's time for a second look?