Confidential Report (Mr. Arkadin) (Directors Suite) (1955)

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General		Extras
Category	Thriller	Audio Commentary-by Dr. Brian McFarlane, Professor at Monash University Booklet-an essay by film critic, Jonathan Rosenbaum Short Film-Orson Welles' Ghost Story (Return to Glenascaul)
Rating
Year Of Production	1955
Running Time	93:31 (Case: 95)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (56:14)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Orson Welles
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Orson Welles Michael Redgrave Patricia Medina Akim Tamiroff Mischa Auer Paola Mori Katina Paxinou Grégoire Aslan Peter van Eyck Suzanne Flon Robert Arden Jack Watling
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$34.95	Music	Paul Misraki

    Confidential Report by Orson Welles is not available in the version that Welles envisioned when he made the film. This in itself is not a tragedy if you compare the fact that this and nine other of Welles' feature films were not released according to Welles' wishes either. Some of these films have had attempts to restore them to Welles' preferred versions such as this film, Confidential Report (released as the "comprehensive version" on the 3-disc Criterion Collection box-set of Mr Arkadin - the preferred name of this film by Welles) and Touch of Evil (Rick Schmidlin's restored 1998 cut). Some films were not completed (Don Quixote, The Deep and The Dreamers) due to financing, others due to legalities over funding and ownership to complete editing (The Other Side of the Wind) and others were considerably altered in post-production (Magnificent Ambersons and The Lady from Shanghai). Just how did Welles get himself into these predicaments during his film career?

     It all started with Welles' initial and unprecedented two-picture RKO (or film company RKO Radio Pictures) contract which gave Welles, then an unknown director and writer, final cut privilege. The first film, Citizen Kane, angered the person it was loosely based on, Randolph Hearst (due to the negative portrayal of Kane's love interest in the film which was based on Hearst's mistress, Marion Davies), and Hearst's negative campaign hurt the film's box-office. Subsequently, Citizen Kane was forgotten until sold by RKO to be played on television in the late 1950s. The French New Wave critics championed it, and by the early 1960s respected British film magazine, Sight & Sound named it in their top ten greatest films in first position, which it has done every ten years since. Welles' second picture, The Magnificent Ambersons was re-edited with 40 minutes of film cut out and a 'happy' ending tacked on. Even with this alteration, Welles' second film is nearly as highly critically acclaimed today as Citizen Kane. Sight & Sound's 2002 poll of critics and directors voted Orson Welles as the greatest director of all time and a similar acclamation of online and critics' polls by film site They Shoot Pictures Don't They? has reached the same conclusion. However, by 1956 when Confidential Report was released in Europe by producer Louis Dolivet, Welles was struggling for any sort of acclaim in Europe, as actor, writer, director and producer.

     Confidential Report was filmed in 1954 as Mr Arkadin based on a series of radio plays centring on Welles' character from The Third Man, Harry Lime. As such, it shares the film noir and thriller plot elements from The Third Man, in fact many critics have labelled Mr Arkadin as a darker version of Citizen Kane. Like Citizen Kane, Mr Arkadin was always meant to have a complex flashback structure. This was meant to revolve around Akim Tamiroff's character, Jacob Zouk. This version of Mr Arkadin on this DVD, titled 'Confidential Report' does not have this flashback structure at all. The reason for this is because producer Louis Dolivet lost patience with Welles' slow editing work in post-production. When this caused financial problems, Welles was fired and Dolivet took over the editing process. Hence, some critics have had issues with some of the quick-editing done in Confidential Report without realising that Welles was not responsible for it. Perhaps Dolivet edited this way to make the film more action-orientated. In my opinion, without the flashbacks to provide the orientation to scenes in the film the editing makes the plot harder for the viewer to follow.

