Ive just read on Mashable that Citizen Kane is to get the digital treatment and be re-released on bluray, iTunes and no doubt a bunch of other channels.

To do this, Warner went back to the 1941 original film and scanned it at 4k, cleaning up the footage frame by frame. This is a lot of work and clearly Warner believe this film is worth the trouble and of course, why not, it is a classic that has been a benchmark for so long.

We’ve talked about this on Dead End Podcasts and I’ve always unsure about these projects. I am certainly in favour of making the classics as viewable as possible and bringing them to largest audience, but at the same time, it’s also important to recognise a piece of work in context of the time and with that, the film stock of the time. I guess this relates to effects more than restoration. I want to appreciate effects that were made at the time, not modernised CGI versions. I was pleased to read that Spielberg is not touching up the effects for the up and coming Jaws bluray.

What do you think?