MR ARKADIN (aka CONFIDENTIAL REPORT) - New DVD (PAL) old VHS (NTSC)

[Fredric]

...and the idea for Monsieur Verdoux is contributed to Welles...

[nathan_h]

(jaime marzol @ Feb. 18 2002,04:01) i don't know which is the tony curtis version, but version 'C,' the not bats, one story, no flashback version is the one i noticed the alternate takes in. most notably in the scene where they are playing cards, sophie and the frog faced general.

oh yes, that's the version i meant: the poor DVD (very cheap) of version C has Tony Curtis doing an introduction.

thanks.

--

and thanks, fredric, for the additional description. in the VAIN hope that one of the versions I have on VHS was the Corinth one (but that I never realized it) I put each copy (only two, it turns out) in the machine the other day: I watched about 5 minutes of the version c/tony curtis/public domain one and gagged. I also realized it was the first version I watched. The other tape, alas, was the Criterion Confidential Report...

LOVE to find a version of the Corinth.

[sergio]

Does ANYONE have the Corinth version on VHS?

[Fredric]

I'm about to land a high-quality Corinth version. I will let everyone know when I get it.

[Le Chiffre]

Frederic,
Thanks for posting that 1958 Cahiers list. Many American critics consider MR. ARKADIN to be a second-rate rehash of CITIZEN KANE, and it's fascinating that European critics thought so highly of it. Were they just trying to help Welles out, or did they know something about the film that we don't know? Like the man (or men) that Arkadin was based on?

On the other Arkadin thread, "Welles Fan" made an interesting post about the similarities between Gregory Arkadin and Stalin (wiping out his past), which is something that Welles himself confirmed. James Naremore wrote about Arkadin as a fictionalization of the Austrian arms merchant Fritz Mandl. Bogdanovich mentioned such European power figures as Lowenstein, Kruger, and Zaharov, but Welles denied they were part of the character. There is another figure, though, who was never mentioned, except in the Arkadin book: Aristotle Onassis, the Greek shipping tycoon best known (to Americans, anyway) for marrying Jackie Kennedy. In the book, Van Stratton, while investigating Arkadin's past, poses as a journalist from Time magazine to get an interview with Sir Joseph, a rival financier of Arkadin's. Sir Joseph dismisses Arkadin as a "barbarian who might have sacked Rome in another age", but seems eager to levy all kinds of abuse against Onassis. It made me think of the projection room scene in KANE, where Thompson's boss says of Kane, "How is he any different from Ford? Or Hearst for that matter?". My curiosity piqued, I did some superficial research into Onassis and found some intriguing connections.

For one thing, Onassis' rise to power is shrouded in mystery. Originally from Turkey, he fled when the Turks began to oppress their Greek minorities. He moved, supposedly penniless, to Argentina at the age of 21 to try and revive the family's tobacco business there, and two years later was a millionaire, rumors are, from selling opium on the side. Fritz Mandl was also making a fortune in Argentina, as were one of the premiere banking dynasties in Europe, the Rothschilds (sometimes referred to as "The Magnificent Rothschilds", but that's another story). After WWII, many top Nazis reportedly fled to Argentina, and Hitler's main banker reportedly helped Onassis establish a dominant Greek trust in the post-war Atlantic shipping trade. In 1947, Eva Peron had an affair with Onassis, to help raise money for her populist charity in Argentina, a democratic smokescreen that helped her and her husband to maintain a fascist regime there. I don't know how much of a presence Stalin was on both sides of the Atlantic, but Onassis, like Arkadin, certainly was.

Another interesting coincidence is that Arkadin's luxury yacht was named "The Raina", after his daughter, while Onassis named his yacht "The Christina", after his daughter. There was also an interesting story from around the time Mr. Arkadin was written about how Onassis tried desperately to charter an immediate trans-Atlantic flight by offering huge amounts of money to anyone, but was unsuccessful (sounds a bit like the climax of Arkadin).

Welles wrote Mr. Arkadin right after doing the Harry Lime radio series. Two episodes from that series, which he wrote himself, seem to stand out from the rest. One is DEAD CANDIDATE, based on his novel UNE GROSSE LEGUME, about a fictional country (obviously based on Argentina) where a corrupt dicatorship steals elections while pretending to be a democracy (with the help of U.S. corporations, Welles adds). There's even a bit character of the dictator's wife, obviously based on Evita. The other episode is, of course, MAN OF MYSTERY, which is a simplified version of the Arkadin plot, with Harry Lime in place of Van Stratton. Interestingly, this episode is also known as GREEK MEETS GREEK.

I think there may also be a dash of Harry Lime in Gregory Arkadin too - the Lime of the movie, that is. The difference between the charming, roguish, petty adventurer Lime of the radio series and the cold-blooded Machiavellian Lime of the Third Man movie seems similar to the difference between Van Stratten and Arkadin. Maybe I'm just reaching for shit with all this, but I can't help it...it's my character. And it's fun.

[Fredric]

Just received a VHS of The Corinth Version of Mr. Arkadin striaght from the horses mouth. They were nice enough to run a transfer directly from the print they had, so it should be the best quality available.

Please check out my posting in the trade section if anyone would like me to run off a copy.

[Jaime N. Christley]

I figgered it'd be better to resurrect an old post rather than begin a new one and create a redundant thread...

Just watched the UK DVD yesterday of CR, and aside from the usual complaints about the quality of the print, I have to say I'm very pleased with the quality of the disc. I haven't checked out the American DVD of Arkadin, so I can't compare how good or bad one is compared to the other.

