This movie has The Other Side of the Wind levels of fuckery behind the scenes. Based on a radio play written, starred, and directed in by Orson Welles, Welles ended up leaving the production before the movie was edited. After he missed some editing deadline, a producer just had the movie edited without any input from Welles, which is what was released in 1955 and it was known as Confidential Report.
Six years later, a very young Peter Bogdanovich discovered the existence of this movie with flashbacks, and made sure it was released. This was the version I saw and it was re-named Mr. Arkadin, and it's known as the Corinth edit. In 2006, Criterion made a new version, which is thought to be the closest to Welles' vision. Of course, Welles died 21 years earlier, so there's really no way of knowing.
HBOMax had the Corinth version, so I watched the Corinth version. I can pretty confidently say that, based on the flaws of this movie, that it literally wouldn't have mattered which version I watched. This is not a very good movie. The plot doesn't make sense and the acting isn't very good.
The biggest reason I'm confident any version of this movie is bad? Robert Arden. Arden plays Guy Van Stratten, who tells the story in flashback form and who we follow the entire movie. He's atrocious in this. He's extremely unlikable and I don't think he's meant to be.
There's a particularly painful scene that really was never going to age well, but isn't something Cary Grant couldn't have pulled off inexplicably. He tries to woo the daughter of Mr. Arkadin, and his approach is blunt, uncharismatic, and pushy, and only by forcing himself on her with a kiss does she finally acquiesce. Yeah that's a problem with a lot of movies from back then, but trust me when I say I've never seen it done as poorly as Arden.
It's not completely Arden's fault. He's just extraordinarily miscast here. Like I said, this role is basically Cary Grant type, and I don't mean to suggest only he would make this role work, but Arden is so completely not Cary Grant that I don't know what Welles was thinking with this one.
To be fair, Arden is hardly alone. Patricia Medina is not great either as Mily, the flaky girlfriend of Van Stratten, and a scene where she has to pretend she's in a boat and I think drunk and well, I'll just say she overacts and you can let your imagination run wild. Welles future wife Paola Mori was not terrible, but pretty bland for someone who's supposed to make things difficult for Van Stratten.
I wouldn't say Welles himself is bad, although he is very over the top. The problem is less his acting, more his ridiculous fake beard. You can't really take him seriously with that beard. He's meant to be this menacing, mysterious figure though and he never really sells it.
Then there's the plot. It doesn't make sense. Think of it this way. This movie has the flashback structure, the mysterious billionaire we don't know anything about, and someone trying to find out his history. Sounds like Citizen Kane right? Yeah if you have any want to see this movie, just watch Citizen Kane instead.
I was wondering if I should watch all three versions that exist, and compare them, but there's just no need. Maybe one of them is better than the others, but I don't see how Arden's performance will be magically better in a movie that is basically the same. Welles described this movie as the biggest disaster of his life, due to his loss of creative control. Welles should honestly be happy to have a scapegoat for why this is bad.
1.5/4 stars
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