mr arkadin

[blunted by community]

i'm a bit confused on the mr arkadin dvds. i have the 3 arkadin films on vhs and now i want to get them on dvd.

there is the arkadin that came out on voyager laser disc. i have that one on dvd.

then there is arkadin in chronological order, and arkadin in flashbacks with one party story instead of two. what do the dvd covers on these 2 look like? any one know?

one has tony curtis doing an intro. which is that one.

[Eve]

Hi,

all I know is, that the one where Tony Curtis is doing an intro is in chronological order (probably the worst version and the soundtrack is in terrible condition).

[blunted by community]

thank you, eve.

yes, the chronological one is the worst. i used to think the voyager one was the best, but lately, i'm begining to think that the version with flash backs and one party story is the best of the 3. but i like all 3 versions.

[HarryLime]

I think that you can see the chrono version as "the kind of movies the studio want Welles to do" and the others version to the "Welles's point of view"... The flashback way to tell a story seem something very important for Welles (as you know, Citizen Kane is also a fashback story)...
Stephane N.

(Sorry my English look like an Ed Wood movie)

[blunted by community]

good point. from what i understand, the 3 versions are products of 3 producers. with harry lime's theory in mind, the chronological version would be the product of the most conservative of the 3.

i think there was also talk of cutting lady fram shanghai in flash back, using the court room as the focus point. if i'm not mistaken, welles was against it because he didn't shoot it that way, so he didn't have the footage for that.

[Flint]

Question on Arkadin-
Is the British DVD version any good? I know it is listed as the best version on the FAQ, but is it worth getting, or should I wait for better region 1 disk? I have the Tony Curtis/American version but now have a player that can play PAL discs. Also, is it the flashback version?

-Flint

[Coldspur]

Yeesh! Where does the Criterion LD fit into all this; is it the same as the R2 DVD, or what?!

Also, as has been said time and time again, the DVD w/ the Tony Curtis intro is an absolutely atrocious DVD. Once you get over the general fact that Tony Curtis is doing an intro. for Arkadin, the writing of the intro. really hits home as laughable (why, for instance, would a DVD company want to insult their own film? It almost seems as if the company was working on a Citizen Kane disc rather than an Arkadin disc!); even Tony Curtis doing his best Christopher Walken impression can't salvage this effort . Additionally, the transfer on the disc is one of the VERY worst transfers I've seen on a DVD... period!

Thankfully, Wellesfan was nice enough to send me a DVD copy of the Confidential Report criterion LD. I actually enjoy the movie now (I couldn't hear half the dialogue on the Tony Curtis DVD), and what a transfer!

In the immortal words of Tony Curtis, "Rosebud."

[Jaime N. Christley]

I don't remember any differences between the Criterion LD and the British DVD, I think they were pretty much the same. Memory bad on that one, though - I'd need a side-by-side viewing to say anything for sure.

The British DVD is pretty good, considering what poor shape the film is in. It far exceeds the discount rack American edition by LaserLight. If anyone ever takes the initiative to clean up and restore this great film, the DVD that comes out of it will trounce all existing video editions - and hopefully such a disc will account for Arkadin's bizarre, multiple version history.

[Jaime N. Christley]

The British DVD is Region 0, by the way, meaning anyone can play it. US buyers can get it on Blackstar.co.uk for peanuts.