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Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Binding: VHS Tape EAN: 0089218332738 Format: Black & White, Original recording reissued, NTSC Label: Alpha Video Manufacturer: Alpha Video Number Of Items: 1 Publisher: Alpha Video Release Date: June 18, 2002 Running Time: 93 minutes Sales Rank: 75749 Studio: Alpha Video Theatrical Release Date: October 02, 1962
Amazon.com essential video: Something of a remake of Citizen Kane, Orson Welles's 1955 Mr. Arkadin is a knowing and self-reflective variation on one of Welles's pet themes: the search for a defining secret of a powerful man. Welles plays an important financier who tries to discover his own past by hiring a man (Robert Arden) to research it. Did the seemingly haunted Arkadin simply forget who he is or where he's been? Or is he seeking his own Rosebud--a crucial, lost thing from his life that can serve (if identified) as a mythic key to former happiness? The film, a European coproduction, was made under the typically difficult and extended conditions Welles had to navigate after leaving Hollywood, and the bumpiness shows. But the entire project is really an act of Wellesian deconstruction--it's Welles making a film about the kind of film Orson Welles previously made--and that approach is more electrifying than one might imagine. The editing in this film, for instance, is not quite like in any of Welles's other works, with bursts of linear action literally disappearing between frames, as if the fabric of reality itself was vanishing. As far as the titan Arkadin is concerned, it might as well be. --Tom Keogh
Amazon.com essential video: Will the "real" Mr. Arkadin please stand up? Probably not. However, thanks to the folks at the Criterion Collection, we may now have a version of Mr. Arkadin that is as close as it's going to get to Orson Welles's original vision. Part Citizen Kane, part The Third Man, Mr. Arkadin is another Wellesian Post-War Noir tale about the unraveling of the defining secret of a powerful and wealthy tycoon. Welles plays the ruthless financier Mr. Arkadin who hires small time smuggler Guy Van Stratten (Robert Arden) to investigate the amnesiac Arkadin's lost past and create a confidential report of his findings. Did the mysterious and elusive Mr. Arkadin simply want his criminal past uncovered? Or is his motive to erase a key missing piece of his past? As many fans know, the story of Mr. Arkadin's post-production and ascertaining which of the many versions is the most "Wellesian" is almost as mysterious as Guy Van Stratten's search for Gregory Arkadin's identity. Since the film is unfinished it does have an incomplete feel to it. For instance, it is very choppy with a few awkward jump cuts, there are lots of annoying overdubs that are not cleanly matched, the supporting cast is fairly weak and some scenes clearly needed to be reshot. However, the gems of the films are so precious, such as Welles's picturesque shots, unique camera angles, flashback story telling, and intricate plot, it's easy to overlook the shortcomings and classify Mr. Arkadin as essential Orson Welles.
Mr. Arkadin may have been written, directed and starred Orson Welles, but it sure wasn't edited by him. So the story goes, since it took Welles too long to complete the editing process, producer Louis Dolivet banned him from the editing room and never allowed Orson to get the final cut. Welles, who was known to say "All of the eloquence of my film is created in the editing room" disowned the film claiming it was the most butchered of all his works. There were many cuts made of the Mr. Arkadin film stock over the years, none of which are considered "definitive", all of which contain pieces to the overall puzzle. Fueled by their passion for film, along comes the Criterion Collection. Their mission, to take all the pieces of Mr. Arkadin's troubled past (the best available versions of the films, documented timelines, a reprinted version of the novel, scholarly documentaries and feature length commentaries), compile it and present it to fans in one incredibly comprehensive set letting them decide which is the real Arkadin. The Complete Mr. Arkadin (A.K.A. Confidential Report) includes digitally restored transfers of the two well known versions of the film (the flashback "Corinth" (99 minutes) version and the notorious linear "Confidential Report" (98 minutes)). In addition, there is a newly edited "comprehensive" version (105 minutes) pieced together by top Welles scholars who have an intimate understanding of his style, his creative direction, and thought process in the editing room. This new "comprehensive" version is the crown jewel of the set and without a doubt the best version of Mr. Arkadin ever released. While no one will ever know what Welles intended, you can’t help but feel this comprehensive version has got to be pretty darn close. Inevitably, purists may feel this is another instance of someone mucking with Welles's film stock, but in all honesty, the end result is stunning. So who is the real Mr. Arkadin? No one may ever know, but with the help of this set you have all you need to piece together the puzzle and draw your own conclusion. Enjoy. --Rob Bracco
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Very good
This film may be the most intrinsically Wellesian of all his works, combining the story unspooling of Citizen Kane, the post-war shadiness of The Stranger and The Third Man, the visual oddities of The Lady From Shanghai- starting with the pilotless airplane that opens the film, the soliloquizing of his Shakespearean films, the later ruthless characterizations of Touch Of Evil, and the decayed world feel of The Trial, which- like this film- also combines scenes shot in different countries for an oddly geo-disorienting feel. While the pseudo-intellectual French cinema magazine Cahiers Du Cinema called ... Read More
Rating: - A Goldmine for Welles Scholars and Film Buffs
1941 Citizen Kane
1942 Magnificent Ambersons
1943 Journey Into Fear
1946 The Stranger
1947 Lady From Shanghai
1948 Macbeth
1952 Othello
1955 Mr. Arkadin
1958 Touch of Evil
1962 The Trial
1965 Falstaff (Chimes at Midnight)
1974 F is for Fake
To understand Mr. Arkadin I think you have to understand where it fits into the trajectory of Welles' career. Chronologically, Arkadin comes after two very impressive Shakespearean productions, Macbeth & Othello, and before his noir masterpiece, Touch of Evil. Arkadin is wedged between ... Read More
Rating: - interesting as film history, but not as a film
Mr Arkadin was a bad film. As with every mistake that Wells made, his apologists have held that it is a great film ruined by the usual "evil" producers who took it out of the man's hands and recut it. The idea is always that Wells created "greatness" in editing. But contrary to all the presentation in this excellent collection, no amount of editing could have improved Mr. Arkadin.
The story is a lame rather obvious remix of elements from "Kane" and "the third man". But the Kane-style flashbacks fail because they do nothing but reveal that the ogerish title character is indeed an ogre. The third ... Read More
Rating: - Confidentially, Doc.....
MR. ARKADIN (aka "Confidential Report") is now advertised as a forgotten Orson Welles classic. In all probability this movie in first run was rightly dismissed as a mediocrity. The script is by turn confused and transparently predictable. Welles as the main character mugs for a tilted camera to the point of annoyance and his direction is heavy handed: the overuse of skewed horizons, bizarre camera angles, cluttered sets and jarring edits do nothing but distract the viewer. Peripheral eccentrics pass through the story as rapidly as the blurry panning used in one scene.
(*Plot spoilers follow*)
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Rating: - THE USUAL WELLES FARE
I would rather watch Welles on his WORST day than any other director on their best.Arkadin follows Welles downward,self destructive spiral that seemed to grip him from the 60's through til his death in 85.The muddled plot along with the mis cast lead role turn what could have been compaired to KANE and THE TRIAL and instead present us with a Flawed piece with flashes of typical Welles genius.Bugdet restraints along with long gaps between filming wouldnt help and I suppose the fact that the film was released at all should be enough,its just that we all know what he was capable of,and it was more than this.
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