     There are five versions of Mr Arkadin currently available, two in Spanish and three in English. Confidential Report is the version available on this release by Madman, it has no flashbacks. The Corinth version includes flashbacks. Like critic Jonathan Rosenbaum, I prefer this version of the film. The Comprehensive Version is available on the 3-disc Criterion Collection release of Mr Arkadin from 2006. It was put together by film historians Stefan Droessler and Claude Bertemes from Welles' interviews, working materials, as well as early scripts. Although it is meant to come closest to Welles' known intentions and was meant to make the film more comprehensible than earlier edits, it still cannot match Welles' original intentions for Mr Arkadin. (Rick Schmidlin's 1998 reconstruction of Touch of Evil is closer to Welles' vision for that film.)

     The main plot of Confidential Report revolves around Welles' portrayal of the East European multi-millionaire Gregory Arkadin and his business deal with Guy Van Stratten (played by Robert Arden), a small-time smuggler and opportunist. Van Stratten is interested in knowing Arkadin after his name is whispered by a dying man on the docks of Naples. Van Stratten falls for Arkadin's daughter (played by Welles' partner at the time, Paola Mori) and Arkadin, who has strong feelings for his daughter's approval, requests Van Stratten to uncover his identity prior to 1927, as he has amnesia and can't recall how he came to have 200000 Swiss francs in Zurich at that time. Van Stratten finds that each person he interviews on his travels to Germany, Italy, Spain and Mexico regarding the matter turns up dead. Will Van Stratten end up the same way, or will Arkadin be exposed?

     Made on a tight budget, Confidential Report uses locations in Spain to mimic international locations. Also, Welles makes artistic references to German expressionism in his use of 'dutch angles' (or tilted shots) as well as referencing his own film, Citizen Kane in using low and high-angled shots to emphasise Arkadin's domineering personality or Van Stratten's ineffective and passive character in the events of the film. These artistic touches influenced the French New Wave critics at Cahiers du Cinema to vote this film amongst the twelve greatest films ever made, and Welles' greatest film overall up to that point in 1958. Welles did not share this view, calling the film his "biggest disappointment" in an interview with friend and film critic/historian Peter Bogdanovich in 1982, three years prior to Welles' death.

Video

     In general, the video transfer is of better quality than the previous Region 4 version of Confidential Report by distributor DV1 (now known as Ovation Entertainment) in 2005.

     The original aspect ratio is 1:33:1 full-frame. This is not 16x9 enhanced. The average bitrate is an impressive 8.13 m/b per sec, so any graininess in the transfer is natural. Shadow detail is sometimes murky in darker scenes. Contrast, especially in the grey tones is quite solid, making the film look quite good at times.

     The opening introduction has various film artefacts such as dust marks and lines across the picture, as well as telecine wobble. Film artefacts are present at times after the first few minutes where it is more prevalent, mainly positive (white) artefacts. I also noticed a hint of cross colouration (purple discolouration around edges) once or twice. Reel change markings are also present on this video transfer.

     Subtitles are available in yellow or alternative white.

     The RSDL change occurs at 56:14, in the middle of a scene unfortunately so it is noticeable!

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Due to post-production dubbing, the audio on all versions of Mr Arkadin suffer from common synchronisation issues. This version of Confidential Report is no different in audio quality than previous releases on DVD across Regions.

     There are two audio tracks for the main soundtrack and the audio commentary. These are both encoded in Dolby Digital 2.0 in English at 224 kbps. Dialogue can be muffled sometimes due to dubbing. This also means that the audio is not always synchronised.

     The main soundtrack also has slight background hiss and occasional pops. There is no surround channel usage as the main soundtrack is in mono. The subwoofer is not utilised either.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Audio commentary by Dr. Brian McFarlane, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of English, Communication and Performance Studies, Monash University.

    Dr McFarlane's commentary is essential listening if you want to gain some insight into the storyline as he is quite adept at explaining the plot. Production details and the background to the history of the film are also referred to, but not as often. So, this is more a scene-specific commentary rather than a technical commentary.

