Product Details

• Actors: Annabel, Robert Arden, Grégoire Aslan, Mischa Auer, Suzanne Flon
• Format: Black & White, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Alpha Video
• DVD Release Date: June 18, 2002
• Run Time: 93 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00006AUGO
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #211,007 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Mr. Arkadin" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

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

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

89 of 93 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Three Versions of Orson Welles' Oblique Tale of Obsession and Corruption., April 25, 2006

By	mirasreviews (McLean, VA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

This review is from: The Complete Mr. Arkadin (aka Confidential Report) - Criterion Collection (DVD)

Orson Welles wrote and directed "Mr. Arkadin" based on 3 episodes of "The Lives of Harry Lime" (1951-1952) radio show, in which Welles starred as antihero adventurer Harry Lime, reprising his role from the 1949 film "The Third Man". Guy Van Stratten (Robert Arden) -con artist, "petty adventurer", and, according to himself, "the world's greatest sucker"- was smuggling cigarettes with girlfriend Mily (Patricia Medina) in Naples harbor when a man named Bracco (Gregoire Aslan) was stabbed on the dock. Bracco whispered 2 names to Mily with his dying breath. One name was Gregory Arkadin (Orson Welles), a fabulously wealthy international financier. Thinking that Bracco's dying words might be worth something to Arkadin, Guy tries to ingratiate himself with Arkadin's daughter Raina (Paola Mori), while Mily uses her charms to get close to him. Disapproving of Guy's relationship with Raina and realizing his ambitions, Mr. Arkadin proposes to pay Guy to investigate his past in exchange for Guy abandoning Raina. Arkadin claims to suffer from amnesia, knowing nothing before he found himself in Zurich in 1927 with 200,000 Swiss francs in his pocket. With this information, Guy criss-crosses Europe trying to reconstruct Arkadin's past. (4 stars)

"Mr. Arkadin" has been called a burlesque and a pastiche of Orson Welles' earlier films. It's not clear whether to take it literally, figuratively, or as satire -although the film's outrightly comic scenes are its best. Robert Arden's performance is often considered the weak spot in the film, because he doesn't make Guy Van Stratten sympathetic. I think Arden portrays Guy's clumsy, obnoxious ambition rather well actually. He's not a sympathetic character, but a junior Mr. Arkadin. There are many wonderful supporting performances. The weakness is Mr. Arkadin himself, who is a caricature rather than a character. Called "the ogre" by his daughter and a "phenomenon of an age of disillusion and crisis" by his enemies, Mr. Arkadin has a ridiculous appearance and manner, and his actions rarely make sense. A large man with a conspicuously coiffed hair and beard, he is simply absurd. Welles' keen sense of the absurd comes through in canted camera angles and lavish, chaotic art direction. The seemingly modern tale is set before an intriguing medieval backdrop of castles, peasants, and religious ritual. The Goya-inspired masquerade ball adds a touch of grotesque to the already unsettling tone.

Adding to the absurdity, Welles often changed his mind about structure and dialogue, forcing some scenes to be dubbed later. Welles himself dubbed several parts, including Bracco and The Professor. That was probably for technical reasons, but it's unfortunate. Scenes dubbed out of artistic whim are recognizable for speech that doesn't match the actors' lips. Welles lost control of the film in the editing process, as usual, ultimately resulting in several different versions of "Mr. Arkadin". Producer Louis Dolivet, a stealthy character himself, took the film away from Welles, because he was editing only 2 minutes of final product per week. Louis Dolivet was a communist who had been Welles' political mentor for a few years in the 1940s. Dolivet later had colorful career as a Soviet espionage agent, but insofar as "Mr. Arkadin" was concerned, he did the capitalist thing and sued Welles. The Criterion Collection offers 3 versions of the film in this "The Complete Mr. Arkadin" set (5 stars). Optional English subtitles are available.

DISC 1: The "Corinth Version" (99 minutes), discovered by Peter Bogdanovich in the early 1960s, is thought to be the last extant version to be under Orson Welles' control. Welles stated that the editing within scenes is true to his intentions. This version isn't horrible, bu it cuts to Guy and Zouk in the Berlin apartment repeatedly in such a manner as to disrupt the flow of the film. Arkadin's rendition of the scorpion-crossing-the-river story is the worst that I have seen, and it spoils his entrance. Bonus features on Disc 1: There is a nice audio commentary by Welles scholars Jonathan Rosenbaum and James Naremore. They discuss the film's origins, visual style, themes, performances, and Welles' directing methods. "The Lives of Harry Lime" (90 min) includes the 3 radio show episodes (audio) on which the film was based, for play on a computer, DVD or MP3 player. The sound quality is not very good. "Reviving Harry Lime" (20 min) is an interview with Harry Alan Towers, who created and produced the radio show. He recalls how Orson Welles came to work on the show, putting the show together, and who may have actually written the 6 episodes credited to Welles, namely Ernest Borneman. There is also a "Stills Gallery" of production stills and behind-the-scenes photos.

DISC 2: The "Confidential Report" version (98 minutes), or the Louis Dolivet edit, which was released in 1955 in Great Britain. This version has the best picture quality, but it's the worst edit. It assumes that the audience will not be able to follow the story unless it is spelled out. The flashback structure is simplified, which at least eliminates choppiness. But the audience is guided by an overburdened voiceover narration. Extraneous scenes are included, particularly in the first 15 minutes, while more interesting material was cut. The introductions to both women, Mily and Riana, make them out to be weaker characters than they are. The scene on the dock with Bracco is longer, contains more explication, and a different intent. The bonus feature on Disc 2 is "Men of Mystery" (25 min), an interview with Welles biographer Simon Callow, who talks about Orson Welles, Louis Dolivet, actor Michael Redgrave, and includes some interview tapes with Robert Arden.

