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Mr. Arkadin (Confidential Report)

1955

Orson Welles

Robert Arden, Orson Welles, Paola Mori, Akim Tamiroff ...

6.9

3,034

Mystery. Thriller. Film noir. Drama Orson Welles’s "Mr. Arkadin" tells the story of an elusive billionaire who hires an American smuggler to investigate his past. Welles missed the editing deadline, so the producer handed over the editing to others. Following two Spanish-dubbed versions, released in Madrid in March 1955, the first English-language version was released in London in August 1955 as "Confidential Report" but was never released in the US. The fourth version, ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	The New York Times	"It is, in turn, baffling, exciting, infuriating, original and obscure. It is also, from start to finish, the work of a man with an unmistakable genius for the film medium."	POS
United States	Noel Murray AV Club	"The film has a zany energy, a couple of stunningly elaborate setpieces, and more Dutch Tilts than a poorly hung Vermeer exhibit"	POS
United States	Dave Kehr Chicago Reader	"For all of the film's perversity, there is greatness in it"	POS
United States	Variety	"The visual trickery in 'Report', albeit often irrelevant, is almost always fascinating just because it’s a Welles orchestration, filling the screen with arresting oddment, with delicious detail with, in short, excitement"	POS
United States	Richard Brody The New Yorker	"Extraordinary, and unjustly unrecognized"	POS
United Kingdom	Paul Taylor Time Out	"Flamboyantly melodramatic, it's a playfully egocentric display of egocentrism and a magician's perverse revelation of his own trickery. Failure or not, it's irresistible."	POS
United States	Steve Uhler Austin Chronicle	"'Arkadin' is an unfinished card trick, but a predictably dazzling one."	POS
United Kingdom	William Thomas Empire	"The film suffers from the inevitable comparison to 'Kane', but is nevertheless an impressive mystery in its own right (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Adrian Turner Radio Times	"This fascinating picture is a fearful mess (…) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"	NEU
United States	Mark Fleischmann Entertainment Weekly	"Welles seduces the viewer by fostering a we-are-all-actors-together camaraderie that recalls earlier and greater pictures, and he whips the camera around in an expressionist frenzy"	POS

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