Booklet - Welles' Anguish and Goose Liver: Confidential Report, an essay by Jonathan Rosenbaum, film critic for The Chicago Reader (1987-2007) and author of several books, most recently Discovering Orson Welles (2007)

    Jonathan Rosenbaum provides an in-depth analysis of the production troubles and the critical reaction to Mr Arkadin in this eight-page essay to nicely complement Dr McFarlane's audio commentary. Rosenbaum discusses such topics as Welles' finished and unfinished films, the role of producer Louis Dolivet in the fate of the film, shooting on a tight budget in Spain, the use of high-profile actors in cameos, the incomplete state of the film, differences in the various versions of Mr Arkadin, critical reaction, the acting performances of Orson Welles and Robert Arden in the lead roles and the underrated musical score by Paul Misraki. This essay is a quality extra for fans of Welles' work.

Orson Welles' Ghost Story (Return to Glenascaul) (26:36)

     This short film was made during the shooting of Othello in 1951. It includes an introduction by friend and film critic Peter Bogdanovich and it includes Welles playing himself, offering a lift to a man who visited a mother and daughter at a premises that is haunted. It's a little bit spooky, yet comical in typical Wellesian style (Welles always inserted and enjoyed irony and black humour in his films). Unfortunately, it seems this extra has been vertically stretched to fit into a 16x9 enhanced widescreen frame (at a ratio of approximately 1:78:1) whereas the original aspect ratio of this short film is definitely 1:33:1.

     There have been several versions of Mr Arkadin released on DVD across various Regions. These versions all share a basic video and audio transfer and minimal extras, often textual notes and image galleries. These include the Region 0 United States version by Laser Light Video (with an introduction by Tony Curtis), Region 0 Brazil version by Continental Home Video (including a stills gallery and a film biography on Orson Welles), the Region 2 French release by DVDY Films, the Region 2 Italian version by CVC Video (with production notes in Italian), the Region 2 United Kingdom release by Metronome (with an image gallery, Orson Welles filmography and animated and sounded graphics) and the Region 4 Australian release by DV1 (which included three textual extras and an image gallery).

     All these versions pale in comparison to the Region 1 United States 3-disc Special Edition of Mr Arkadin by the Criterion Collection.

     Disc One of this release includes the Corinth Version of Mr Arkadin (99:55) and the following extras:

• Audio commentary by Welles scholars Jonathan Rosenbaum and James Naremore
• About the Versions (1 still)
• 3 Episodes from The Lives of Harry Lime radio series, containing elements of Mr. Arkadin:
• Man of Mystery, aired 11 April 1952 (28:31)
• Murder on the Riviera, aired 23 May 1952 (28:03)
• Blackmail Is a Nasty Word, aired 13 June 1952 (29:04)
• Reviving Harry Lime interview with producer Harry Alan Towers, with an introduction by Welles biographer Simon Callow (20:42)
• Gallery of production stills and behind-the-scene photos

     Disc Two includes the Confidential Report version of Mr Arkadin (97:48) and the following extras:

• About the Versions (1 still)
• Men of Mystery interview with Simon Callow (24:52)

     Disc Three includes the Comprehensive Version of Mr Arkadin (106:14) and the following extras:

• About the Versions (1 still)
• On the Comprehensive Version documentary, with film historians Stephan Droessler and Claude Bertemes, and Welles confidant Peter Bogdanovich (20:32)
• Outtakes and Rushes:
• - Orson Welles acting (14:55)
• - Rushes: close-ups (6:36)
• - Orson Welles directing (3:17)
• - Deleted shots and scenes (4:48)
• The Spanish Actresses (two scenes re-shot with different actresses, which appear only in Spanish versions of the film):
• - The Baroness Nagel (4:00)
• - Sophie (6:43)

     Apart from the comprehensive 3-disc box-set release of Mr Arkadin, this is the best available single-disc DVD release of the Confidential Report cut currently available. Despite the average video and audio transfer, there are some quality extras to be found here for fans of Orson Welles' films.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall