Mr. Arkadin (1955)

This is How Movies Should Be Made

brilliant actors, brilliant editing

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Orson Welles hits and runs yet again with this over-everything mess. This fellow wasted his talent by trying to make movies for himself with little regard for the viewing public - who would eventually have to part with their hard earned cash - to sit in picture houses all over the world wondering what could continue to go so awfully wrong. Too often we see raves for this fellows indulgences from other movie makers like Scorsese, Spielberg, Tarantino, and Bogdanovich, they seem to belong to a 'self congratulatory movie club', specialising in a pat-each-other-on-the-back style of praise. If Wells had concentrated on his talents as a performer, director of photography or screenplay adaptor and collaborated with more controlled movie makers (ie; Carol Reed, George Stevens, William Wyler, etc) we may have experienced more masterpieces. Instead, we have a steady rollout of sorry 'could-have-been' or unfinished titles from an eccentric, compulsive egotist. Looking at this movie is an eye-rolling experience many balanced movie lovers will tire of very early - in fact, my audience either slept of walked out. Camera angles for unimportant scenes were so overly staged it detracted from what the scenes simply set out to convey. Less would have been more for any movie maker in control of their project. All this might work for those bent on idolising a fallen one or two hit wonder. Wells seemed bent on destroying his obvious creative giftedness with unregulated egocentric opulence. Little wonder producers were forced to take control of his projects before they were all sent to the poorhouse. If not yet seen, watch it for a mostly excellent cast (except for the main lead!) being wasted within excess overindulgence. For a great movie experience look again at Citizen Kane - then consider that a young Orson, first time movie maker, was blessed with some of the finest creative film talent in the world to teach and carry him over the bumps... Innovative master cinematographer: Gregg Toland ~ brilliant writer: Herman Mankiewicz, assisted by John Houseman ~ experienced first assistant director: Edward Donahue ~ Editor: Robert Wise ~ executive in charge of production: Pandro S. Berman. These people would continue to make successful movies throughout their careers. When Orson distanced himself from the likes of these talented folk and took over the reins himself, it all began to fall over. There are many other master movie makers to honour - who have been quietly cast aside for the sake of relative failures and, this appears to be mostly instigated by others enamoured with their own self importance. Take a closer look and judge for yourself.

Prior to becoming a multimillionaire, the title character was the leader of an infamous gang in pre-WWII Poland. He hires an opportunist-drifter who breaks into his house to find out about his past, saying he has amnesia and can't remember anything, not even his real name.Sound intriguing? You bet. An interesting story? well, semi-interesting. It's festooned with plot holes and poor continuity, sorely in need of an editor. Plus, the main character represents what may be the worst casting job in the long history of Motion Pictures. His name is Robert Arden. Ever hear of him? Thought not. He was, in a word, dreadful. No subtlety, no nuance and wrecked this picture almost singlehandedly.Everybody wants to give Orson Welles and his genius their due. I think that is the main reason for many reviewers overrating this picture, and some of his genius is on display here, in fits and starts. Too often, however, his genius manifests itself in brief outbursts of megalomania as he postures and glowers before the camera in one of his too-frequent close-ups.The supporting cast ranges from excellent to superb, led by Akim Tamiroff and Katina Paxinou, both of whom had too brief appearances before the camera. As I said, there are flashes of brilliance, but not enough to pull this film up to a respectable rating. This is a seriously flawed movie.

He may well have been a genius but he also made some irritatingly bad films that need instructional information in order to follow the complex web of storytelling. This one came at a very troubled time during Orson's life when he was having difficulties getting his films finished, let alone distributed.There's no mistaking the fact that MR. ARKADIN is an Orson Welles film. Every frame of it has the stamp of the Welles touch in both cinematography (the dark, shadowy kind of odd angled shots) and story material. Once again, (like the rich merchant he played in THE IMMORTAL STORY), a mysterious man (Arkadin, a financier) sends a man on a quest to find out the truth about the past that he's forgotten. The only sure thing is that somehow most of those participating in his past end up murdered.The film had a troubled "making of" background story, and is one of those European productions Welles made and had trouble getting financial backing for distribution which took quite a bit of time.There's a touch of CITIZEN KANE to the story idea and a bit of THE THIRD MAN in the noirish B&W photography, but none of it really makes a lot of sense and some perfectly good actors turn up in oddbeat roles and disappear again.Only for true Welles fans who must see everything the master did, whether good, bad or indifferent. The worthwhile cast includes MICHAEL REDGRAVE, PATRICIA MEDINA, KATINA PAXINOU and AKIM TAMIROFF.

One of my favorite people to read about and watch is Orson Welles. So I watched "Mr. Akadin," or "Confidential Report," as it is sometimes known, with great interest. By 1955, Welles was a Hollywood outsider, the great years behind him. He made films on a shoestring and hired himself out to get money to complete them. The most heartbreaking part of one of his biographies is the story of Welles having dinner with Spielberg, hoping the dynamic director could help him get a distributor for his latest movie. But Spielberg only wanted to talk about the past, about the legendary Orson Welles. No one would help him, not Warren Beatty, no one."Mr. Arkadin" is the story of a man, Guy Van Stratten, who runs around the world on the basis of a few words heard as a man is dying, words, the man assures him, that are worth millions. Just seek out Mr. Arkadin and mention Bracco and Sophie. Van Stratten, a hood, and a woman, Mily, do just that, and Van Stratten meets and later falls in love with Arkadin's daughter (played by Welles' third wife, Paola Mori) and gets inside the man's home and life. Arkadin claims amnesia and hires Van Stratten to find out about his past for him.This is a good story in a problematic film. There are the Welles touches of the odd camera angles and special lighting, but the film is disconcerting because the dubbing is way off - I at first thought it had been made in another language. Also, some of the acting is just horrible, particularly from Patricia Medina (Mily) and Robert Arden (Van Stratten). However, Welles assembled a brilliant group of foreign character actors for the other roles - Akim Tamirof, Gert Frobe, Michael Redgrave, Mischa Auer, Katina Paxinou - incredible, and they probably did their roles as favors for Welles for very little. Welles himself plays Arkadin, and it's a broad performance we're used to seeing when, frankly, he's phoning it in, which he did here as he was busy with everything else involved in the movie."Mr. Arkadin" looks like a student film, but it has some wonderful moments, both frightening and funny. A Welles film is always worth seeing even if it doesn't always exactly hit the mark. And he hit the mark so many times - you never know when something he did is going to turn into a masterpiece.