And apart from the disc, what a marvelous, entertaining movie! Strange as it may seem, I think Robert Arden is ideal for the role - I wouldn't want a better actor to play Van Stratten. He has a perverse appeal to him; lovable slimeball, etc. The fact that he's a mediocre B-actor, trying to hard to be cool and serious, the hard-ass noir anti-hero, etc., works in a way similar to Sam Fuller's casting of the male leads in his movies - Peter Breck in Shock Corridor, for example, or Anthony Eisley and Michael Dante in The Naked Kiss.

One last thing - I realize it's been maybe answered already, but how does one account for the difference in listed running times on the Metrodome DVD (93 min.) and the Criterion LD (99 min.)? What's missing on the DVD?

[Jeff Wilson]

I just got my copy of the Confidential Report UK disc today, and I was impressed with the quality of the video and audio. Certainly it isn't perfect, and I don't think this film will ever look fantastic, but compared to the Home Vision video tape, it's much better. Sharper picture, clearer audio. I could understand lines in the UK release than were inaudible in the Home Vision version. I haven't seen the Criterion disc so I don't know how it stacks up, but unless something better comes along, this is the disc to have.

As for the time discrepancies, it's the PAL speed-up that accounts for that. The Home Vision VHS runs 97:30, not 99 minutes as the box states. The UK DVD runs 93:26, and I would think that's about the 4% difference between PAL and NTSC. If you have the capability, pick this one up, it's a good buy. No Tony Curtis intro though, which may have really put this one over the top. I'll get some screen caps up before long, hopefully.

[Jaime N. Christley]

Ah, PAL speed-up, of course. I've actually told people about that, it's so ironic that I should forget it myself.

I thought there was some minor but noticeable artifacting during playback, on my TV and my computer (worse on the computer). It didn't bother me as much as the dirt and scratches on the print, but it still bothered me.

Oh well, haven't seen the American disc yet, so I'll have to take everyone's word that this is the best available.

Months ago I mailed a suggestion to Jon Mulvaney, the Q&A rep at Criterion, to add Confidential Report (as well as F for Fake and The Magnificent Ambersons) to the DVD line-up. I don't think they will anytime soon, but it doesn't hurt to suggest...

[dmolson]

A Criterion blitz isn't a bad idea. My questions to Mr Mulvaney have always been returned, and he's very open to suggestion... If we provide a united, overwhelming front, he'll have something to present to the cheeses who really make the decisions. By the way, my suggestion was for Criterion to jump into the western market, trying to get a piece of the Anthony Mann/John Ford/Delmer Daves pie...

[sergio]

I've finally managed to get a look at the Corinth version of MR ARKADIN and I have swiftly come to the conclusion that it is the ONLY version.

So many thanks Fred!

Although there are discrepancies with CONFIDENTIAL REPORT in which occasionally there are things in the CR which I also like, in every other way, the 99 1/2 minute version available from Corinth is the only one that truly makes sense - in many ways it is a revelation - the voice over is much more impressive and actually helps the plot to make sense, and also makes the editing style seem even better (and less seemingly chaotic).

The region 2 DVD of CR is still the best looking of all the versions so far, and as such is well worth having, but in the Corinth version, MR ARKADIN is a film that finally comes into its own as a true Welles film, which to me, after 15 years of seeing only truncated versions, is truly extraordinary - truly woonderful. If only we could only get the Corinth version cleaned up and presented on DVD, perhaps with the RAI documentary on the multiple versions of ARKADIN/REPORT (has anyone other than Jonathan Rosenbaum ever seen this all the way through outside of Italy?)

Anyway, to see the Corinth version is to be in ARKADIN heaven - sheer joy...sorry for the effusion, but it's been a damm long wait!

[jaime marzol]

sergio wrote:
perhaps with the RAI documentary on the multiple versions of ARKADIN/REPORT (has anyone other than Jonathan Rosenbaum ever seen this all the way through outside of Italy?)

i write back:
what the hell is this? an arkadin documentary? never heard of this. can you tell me more?

[Jeff Wilson]

When I saw Arkadin at the U of Michigan, Rosenbaum came to speak about the film and brought a clip of this along, which featured footage from the Spanish version, as well as footage of Welles rehearsing a scene with Paola Mori, which was fascinating to see.

[Jaime N. Christley]

What was Rosenbaum like? I've always envisioned him as a short, nasally voiced perfectionist type. (Dig his writing, though.)

Jaime (not me, the other one), you can read about the Arkadin doc in JR's "Seven Arkadins" essay, from his Movies as Politics book. Doesn't say much about it except that it exists, it's by Ciro Giorgini, it's called Tutta La Verita' Su 'Mr. Arkadin', and that he made it for Italy's RAI in 1991. Also said it was invaluable.

Don't know how useful you'll find that - if there's so much difficulty getting a decent Arkadin on video, you can bet the doc is extra extra rare.

[Jeff Wilson]

Rosenbaum was a disshevelled-looking academic type guy, who seemed pretty beat that night. Catherine Benamou (who's done extensive research on It's All True) was teaching a class on Welles that semester, so she was hosting the screenings, and afterward, there was a brief Q & A with Rosenbaum. Depressingly, much of it dealt with (out of the 10 or 12 of us there) "Is <insert Welles film here> on video?" and "Why not?" This was '98, incidentally. Then, she said that whoever wanted to join them for dinner could head to the restaurant with them, which Rosenbaum didn't seem too keen about. I had asked about the Welles on Welles book that he described on TiOW, and he discussed the estate's, ah, monetary focus as the killing factor in certain Welles projects.