Confidential Report (1955)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

Confidential Report (1955) – O. Welles

There are 7 or 8 different versions of Confidential Report (a.k.a. Mr. Arkadin) but none of them apparently represent Orson Welles’ vision of the film.  Although Criterion released a 105 minute version with all of the available footage drawn from every different English-language version (there are also Spanish), this still didn’t contain the opening shot that Welles described to Peter Bogdanovich in the lengthy book of interviews called “This is Orson Welles” (a shot of Milly’s body washed up on a beach).  I had a VHS copy (entitled “Mr. Arkadin”) that was 92 minutes long that I always found utterly confusing.  So, when I bought a used DVD from the local library last weekend (entitled “Confidential Report”) that is 95 minutes long, I was surprised to find that it felt a lot more coherent.  Of course, this could also be because I’ve seen (and read about) the film a bunch of times now.  Due to financial problems, this is another picture that Welles shot in piecemeal fashion, in different locations, with lots of reshooting when new actors replaced older ones (and to make a Spanish version to suit a co-producer there), and with Welles later dubbing his own voice for many characters and tacking on the musical score (written without access to the film but with notes from Welles) in fragmented form at the end.  The plot itself was drawn from some episodes of the Harry Lime radio show that Welles wrote (and was starring in), although it doesn’t feature Lime but instead another amoral bootlegger/smuggler, Guy van Stratten (played by Robert Arden), who figures he can blackmail the rich and famous Gregory Arkadin (played by Welles himself with bushy beard, false nose, and dubious accent).  But Arkadin has other plans, claiming amnesia and contracting van Stratten to discover everything he can about his past to present in a confidential report.  Naturally, all of the various characters found to testify to the evil-doings in Arkadin’s past meet with unpleasant ends but this doesn’t prevent Arkadin’s daughter (played by Welles’ soon-to-be wife Paola Mori) from discovering her father’s true nature (similar to the scorpion who stings the frog, retold again here by Welles), leading to his demise.  That sounds a lot more coherent than it probably is – although, again, this edit may have been the most straightforward one, ditching many of Welles’ plans for flashbacks within flashbacks.  The end result is a bit patchy, clearly shot on a low budget, with some clever camerawork and unusual shots, sets, and character actors – but it likely only represents a pale shadow of what Welles was intending.