Mr. Arkadin on DVD soon

[Tony]

Glenn:

As usual, your suggestion about catching Arkadin applying his disguise would have been stunning, and this reminds me of a discovery I've made on the Arkadin set; have you checked out the stills gallery? Welles was possibly his handsomest ever in 54-55: his hair was longer on top and at the front than it had been since the 30s, and he looks to be just a little heavy; in some of the photos, he looks really good. ( Of course, this begs the question: "when did he gain all that weight?" since by '56 and back in hollywood, he looked very large.) To cover up his face so much really hampered his acting in the role: it just looked " "kinda silly". Now my thought experiment went a little further than yours: what if Welles played Arkadin without the makeup? You know, like the 'archangel' Harry Lime? Because I think whoever on the boxset said it right when they put forth that Welles was trying to capitalize on the Third Man phenomenon. However, then I went further: what if Welles had simply done a prequel to Harry Lime, just as the radio show did? Sans makeup, he could have played Lime working for Arkadin. And who would have played Arkadin? Why, the fellow who did it so well on the radio program, whose name escapes me just now, (O'brady?) but who one can easily imagine in the role, as he did it so well in the radio program.

Put Welles in as the anti-hero 'Harry Lime' along with Karas's zither music, a good villain and a pretty girl, and unless you totally blow it, you've got a ready-made international hit.

Which is what Welles wanted. :;):

[Glenn Anders]

Yes, Tony, Frederick O'Brady -- born Frigyes Ábel.

Another case of secret identity?

I remember reading his account of being placed in room somewhere in which he recorded his lines, and then doing his scene at another place and time. His makeup for Oscar suggests a depraved, shriven, elderly Charles Foster Kane.

Harry Lime (Orson Welles) working for the stunted Gregori Arkadin (Frederick O'Brady/Frigyes Abel).

Perhaps, Harry Lime could have been the illigitimate son of Arkadin . . . .

It may be just as well that Larry French never took THESE ideas to Stefan Drossler and Criterion.

But it is always good fun to imagine.

After all, at long last, we have a pretty absorbing film in MR. ARKADIN.


Glenn

[Tony]

I don't think it's implausible; after all. Michael O'Hara worked for Arthur Bannister...:;):

[Roger Ryan]

I remember reading his account of being placed in room somewhere in which he recorded his lines, and then doing his scene at another place and time.

Actually, didn't Welles claim somewhere ("TIOW"?) that he looped all of O'Brady's lines himself and that O'Brady didn't recognize it wasn't his voice? I don't have the Criterion set yet, but it's definitely Welles' voice coming out of O'Brady's mouth in the public domain version of the film.

[tonyw]

:D My ARKADIN DVDs finally arrived 24 hours before the scheduled performance from Olive Films.Com who may be the cheapest source around - though not as low as Discount DVD before Criterion found out.

I'm finding these postings so fascinating as with all and will undoubtedly refer to them, giving due credit to members as always, tomorrow evening.

[Kevin Loy]

Actually, didn't Welles claim somewhere ("TIOW"?) that he looped all of O'Brady's lines himself and that O'Brady didn't recognize it wasn't his voice? I don't have the Criterion set yet, but it's definitely Welles' voice coming out of O'Brady's mouth in the public domain version of the film.

I'm pretty confident that O'Brady and Auer were both dubbed after the fact by Welles. One of the bonus features on the Criterion set points out that Aslan's parts were dubbed by Welles too (at least, in the Corinth and American [pub domain] versions), and it does sound like him.

I'm still curious about Paola Mori, though. The IMDB claims that her dialogue from Arkadin was dubbed by Billie Whitelaw, yet the rushes of the scene in the hotel room provide an interesting curio, since her voice obviously wasn't dubbed during those scenes, and it sounds quite similar, if rather soft-spoken in contrast, to the more familiar voice of Raina.

[marcoshark]

This is an amazing set. Criterion has done a bang up job. Kudos to all the people who made this happen. BTW people, anyone here see some similarities between this film and Huston's "List of Adrian Messenger"?

[Glenn Anders]

Marcoshark: There are many similarities to be noted between MR. ARKADIN and THE LIST OF ADRIAN MESSENGER, short of making any definite linkages. The greatest is the long friendship and professional relationship of Orson Welles with John Huston.

Starting at that point, we might point to the fact that both films are in B & W, harder for Huston to pull off in 1963, given his need for Studio backing. (Huston had much bigger Hollywood stars in his cameos though.) The plots have a distant similarity, and the screenplay is by Huston's longtime friend and collaborator, Anthony Veiller, who also worked with him on the the screenplay for Welles' THE STRANGER.

In THE LIST OF ADRIAN MESSENGER, Huston extensively employs Welles' technique of dubbing actors with new voices. He hired Paul Frees ane Eric Heath to do a lot of the uncredited post-production work. Frees followed Welles as one of the other great voices of American Radio's Golden Age, most remembered, in my mind, for his dialects in the long-lived great CBS adventure series, Escape. But he did hundreds of other roles on radio, and later much vocal work in Hollywood movies.

Huston, according to my Epinions colleague, Brian Koller, went Welles one further. According to him, not only were some of the voices of Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis, Burt Lancaster, Robert Mitchum, and others dubbed, but lesser actors also played some of the parts attributed to the Stars. Under all the makeup, who was to know?

