So I sat down tonight with the Comprehensive Version (little did I know the film opens on Christmas, so that was a nice coincidence) and, while it's great that Criterion has done right be Welles in providing such an extensive release for this film, I really don't understand the admiration for this film. While I understand the need for suspending disbelief or just going along for the ride with these kinds of films (ie.
The Big Sleep completely succeeds despite throwing all hope for a cohesive narrative out the window), the flaws with this film are too upfront and too frequent to be overlooked. Essentially a
Citizen Kane redux, Welles film that strives to be about one's identity being consumed by wealth (or the pursuit of it) hinges itself on a plot hook that is frankly ridicuous:
Arkadin hires Van Stratten to find out his secrets and then gets upset when he finds out about them and spends the rest of the film worrying his daughter will find out, when this all could have been avoided by not offering up proposal in the first place. It doesn't make sense that a man who spend 30 years hiding his identity would pay off a stranger to potentially upend what he spent decades successfully hiding.
All that said, the film offers some of Welles most exquisite shots, particularly of Zouk's wintery, hideaway. For any first time Welles fans however, I would definitely point them to most of his other films before getting them to view this. I'm not sure if Welles had the final edit, if I would've liked the film any more given my issues with the actual plot, but it certainly would've helped in achieving the fluidity this version tries to address.
