Orson Welles' 1955 film Mr. Arkadin has now been released on DVD with royal treatment. Like pretty much every film Welles made after Citizen Kane, Mr. Arkadin was tinkered with by others and never released during Welles' lifetime in the form that he wanted. However, we get 3 versions of the film here so we presumably get as close to Welles' vision as we're ever going to get.
The set includes three versions of the film. The first has been dubbed the "Corinth Version", so called because Corinth Films held the rights to it. This is considered by some the closest in structure to Welles' own final concept. Next is the European cut, re-titled Confidential Report. This one features some material not included in the Corinth version, and vice versa. This cut had work done on it by producer Louis Dolivet after Welles had been kicked off production. Finally, Stefan Drössler of the Munich Filmmuseum and Claude Bertemes of the Cinématheque municipale de Luxembourg are behind the third version, dubbed the "comprehensive edition." This version combines as much unique material as possible from each existing cut of the film (including the Spanish versions), hewing as closely as possible to what Welles' presumed version would have been. Viewers may begin wherever they like, but newcomers may find it more useful to watch both of the original release versions included before the comprehensive cut, to get a better idea of how the material was combined. If you have a copy of the dreadful public domain version that completely does away with the flashback structure, then you'll really have an idea of how the film has been messed about. For those familiar with the previous versions however, a jump straight into the comprehensive version will likely be in order.
While it's not the best film he ever made, Welles was a great director and every film in his ouevre is worth watching at least once.
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