The Complete Mr. Arkadin (aka Confidential Report) - Criterion Collection
by Orson Welles
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Akim Tamiroff, Michael Redgrave, Orson Welles, Patricia Medina, Peter van EyckDirector: Orson Welles
Brand: Image Entertainment
Editor: Orson Welles
Producer: Orson Welles
Writer: Orson Welles
Cinematographer: Jean Bourgoin
Editor: Renzo Lucidi
Editor: William Morton
Producer: Louis Dolivet
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 1.0; English (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, Box set, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 93 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-04-18
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Criterion
Movie Reviews of The Complete Mr. Arkadin (aka Confidential Report) - Criterion Collection
Movie Review: One of the few artist whose legend is not hyperbole!
Summary: 5 Stars
Unfortunate or fortunately I didn't dare spoil my plate by watching all 3 versions. I only watched the 3rd version which most critics proclaim as the most satisfying. Indeed, I was satisfied. What an excellent story from writing, to directing, to acting (editing I cant speak for having only watched 1 version but in version 3 very good job telling a complex story). The dialogue alone made me clap. If you have been eyeballing this movie, do not hesitate to watch it by all means. I rented the 3rd disc alone and if I should find this 3 disc set come down to the `'teen'' price range, then I will purchase it gladly (I refuse to pay over 18 for any DVD in any format, just a personal thing). Until then, I wait and I toast to "character" ...watch the move then reread. If you like Orson Wells, you'll love this movie. If you weren't sure about him before, you will probably rent more of his movies and may just come away naming him as great after all. What writer/director /actor nowadays can really compare to his triple threat? Also, his classical training shines in this movie as found in the subtext, acting, and dialogue.
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Summary of The Complete Mr. Arkadin (aka Confidential Report) - Criterion Collection
Orson Welles's Mr. Arkadin (a.k.a. Confidential Report) is one of cinema's great mysteries. How did a globetrotting narrative of espionage, amnesia, and backstabbing come to be itself marked by these qualities? In the film, small-time American smuggler Guy van Stratten is hired by elusive billionaire Gregory Arkadin to investigate the tycoon's past. What follows is a dizzying descent into the Cold War landscape of a Europe trying to erase its history. In making the film, Welles was ultimately banned from the editing room by producer Louis Dolivet. As a result, many versions exist, none of them definitive. The Criterion Collection is proud to collect the many faces of Mr. Arkadin into one box for the first time-from the story's beginnings in radio to the novel published under Welles's name to an all-new "comprehensive version" of the film.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
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
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