Mr. Arkadin (Confidential Report) (1955)
Average Rating: 7.2/10
Reviews Counted: 21
Fresh: 17 | Rotten: 4
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 7.5/10
Critic Reviews: 5
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 1
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 2,248
My Rating
Movie Info
Also known as Mr. Arkadin, this flawed late effort by director Orson Welles recalls the structure of Citizen Kane, centering around an investigation into the past of a powerful millionaire. This time around, however, the millionaire is very much alive; in fact, it is Gregory Arkadin (Welles) himself who orders the inquiry, claiming to suffer from amnesia. The investigator soon gets a taste of the difficulty of his task, however, when several witnesses to Arkadin's past suspiciously turn up dead.
Oct 2, 1962 Wide
Apr 18, 2006
Warner Bros. Pictures
Cast
-
Orson Welles
Gregory Arkadin -
Jack Watling
Marquis of Rutleigh -
Michael Redgrave
Burgomil Trebitsch -
Patricia Medina
Mily -
Akim Tamiroff
Jakob Zouk -
Robert Arden
Guy Van Stratten -
Mischa Auer
The Professor -
Paola Mori
Raina Arkadin -
Katina Paxinou
Sophie -
Grégoire Aslan
Bracco -
Peter van Eyck
Thaddeus -
Suzanne Flon
Baroness Nagel -
Gordon Heath
Pianist -
Frederick O'Brady
Oscar -
Tamara Shayne
Woman in Apartment
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All Critics (21) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (18) | Rotten (4) | DVD (5)
This fractured Citizen Kane, built of frames within frames and mirrors within mirrors, is aptly brought to life by Welles's later style, born of low budgets and high anxiety, its grotesque closeups and cocked angles suggesting worlds and minds askew.
Engaging meller it may be, but missing the incisive delineation that marked Kane.
Failure or not, it's irresistible.
A film, which, for all its strangeness, is seldom less than brilliant.
Top CriticFor all of the film's perversity, there is greatness in it -- a greatness harshly criticizing itself.
a mesmerizing experience, a schizoid crime caper that's half-potboiler and half-reverie
Arkadin is a rotter from the start; we couldn't care less about his life or death.
While the plot sometimes seems too fragmented for its own good, Welles' consistently inventive imagery nevertheless ensures that the action remains thoroughly engrossing.
This is a brilliant disaster... some of the highest class trash you'll ever get to see.
A frequently breathtaking film, even though it lacks some of the finer polish of Welles' best Hollywood productions.
the film suffers not from Welles' absence but rather from any reason for us to care about Arkadin
Endlessly inventive thriller, with spectacular visual style from Welles.
Junk food for cineastes.
A bemusing melodrama that is bizarre.
A spectacular film, a complete and total Orson Welles film with his unique fingerprints all over it. I wouldn't swap it for a dozen other films.
This is a sprawling complex mystery that, while it's sometimes too tangled for its own good, has an absorbing central story.
A fascinating Wellesian mess
Audience Reviews for Mr. Arkadin (Confidential Report)
Super Reviewer
LSD was invented in the 1930's but didn't come into popular recreational use until the 1960's. Mr. Arkadin was released in 1955. Rule that out.
Crack didn't become mainstream until the early 1980's. Scratch that one.
Federico Fellini made his first film in 1950, a mere five years prior. A possible but unlikely influence.
The best bet is that Orson just, somehow, lost artistic control and the film was cut, re-edited, dubbed, re-dubbed, lost, found, re-re-dubbed, and released.
As freakishly bizarre as this all sounds, the film still warrants 4 & 1/2 stars. Imagine how high it could have been had it made sense!!
Super Reviewer
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Foreign Titles
- Herr Satan persönlich! (DE)
- Confidential Report (UK)
