The Complete Mr. Arkadin

The Complete Mr. Arkadin

16 Episodes

Directed by Orson Welles • 1955 • United States

Orson Welles’s MR. ARKADIN (a.k.a. CONFIDENTIAL REPORT) tells the story of an elusive billionaire who hires an American smuggler to investigate his past, leading to a dizzying descent into a cold-war European landscape. The film’s history is also marked by this vertigo. There are at least eight MR. ARKADINs: three radio plays, a novel, several long-lost cuts, and the controversial European release known as CONFIDENTIAL REPORT. Criterion gathered all of these elements to create this landmark release—at last unraveling one of cinema’s great mysteries.

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The Complete Mr. Arkadin
  • MR. ARKADIN: The Corinth Version

    Episode 1

    Directed by Orson Welles • 1955 • United States
    Starring Orson Welles, Paola Mori, Robert Arden

    Orson Welles’s MR. ARKADIN (a.k.a. CONFIDENTIAL REPORT) tells the story of an elusive billionaire who hires an American smuggler to investigate his past, leading to a dizzying descent into a cold-war ...

  • Confidential Report

    Episode 2

    Directed by Orson Welles • 1955 • United States
    Starring Orson Welles, Paola Mori, Robert Arden

    Orson Welles’s MR. ARKADIN (a.k.a. CONFIDENTIAL REPORT) tells the story of an elusive billionaire who hires an American smuggler to investigate his past, leading to a dizzying descent into a cold-war ...

  • MR. ARKADIN: The Comprehensive Version

    Episode 3

    Directed by Orson Welles • 1955 • United States
    Starring Orson Welles, Paola Mori, Robert Arden

    Orson Welles’s MR. ARKADIN (a.k.a. CONFIDENTIAL REPORT) tells the story of an elusive billionaire who hires an American smuggler to investigate his past, leading to a dizzying descent into a cold-war ...

  • MR. ARKADIN Commentary

    Episode 4

    Recorded exclusively for The Criterion Collection, in 2005, this commentary features Jonathan Rosenbaum, film critic for The Chicago Reader and author of Discovering Orson Welles, and James Naremore, author of The Magic World of Orson Welles (1989).

  • On the Comprehensive Version of MR. ARKADIN

    Episode 5

    In the following documentary, produced in 2006, film historians and archivists Stefan Drössler and Claude Bertemes discuss the principles behind the creation of a new, unique version of MR. ARKADIN. Director and Orson Welles confidant Peter Bogdanovich shares his understanding of Welles’s intenti...

  • Men of Mystery

    Episode 6

    In this video interview, recorded in London in January 2008, Orson Welles biographer Simon Callow (“Orson Welles: The Road to Xanadu,” 1995) discusses late actor Robert Arden, producer Louis Dolivet, and the cameo by Michael Redgrave in MR. ARKADIN.

  • "Who Is Harry Lime?": Episode 1

    Episode 7

    At the time of the filming of MR. ARKADIN, Orson Welles was perhaps most well known for his portrayal of Harry Lime in his radio series “The Lives of Harry Lime,” which aired from 1951 to 1952. Taken from Carol Reed’s THE THIRD MAN (1949), Lime became a popular antihero. Elements of MR. ARKADIN c...

  • "Who Is Harry Lime?": Episode 2

    Episode 8

    At the time of the filming of MR. ARKADIN, Orson Welles was perhaps most well known for his portrayal of Harry Lime in his radio series “The Lives of Harry Lime,” which aired from 1951 to 1952. Taken from Carol Reed’s THE THIRD MAN (1949), Lime became a popular antihero. Elements of MR. ARKADIN c...

  • "Who Is Harry Lime?": Episode 3

    Episode 9

    At the time of the filming of MR. ARKADIN, Orson Welles was perhaps most well known for his portrayal of Harry Lime in his radio series “The Lives of Harry Lime,” which aired from 1951 to 1952. Taken from Carol Reed’s THE THIRD MAN (1949), Lime became a popular antihero. Elements of MR. ARKADIN c...

  • Reviving Harry Lime

    Episode 10

    The following is a 2006 interview with Harry Alan Towers. Born in 1920, in London, Towers started as an actor and radio writer, before establishing a production company, Towers of London, in 1946. In the early 1950s, he produced two radio series starring and written by Orson Welles: “The Lives of...

  • The Spanish Actresses: The Baroness Nagel

    Episode 11

    Since MR. ARKADIN was originally financed as a French-Spanish coproduction, Orson Welles reshot two scenes with different actresses for the Spanish version of the film. Amparo Rivelles played the Baroness Nagel and Irene López Heredia played Sophie. Those two scenes, one of which is presented her...

  • The Spanish Actresses: Sophie

    Episode 12

    Since MR. ARKADIN was originally financed as a French-Spanish coproduction, Orson Welles reshot two scenes with different actresses for the Spanish version of the film. Amparo Rivelles played the Baroness Nagel and Irene López Heredia played Sophie. Those two scenes, one of which is presented her...

  • MR. ARKADIN Rushes: Close-Ups

    Episode 13

    Found in the archives of the Cinémathèque municipale de Luxembourg, the footage shown here represents rushes Orson Welles used to construct MR. ARKADIN, at least as far as he was able.

  • MR. ARKADIN Deleted Shots and Scenes

    Episode 14

  • MR. ARKADIN Outtakes and Rushes: Orson Welles Acting

    Episode 15

    Found in the archives of the Cinémathèque municipale de Luxembourg, the footage shown here represents outtakes, work prints, and rushes Orson Welles used to construct MR. ARKADIN, at least as far as he was able. It is extremely rare, and some of the only material in existence showing Welles in th...

  • MR. ARKADIN Outtakes and Rushes: Orson Welles Directing

    Episode 16

    Found in the archives of the Cinémathèque municipale de Luxembourg, the footage shown here represents outtakes, work prints, and rushes Orson Welles used to construct MR. ARKADIN, at least as far as he was able. It is extremely rare, and some of the only material in existence showing Welles in th...