Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Binding: DVD Brand: Warner Brothers EAN: 9780783116761 Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC ISBN: 0783116764 Label: Hbo Home Video Manufacturer: Hbo Home Video Number Of Items: 1 Picture Format: Academy Ratio Publisher: Hbo Home Video Region Code: 1 Release Date: April 25, 2000 Running Time: 83 minutes Sales Rank: 21525 Studio: Hbo Home Video Theatrical Release Date: November 20, 1999
Product Description: The orson welles-directed citizen kane then known as rko 281 was loosely based on the life of newspaper publisher william randolph hearst. But not so loosely that he didnt want it destroyed before the public could ever see it. The struggle that ensued and the lengths he went to are revealed in rko 281. Studio: Hbo Home Video Release Date: 03/13/2001 Starring: Liev Schreiber Melanie Griffith Run time: 87 minutes Rating: R Director: Benjamin Ross
Amazon.com: This absorbing HBO docudrama tells the story of the making of what is considered by many to be America's greatest film, Citizen Kane. 'Boy genius' Orson Welles came to Hollywood with no idea how to follow up his stage and radio success in the movie business. A dinner invitation to publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst's castle, San Simeon, inspired him to use Hearst's story as the basis for his brilliant film debut: a scathing allegory about the absolute corruptibility of power. RKO 281 demonstrates Welles's famously obsessive attention to artistic detail, which made his first movie such a masterpiece. But the film almost never made it to the screen--Hearst used his entire empire to try to destroy it. Two of the most mammoth egos in entertainment history--Hearst and Welles--were pitted against one another in the battle over Citizen Kane. Liev Schreiber has the close-to-impossible task of playing Orson Welles. He may not have Welles's monumental presence (who does?) but he does a credible job. John Malkovich turns in a powerful, understated performance as Welles's long-suffering sidekick Herman Mankiewicz, James Cromwell makes a first-rate Hearst, and Melanie Griffith is warmly sympathetic as Hearst's mistress, Marion Davies. The docudrama imparts some marvelously juicy insider lore, such as the real meaning behind the famous dying dispatch in the history of movies: 'Rosebud.' --Laura Mirsky
Digital Life Reviews
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - HBO's RKO 281: The Battle Over CITIZEN KANE - a MUST for Any Film Buff!
This sumptuously produced made-for-TV movie concerning the epic battle between 26-year-old boy wonder Orson Welles and newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst over CITIZEN KANE is totally enthralling from the opening scene to final fadeout. Hearst was highly annoyed with Welles' first movie (working title: RKO 281) because its newspaper publisher character bore a too-close-for-comfort resemblance to himself. As a result the aging publishing magnate would go to any extreme to shut the movie down. "The stuff of legend, with tales of sexual blackmail, money changing hands and threats behind closed doors." The Direction is crisp and the acting superb, with the likes of Roy Scheider, John Malkovich, James Cromwell (as Hearst), Melanie Griffith (Marion Davies) and Liev Schreiber (Welles) in the cast. Light up the arc lamps and let the fireworks begin!
Rating: - RKO 281
I found this DVD entertaining, giving the behind-the-scenes look at the making of Kane. I'm a big fan of Welles and Liev Schreiber's performance of Orson was top-notch. Those of you that like story of the Battle over Citizen Kane with Orson Welles and William Randolf Hearst, this is for you. It gives a sense of how motion pictures were made in that era. I found the film to be very inspirational.
Rating: - The Battle over Citizen Kane
"RKO 281" is a made-for-HBO movie on the process of making Citizen Kane, called by The American Film Institute, the greatest film ever made.
The movie is not a biopic on it's creator Orson Welles, in the same way
Walk the Line wasn't a biopic on Johnny Cash. It's a film that details a pivotal event in that persons life. We get some glimpes of Welles childhood, but this movie is about making Citizen Kane. The title of the film, which I don't like at all, refers to what Citizen Kane was called while it was being made. Liev Schreiber plays the "boy genius" Welles, who is tapped by RKO studios to make a movie after his legendary War of the Worlds radio broadcast makes people think the world is being taken over by aliens. Welles and his friend/writing partner Herman Mankiewicz (John Malkovich, who is great), whom he calls Mank, need to write a film but don't have any ideas. Then they meet William Randolph ... Read More
Rating: - Excellent Historical Drama
Seven years ago, I visited the Hurst Castle in San Simian, CA and was astonished by the grandure, size, and scope of the lavish lifestyle led by William Randolph Hurst. After visiting this palace, I wondered if there ever would be a great movie that was made about this larger-than-life icon. I also read some about the controversy that surrounded Hurst later in his life when Orson Welles made his debut in Hollywood with CITIZEN KANE. Director Benjamin Ross and Producers Ridley and Tony Scott have vividly captured this pivotal moment in Hollywood history that pitted two of the most prestigious men of this era against one another: Hurst, a media mogul and newspaper tycoon, and Welles, the 24 year old controversial "boy genius" of New York. Both James Cromwell and Liev Schreiber give rivoting perfomances as Hurst and Welles as they duel over the release of what would later be considered the "greatest film of ... Read More
Digital
Life Shop
Benjamin Ross items subject to availability. Some restrictions
may apply. DVD
RKO 281 - The Battle Over Citizen Kane presented by digi2005.com Digi2005.com is
an Amazon.com
Associate
Digital Life Music News:
Coahoma students must turn off phones, iPods
Big Spring Herald - Cell phones should be neither seen nor heard, Coahoma school officials have decided. School trustees approved student handbooks for the coming school year during their Thursday night meeting, and the only notable change from last year has to do with ...
more News
- HBO's RKO 281: The Battle Over CITIZEN KANE - a MUST for Any Film Buff!
