gridoon2018 Confusing, eccentric, frenzied, playful, indulgent. Not much deep meaning, just Orson Welles using the film medium as his playfield. Fanciful camerawork and flamboyant cast. Not althogether successful, but far more modern than your typical mid-1950s Hollywood fare. **1/2 out of 4.

LeonLouisRicci Defying All Reasonable Recitation, This Film is Another of Welles Extravagances that Spun Out of His Control in Post Production and Manifested a Life of its Own. Trying to Discern What it Was Supposed to Be or What it Is, for that Matter, is the Stuff of Scholarly Pursuits, Doctoral Thesis, and Criterion Collections.The Casual Film Buff Venturing Into Welles World, Especially His Late Term Efforts, is Likely to be Chewed Up, Spit Out, and Sent Sliding Into Incomprehensible Mutterings and a Desire for Firmer Ground.Solid Footing is Fleeting when it comes to Mr. Arkadin. There are So Many Versions, So Many Varying Prints, and So Many Rumors and Recollections that it is Best to Just Go with the "Comprehensive Version" and Leave "Welles" Enough Alone. Orson Welles was a Magician, a Curmudgeon, a Tinkerer, and a Tailor of Film that Loved to Play with His Craft Endlessly Until All Reason was Ripped This Way and That and Then Back Again.Few Knew or Have Been Able to Penetrate the Mind of this Filmmaker and Come Up with Anything Coherent or Understandable (a description of Arkadin), Although Mr. Bogdanovich and Others Certainly Gave it the Old College Try. Therein Lies the Endless Fascination with Orson Welles. A Puzzle of a Motion Picture Maker that is Forever Being Broken Up and Put Back Together, Although the Image on the Box is Always Different for Anyone Willing to Look. Mr. Arkadin is Perhaps Welles Most Fun Film. It is Bizarre, Disjointed, Awkward, Ill Fitting, and Absolutely Amazing and it Exists in a Select Universe of Films, Fit for Deconstruction Only by the Most Masochistic and Maniacal of Movie Fanatics. Others are Best Advised, for Peace of Mind, to Please Move Along and Play Elsewhere.

ma-cortes Interesting but odd film about an amnesiac millionaire financier who hires an investigator to find his past . Screenwriter , filmmaker , star Welles adopting from his own novel and directing this strange flick , thematically similar to Citizen Kane . The novel and the screenplay were both based on an episode in the radio series, "The Lives of Harry Lime", in which Welles played his Harry Lime character as rather less villainous that he was in The third man . It deals with an American adventurer who investigates the past of mysterious tycoon Arkadin (Orson Welles) placing himself in grave danger . Guy (the Harry Lime character is renamed "Guy van Stratten" and is played by Robert Arden) finds it most pleasant to investigate Arkadin though his lovely daughter Raina (all of Paola Mori's dialogue was dubbed by Billie Whitelaw and Marlene Dietrich turned down the role), her father's idol. However Stratton learns that all the persons he asked about Arkadin are getting killed. Guy follows the descending and intriguing trail to a surprise final .This suspense movie contains intrigue , thrills , plot twists and layered dialog prevail . Excellent acting by the maestro Orson Welles playing the life of yet another ruthless millionaire, he stars a famed tycoon with a shady past , similarly to Citizen Kane . It stars newcomers actors , as the credits read "And introducing Paola Mori" who married Orson Welles ; however, she had been in at least four films prior to this ; the credits also imply the "And introducing" refers to Robert Arden as well, who also had had at least two credited big screen performances . Good support cast as Michael Redgrave as Burgomil , Patricia Medina as Mily , Akim Tamiroff as Jakob Zouk , Mischa Auer , Amparo Rivelles , Katina Paxinou as Sophie , Grégoire Aslan as Bracco , Peter van Eyck as Thaddeus and Suzanne Flon as Baroness Nagel ; but even the efforts of a cool cast couldn't help Welles turn this into a critical or commercial success . Filmed over two years around Europe , required seven years of post production , before finding distribution in 1962 . It has recently released a comprehensive three-DVD set of the film, featuring three versions: the "Corinth" version¨ that was generally regarded closest to Orson Welles's cut, "Confidential Report" or European cut, and the newly edited "Comprehensive" version. Each version contains a few shots or lines that are missing from the other two. Because the film was taken out of Welles' control in post-production, we will never know exactly what he had in mind for the complex flashback structure he spoke of later in his life. Mr. Arkadin was created from three episodes of the 1951-1952 radio program, The Lives of Harry Lime: Man of Mystery , Murder on the Rivera and Blackmail Is an Ugly Word. Arkadin is based mostly on the first of the three and centered on a character named Gregory Arkadian , primary characters and set-ups are taken from the other two episodes . Good cinematography in black and white by Jean Burgoin , as in Citizen Kane is plenty of oblique camera angles . Atmospheric and evocative musical score by Paul Misraki .Mr. Arkadin also titled Confidential Report was well directed by Orson Welles , a genius who had a large and problematic career . In 1938 he produced "The Mercury Theatre on the Air", famous for its broadcast version of "The War of the Worlds" . His first film to be seen by the public was Ciudadano Kane (1941), a commercial failure , but regarded by many as the best film ever made , along with his following movie , The magnificent Ambersons . He subsequently directed Shakespeare adaptation such as Macbeth , Othelo and Chimes at Midnight or Falstaff . Many of his next films were commercial flops and he exiled himself to Europe in 1948. In 1956 he directed Touch of evil (1958); it failed in the U.S. but won a prize at the 1958 Brussels World's Fair. In 1975, in spite of all his box-office flops , he received the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 1984 the Directors Guild of America awarded him its highest honor, the D.W. Griffith Award. His reputation as a film maker has climbed steadily ever since.

Michael Brooks Putting it simply, my head hurt after viewing this! The poor copy with out of sync and sometimes unintelligible dialog released as "Confidential Report" on DVD here didn't help. The overwhelming and chaotic qualities I felt were aided by Robert Arden yelling much of his dialog. It did arrive at an outcome after flashback from the start of the film however the journey is convoluted, busy and somewhat confusing. Also a rich, visually textured one. I can see and appreciate the genus of Welles here in light of certain sources stating he was excluded from the editing process and he himself calling it a big mistake. Dreamlike - YES! Maybe another viewing is needed. Maybe. Seeing a decent 35mm print on the big screen would be the way to go.