ever heard of "making Mr Arkardin"

[R Kadin]

Glenn - I think you are confusing Robert Arden with Keith Baxter.

[R Kadin]

Sad news on the Arkadin front: having written to Robert Arden's agent in London recently about the possibility of an interview, just this morning I received unfortunate word from her that he passed away earlier this year.

Whether he owed it to his role as van Stratten or not, his days playing a brash American detective sort continued later, with a recurring supporting role in the British (ITV) series, "Saber of London" aka "The Vise". From his fond description of the time he spent on this tightly-budgeted, poorly-paying, but fun-filled assignment, one only hopes that his time with Welles, which certainly offered the first two qualities, offered a lot of the third one, too. Regrettably, now, from his perspective perhaps we'll never know.

[Wilson]

Thanks for the update, although it isn't news we would have wanted to hear.

[Tony]

I remember Arden was interviewed in 1984 for Leaming's book, and talks about Welles on pp 190-193, 1st edition. He makes some nice compliments about Welles' talent, but also says he was a perpetual 14-year-old with a terrible temper. Once when they met in an airport, Arden said "Hi" and Welles freaked out all over him for several minutes. Arden decided to walk out of the picture, and Dolivet (the producer) pleaded with Arden to stay; Arden told Dolivet he wouldn't work with a "maniac". A few minutes later, Welles apologized, in tears, and Arden accepted his apology. They never spoke of it again, and Arden felt Welles to be a "rennaissance man", albeit a 14-year-old one.

Our hero...

[R Kadin]

Thanks, Tony, for the Arden reference. I recalled it only vaguely, before your reminder.

Unpretentiously - as appears to have been his style - Arden actually draws rather a concise and perceptive sketch of Welles, warts and all, in that passage. No bull and very "American", in a Hemingwayesque sense. I'd like to find out if there's more where that came from.

The excerpt also reminded me that Arden had worked with Welles previously in radio and that Welles had sought him out for the van Stratten part. There's even an earlier promise made to Arden that parallels one made by Welles to Keith Baxter about one day making a film with him. (In Baxter's case, of course, that film was "Chimes.")

It's interesting that, in neither case was the promisee a big marquee name, making Welles' prophetic vows anything but mere gladhanding on his part. And, while Welles might have offered other such predictions to other performers in his career, by his actions in these two instances it would seem that, given enough time and money, he probably would have made good on all of them. How un-Hollywood!

As I slowly get to know Arden better (not an easy task, under the circumstances) the closer I think I come to understanding Welles' casting choice. Evidently, Welles really wanted an Everyman in the role, a face and name that invoked virtually no audience preconceptions; a blank slate onto which viewers would be free to project their own self-images, by way of identifying with the part. I think he also wanted someone who could convey the character's necessary ingenuousness quite naturally.

And then there's that identifiably American demeanour: determined, adventurous, impetuous, plainspoken, untrusting of old-world airs and posturing yet irrepressibly curious about about who and what engender them. But, in the end and with a Wellesian flourish, somewhat jaded and decidedly un-heroic. A non-intellectual version of his radio incarnation, Harry Lime, which - one on level at least - would explain the character name-change (the other level possibly being that Welles pretty much "owned" the Lime role and didn't want that recognition to conflict with his appearance as Arkadin). He also needed a performer who could "do bland" well enough to punch up the carefully-crafted flamboyance of the many idiosyncratic characters van Stratten was destined to encounter.

Typical of Welles, with Mr. Arkadin he seems to have been intent on clothing his film in the trappings of a familiar genre but only to finesse it towards a far more significant and artful end. Perhaps an actor less capable of, or less content with, a cipher's role might have proven too difficult a clay for Welles to mold to his unconventional endgame. Think Heston in TOE, for example.

[Tony]

R Kadin:

I remember that, but can't remember when, Arden worked with Welles in radio- was it The 3rd Man series?

[R Kadin]

According to Leaming, it was on the Harry Lime and the Black Museum radio programs that Arden had worked with Welles.