If so, it was hardly worth the trouble. I have always liked THE LIST OF ADRIAN MESSENGER on its own merits, requiring none of the special pleading formerly needed to justify MR. ARKADIN, and perfectly executed except for those klunky, gothic star turns. The critics tended to concentrate on what they considered the gimmicky factors in Huston's picture, ignoring its beautifully paced suspense, plotting, main performances, photography, editing and score. I'm sure those criticisms hurt its box office.

So far as I know, Huston did not repeat the Welles' experiment in subsequent films, at least not to the same extremes.

Interesting that you should come up with that comparison, markoshark.

Glenn

[robertdavidmonell]

I have had this set since Saturday [35 dollars at Best Buy is a small price to pay for such a feast] and have yet to make my way through all the extras. The 2006 Munich version alone is worth the price to me in that, although not edited by Welles, the new opening and closing images complete the film for me in a way after experiencing it many times over the years both theatrically and on video in both the CONFIDENTIAL REPORT and MR ARKADIN versions. There is just SO MUCH here. I have always thought that ARKADIN was one of Welles most fascinating failures and have struggled to enjoy it but this set really enhances one's understanding and appreciation of the project, it's really a full course of on the film and its making. A few quick points. Welles at one point wanted to film Jim Thompon's THE KILLER INSIDE ME, and the novel included, probably not completed by Welles, reminds me a lot more of JT in style than Cain. Also, I now think the obviously fake hair and beard Welles wears as Arkadin is quite intentionally spurious as part of the amusement, a "burlesque" as Rosenbaum notes at one point, the "wacky" quality really hit me, this seems like an outre "entertainment", Welles sending himself and his style up. It's a comedie noire more than a film noir in some respects.

[Harvey Chartrand]

There's a fair amount of slapstick in MR. ARKADIN. Welles must be indulging in self-parody, as John Huston did when he lampooned all those 1940s pictures he made with Humphrey Bogart in BEAT THE DEVIL, filmed in Italy in 1953.

The ARKADIN restoration is so amazingly well done that it has also changed my opinion of Robert Arden's performance. I thought Arden was fine, if a tad too strident in a few scenes. But then again that over-the-top quality might have been exactly what Welles was looking for. I think Arden has a face and manner for today, more acceptable to contemporary audiences. Arden reminds me of a handsomer version of Dan Hedaya.

I understand that Welles expressed displeasure about Arden's performance in his later years.

With its fabulous location shooting in postwar Europe, MR. ARKADIN also has definite historical significance. The images of a rather dingy Paris and a bombed-out Munich are especially evocative.

[Matt Rabin]

in my desperation to see the criterion version, I had to rent the box set.

wow!

it's been said by others, but this really is a phenomenal package: the attention to detail, the quality of the prints, the extras. the rosenbaum/naremore commentary alone is worth the price of admission. a really good movie, it deserves far more acclaim that it's historically received. hopefully the criterion treatment will rehabilitate Arkadin's critical rep.

makes me wish criterion could get their hands on Chimes or MacBeth.

although I preordered the set from criterion back in the fall, it still hasn't arrived. anybody else order directly from them and recieve it yet?

[majikbeens]

I've been trying to read through this thread, and I apologise if I missed if this was discussed before, but besides all the special features, how does this version of Arkadin differ from the one that will be shown on TCM in a couple days?

[Tashman]

Majik: In the past, as far as I know, TCM has shown CONFIDENTIAL REPORT. This is/was the hack version put out by Orson's backer, Louis Dolivet. Only guessing now, I would think if TCM were showing the new "Comprehensive" version featured in the Criterion set (which also includes REPORT and the Corinth version), they would air it as "a TCM premiere" and then not at 4 in the morning.

By the way, I agree with Harvey that Arden, for reasons that aren't quite tangible, is one of the winners in the new version. The balanced soundtrack and corrected pacing and continuity have worked a certain alchemy on Arden if not completely on Welles' Van Stratten. Hopefully this isn't just a by-product of a couple weeks' immersion in the movie, that it's just worn down my defenses.

I agree with everything positive that's been said about the Comprehensive version. It's been a hell of a time for Welles at my house, having also just seen for the first time Roger Ryan's AMBERSONS project. Bogdanovich's "optimism" rings loud and clear.

[Store Hadji]

TCM will show the version called Confidential Report. It is considered to be the one furthest from Welles' original intentions (at least that 93-minute version still had Welles dubbing Bracco.) The box set includes Confidential Report, and the 99-minute "Corinth" version of Mr. Arkadin (which is closer to what Welles wanted,) and the new reconstructed 106-minute version (which includes footage from Confidential Report, the Corinth version of Arkadin, and the Spanish versions.) If you like the one on TCM, you may want to check out the other versions in the box set.

[Roger Ryan]

TCM will show the version called Confidential Report. It is considered to be the one furthest from Welles' original intentions (at least that 93-minute version still had Welles dubbing Bracco.)

Personally, I think "Confidential Report" is better (closer to Welles' intentions?) than the public domain "Mr. Arkadin" that removes the flashback structure completely. It seems pretty certain that TCM is re-airing the film to coincide with the Criterion box set release; I wonder if Robert Osborne will do a new intro/outro commenting on the box set?