322 The Complete Mr. Arkadin

[Ovader]

A look at the film locations

[hearthesilence]

As much as I love Welles, I've always resisted watching this film. I've seen bits and pieces, and something about them always made me reluctant to dive into this one.

So after a meeting was cancelled today, I went to the library and picked it up. I'm skipping right to the third disc, the 2006 Criterion cut. First, I took a peak at those outtakes, which have an extremely rare example of Welles directing (in this case, actors in close-up - usually from off-screen, in one case over his shoulder). Wow, this guy REALLY meticulously shaped his close-ups, from the positioning of the chin and especially the line reading, virtually acting for them in many instances. (Wonder if he'd do that with his Mercury players? I don't think the ones here were especially well-known as great thespians.)

The set-up is GREAT. The opening shot that pans down to the body, to the plane and the narration, and those beautiful snow shots (love the way they move in the air) and the shots leading up to that room to begin the story. And the rest is a surprising black comedy. A gem and possibly a great one.

[Drucker]

Saw Confidential Report in theaters yesterday, was going to write it up this weekend in the Welles thread, but it is so much worse than the Comprehensive Version. Honestly the closest I felt to calling a Welles film bad. Again, this version, specifically.

[hearthesilence]

I know for historical reasons cuts like those should be reserved, but Jesus, leave them to the academics. I generally hate multiple cut box sets for that reason alone. If you're lucky, you get two worthy cuts to view, but unless I'm writing a term paper, I don't have any interest in seeing something with no regard to Welles' intentions and that he completely disowned.

[hearthesilence]

FWIW, saw the Corinth version a few days ago. With the Criterion cut (aka "Comprehensive version") being my first exposure to the film, the Corinth version felt scrambled. Not bad, but poorly shuffled. Missed the opening shot of the woman on the beach, I didn't like the opening credits over those beautiful shots, obscuring so much of the falling snow…in terms of order, I really didn't like how they split that party scene in two, making them appear to be two different events occurring at two different times, despite similarities in dress, location, etc.

[Roger Ryan]

FWIW, saw the Corinth version a few days ago. With the Criterion cut (aka "Comprehensive version") being my first exposure to the film, the Corinth version felt scrambled. Not bad, but poorly shuffled.

The Corinth version is really an unfinished rough cut, making it difficult to judge on its own. The opening shot of the woman's body on the beach is only in the "Comprehensive version" because Welles made a statement years later that he had wanted to open the film with that shot - the line "...and the murder", which was edited out of Welles' opening narration for CONFIDENTIAL REPORT, seems to support the choice of using that shot in this way. Also, note the repeated action (from a different camera angle) near the end of the scene where Zouk and Van Stratten struggle with the blanket - Welles would often print alternate takes and edit them next to each other in his rough cut to determine which one he liked better in the context of the scene. For subsequent fine edits, he would naturally only retain one take. However, in the Corinth version and in the released version of CONFIDENTIAL REPORT, two takes of the same action made it into the edit. The producers of the "Comprehensive version" assumed (correctly, I believe) that this was a mistake due to the film being taken away from Welles' hands before he had finished with it and eliminated the redundant shot.

[cinemartin]

I thought I read something Francois Thomas wrote about how Confidential Report retained much more of Welles' work than previously believed - am I correct? I remember him saying the producers' changed Welles' intended structure around, but the scenes themselves are more to Welles' liking than the Corinth Version. I can't remember if the Comprehensive Version took this into account or not.

[hearthesilence]

The Corinth version is really an unfinished rough cut, making it difficult to judge on its own...

Gotcha. It was a little confusing how some of these cuts came into being and to what purpose.

[Roger Ryan]

I thought I read something Francois Thomas wrote about how Confidential Report retained much more of Welles' work than previously believed - am I correct? I remember him saying the producers' changed Welles' intended structure around, but the scenes themselves are more to Welles' liking than the Corinth Version. I can't remember if the Comprehensive Version took this into account or not.

I'm not certain if there is much, if any, difference in how the individual scenes are edited between the two. I know that the producers of the "Comprehensive Version" relied on the 35mm negative for CONFIDENTIAL REPORT whenever possible since it was the best quality. I believe the Criterion release of the Corinth version was, in effect, recreated by supplanting the 16mm Corinth footage with the 35mm negative footage for the applicable scenes/shots.

[Cagliostro]

I thought I read something Francois Thomas wrote about how Confidential Report retained much more of Welles' work than previously believed - am I correct?

Here is what Thomas writes, from the Complete Arkadin Criterion booklet:

Yet, what is more important, the overall structure or the editing of individual sequences? In this case, I think the latter. From such clues as the fact that the Dolivet version contains many lines that Welles rewrote and redubbed after the time of the early, temporary cut known as the Corinth version we can conclude that Confidential Report represents a more refined stage of Welles's editing, dubbing, and scoring in certain places. This is most plainly true of the scene of Bracco's death, the beginning of the masked ball episode, and the sequence where Arkadin commisions the investigation of his past from Van Stratten. Why, then, would we want to go back to earlier steps of Welles's work? Dolivet actually did very little reediting of scenes, beyond tailoring their very beginning or very end to the new structure every now and then.