DISC 3: This "Comprehensive Version" (105 minutes) has recently been assembled by film historians/archivists Stefan Drossler and Claude Bertemes from 5 different versions of the film based on comments that Welles made in the years following the film's original release. It is an attempt to create a Welles edit, not the best edit. Although we may know Welles' intentions, it is impossible to know what he would have done had he had the footage in front of him. This version is superior to the others, because the elaborate flashback structure has been restored to working order. But it errs on the side of including too much. For example: Additional footage of Guy approaching Zouk's apartment house gives that scene an inappropriately leisurely pace. In one scene, Mily's dialogue is interrupted then resumed, apparently a mistake. A clip of the plane crashing makes little sense, because it is a subjective camera in an empty plane. Bonus features on Disc 3: "On the Comprehensive Version" (20 min) in which Drossler, Bertemes, and Peter Bogdanovich explain some of the decisions in the new edit. "Outtakes and Rushes" (30 min) are from footage found at the Cinematheque de Luxembourg. "The Spanish Actresses" are alternative scenes with the Baroness Nagel (4 min) and Sophie (7 min) shot specially for the Spanish language version with Spanish actresses Amparo Rivelles and Irene Lopez Heredia.

39 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mosaic Retiled, April 15, 2006

By	John Ellis "jonthes" (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Complete Mr. Arkadin (aka Confidential Report) - Criterion Collection (DVD)

Orson Welles more than any film director understood that film is a mosaic of tiles, and that it is in the act of piecing them together that a film is made. He also failed to do so about half the time, in part due to his nature, in part due to the nature of the business. He wrote, acted, directed in this manner, creating puzzle pieces much in the way Brian Wilson created "Smile" musically, and with similar results on "Mr. Arkadin". Wilson finally finished "Smile" two years ago; Welles has "Arkadin" finished for him with this box set.

Welles deliberately filmed "Arkadin" so that only he could fuse the fragments together properly to protect himself from interference. Then the producers took it away from him and over time arranged and released five different versions of it, none of which had the structure or story line Welles intended, one or two of which literally do not make sense. Working that way, juggling it all in his head, Welles did let some balls drop - in particular the opening section seems to have missing shots or even scenes (scenes which appear in the novel version included here, begun by Welles and finished by his secretary). This box set includes the two best previously released versions, both intriguing but flawed, and then a new version crafting together in beautifully remastered image and sound something much closer to what Welles would have done if he could have. It's still rather like the Ancient Roman novel (the first surviving) "Satyricon", wonderful large fragments of a great work in ruins. But what ruins. The flea circus scene, Michael Redgrave's pawnbroker, the Christmas orgy, the German ghetto, are all among the best stuff Welles ever filmed. Holes in the plot - holes that could have been explained or worked out but weren't - remain, but if you're interested in Welles you will enjoy the new version a lot.

It would rate a four if not for the extras, which include footage of Welles doing takes as an actor and even better Welles directing the very ordinary actor in the lead (the film would be another level higher with someone like Richard Basehart instead) and his non-actress wife, who plays Arkadin's daughter. Five minutes only, the later is priceless for anyone interested in the craft of acting on film. If you have only seen the English versions, you'll be thrilled with the lost ending, the end credits, whole scenes that were only in the Spanish version. Except for the young leads, the actors are extraordinary. Welles neophytes should start elsewhere, but anyone who has digested "Citizen Kane" will find "Arkadin" compelling, for all the flaws in makeup, post-dubbing, the music which was written without cue lengths so the audio cuts are clumsy, even the botched initial set-up for the flashback structure ('We're about to be murdered so let me tell you the whole story...').

Perfect is only possible when you work in miniature.

52 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars WORST OF SEVEN VERSIONS, November 8, 2000

By	Donald A. Newlove (Greenwich Village) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Mr. Arkadin (DVD)

Laserlight's scratched and speckled public domain version of MR. ARKADIN, even at four bucks, is worthless and rapes Welles's memory. Seven versions of this film are floating about. The best is Criterion Collection's superbly rich, smooth-flowing laserdisc, which I have and which I hope will appear on DVD along with Criterion's vastly well-documented MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS. And may Criterion get the strong new print released to theaters early last year for its DVD version of CITIZEN KANE. Laserlight's MR. ARKADIN, the film's U.S. title, is just atrocious, with jumps, dialogue dropouts, a pale image, and worst of all, a linear re-editing of the story which Welles expressly strove to avoid. He wanted wildly intense editing. With its lost footage (you wouldn't believe the great stuff they left out), the Laserlight version only looks swift, while the Criterion version, called CONFIDENTIAL REPORT, has the European release, anointed by New Wave directors back in the fifties, which cleaves more closely to Welles's vision. There is NO FINAL EDIT BY WELLES known to exist. While you await Criterion's DVD of CONFIDENTIAL REPORT (or seek the laserdisc on auction sites), buy the DVDs of THE TRIAL and the re-edited TOUCH OF EVIL for Welles in his glory. I haven't seen Bogdanovich's LADY FROM SHANGHAI DVD, a film gutted by Columbia Pictures (especially the Fun House climax), then rescored, and stripped as well of Welles's strong, radio-smart sound effects (just dead studio sound remains)---but have great hopes for it and await its delivery from Amazon. RKO gutted THE STRANGER, weakening it, removing a dark, 20-minute opening about Nazis in South America which set up Franz Kindler's being in New England.It's a necessary DVD, nonetheless. But avoid Laserlight's washed out public domain MY MAN GODFREY DVD. My tape off PBS is far richer, as I imagine is the videocassette version.