[Roger Ryan]

Here is what Thomas writes, from the Complete Arkadin Criterion booklet:

...From such clues as the fact that the Dolivet version contains many lines that Welles rewrote and redubbed after the time of the early, temporary cut known as the Corinth version we can conclude that Confidential Report represents a more refined stage of Welles's editing, dubbing, and scoring in certain places. This is most plainly true of the scene of Bracco's death...

I should have taken the time to reread the booklet...or maybe watched the two versions again! However, doesn't Bogdanovich claim in his interview that the re-dubbing of Bracco in his death scene (the changed dialogue spelling out the plot in a more blatant way) went against Welles' wishes? I guess this is why the film is such a mystery: no one is quite sure which direction Welles wanted to go with it and Welles never cared about the film enough to comment extensively on it. I'll stand by the "Comprehensive version" as my preferred edition - it has the best continuity and this is a film that needs all the continuity it can get.

[Drucker]

Yes, regarding Bracco's death scene, Welles' preferred the "I want to tell you a secret" more than the "I want revenge" line (or whatever it is). He preferred the message being positive, I believe. I think this is spelled out in a commentary, but I know I've passed that thought somewhere.

[cinemartin]

Didn't Welles dub the line himself in both versions? I may be misremembering, but if he did dub it, I would think he wouldn't say a line that was against his wishes. I agree that this film needs all the help it can get in terms of continuity, but that's also a reason I find it fascinating. And I think there is some truth to saying Welles never cared enough to comment directly on it. I feel like he enjoyed the process of making films and once the situation became less than enjoyable, he just left, leaving other people to sort out this mess that probably never really made complete sense to anyone - Welles included!

[swo17]

I would think he wouldn't say a line that was against his wishes.

Sometimes the only way to know if something works is to try it on and see if it fits. The wishes presumably came after this.

[Drucker]

That's not really accurate, cinemartin. Welles edited Arkadin for a very long time (8 months I believe), and it was eventually taken out of his hands. He did not just up and leave. He was forced out.

[Roger Ryan]

I just checked the Bracco death scene from CONFIDENTIAL REPORT and feel pretty certain that Welles did not dub the voice in this version (as he did in the Corinth version, the soundtrack from which was also used for the "Comprehensive version"). Nonetheless, there are numerous examples of Welles working under protest to alter his own films to please a producer or studio, from the several days of studio re-shoots undertaken for THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI to the re-editing and complete re-dubbing of MACBETH. As Drucker pointed out, Welles was pushed out during post-production of ARKADIN and did not abandon the film willingly. He was offered the opportunity to buy the film back at one point, but he didn't think it would be a good use of his finances and, quite possibly, he wasn't in love with the project enough to fight harder for it.

[Cagliostro]

I'll stand by the "Comprehensive version" as my preferred edition - it has the best continuity and this is a film that needs all the continuity it can get.

Agreed. My only beef with the "Comprehensive Version" is the movement of the credits to the end. It's a minor complaint, all things considered. But in every known version the credits appear at the beginning of the film, including Corinth, and I don't think I've seen an explanation for the change. It's true that Welles placed the credits at the end of a number of his films (Kane, Ambersons, Othello), which (correct me if I'm wrong) was unusual for the time. But I don't see how this, in and of itself, is an argument for the change in Arkadin. Rather, the introduction to this oddball cast of characters at the beginning of the film sets the tone for the pulpy caper pic we're about to embark on. And as such segues nicely into Van Stratten's arrival at Tamiroff's.

[Ovader]

I just noticed this DVD Edition is Currently Unavailable on the CC website and curious to know if this has been the case for several months or more?

[therewillbeblus]

Really hope they don’t cut any of that packaging down when upgraded

[Ovader]

Really hope they don’t cut any of that packaging down when upgraded

I have a feeling the Novel will be omitted.

[movielocke]

Was about to watch this on the channel but after clicking on it had no idea where to begin. I’m likely only going to watch one version, but which one should it be?

[Rayon Vert]

The comprehensive (Criterion edit), no doubt about it.

[therewillbeblus]

The comprehensive (Criterion edit), no doubt about it.

I don’t remember the key differences, but I do know this is the correct answer

[Rayon Vert]

The Wiki article goes a bit into the differences. It's the truest to the way Welles envisioned the film, it's more complete, and I remember watching the three in succession and finding that artistically there was no contest that this one.

[Stefan Andersson]

All three versions now on a German Bluray (Region B). Details and relevant links here:
https://www.wellesnet.com/phpbb2/viewto ... aef#p27734

Mods: Sorry if this has been posted elsewhere already.