Mr. Arkadin (1955)

Director:

Orson Welles

Writers:

Orson Welles (story)
Orson Welles (screenplay)

Release Date:

2 October 1962 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller | Crime | Mystery | Drama

Tagline:

Discovering the past can be murder...

Plot:

An American adventurer investigates the past of mysterious tycoon Arkadin...placing himself in grave danger.

Plot Keywords:

Adventurer | Amnesia | Smuggler | Tycoon | Mexico

Cast

Orson Welles	...	Gregory Arkadin
Michael Redgrave	...	Burgomil Trebitsch
Patricia Medina	...	Mily
Akim Tamiroff	...	Jakob Zouk
Mischa Auer	...	The Professor
Paola Mori	...	Raina Arkadin
Katina Paxinou	...	Sophie
Grégoire Aslan	...	Bracco
Peter van Eyck	...	Thaddeus
Suzanne Flon	...	Baroness Nagel
Robert Arden	...	Guy Van Stratten
Jack Watling	...	Marquis of Rutleigh
Frédéric O'Brady	...	Oscar (as O'Brady)
Tamara Shayne	...	Woman in Apartment (as Tamara Shane)
Terence Longdon	...	Secretary (as Terence Langdon)
Annabel	...	Parisian woman with bread
Gert Fröbe	...	First Policeman - Munich (as Gert Frobe)
Eduard Linkers	...	Second Policeman - Munich (as Eduard Linker)
Manuel Requena	...	General Martinez
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Emilio Fornet	...	Party Guest (uncredited)
Manolita García	...	(uncredited)
José González Talavera	...	(uncredited)
Mateo Guitart	...	(uncredited)
Gordon Heath	...	Pianist (uncredited)
Gary Land	...	(uncredited)
Vicente Martín	...	(uncredited)
Sergio Mendizábal	...	(uncredited)
Anne-Marie Mersen	...	Uncredited (uncredited)
Antonio Molino Rojo	...	(uncredited)
Sergio Orta	...	(uncredited)
Carmen Rambla	...	(uncredited)
Gustavo Re	...	Italian police in Naples port (uncredited)
Robert Rietty	...	Airport Control Tower Operator (uncredited)
Emilio G. Ruiz	...	(uncredited)
Jacinto San Emeterio	...	(uncredited)
Pedro Vidal	...	(uncredited)

Directed by
Orson Welles

Writing credits
Orson Welles		(story)
Orson Welles		(screenplay)

Produced by
Louis Dolivet	....	producer
Orson Welles	....	producer

Original Music by
Paul Misraki

Cinematography by
Jean Bourgoin

Film Editing by
Renzo Lucidi
William Morton		(uncredited)
Orson Welles		(uncredited)

Art Direction by
Orson Welles		(uncredited)

Set Decoration by
Gil Parrondo		(uncredited)
Luis Pérez Espinosa		(uncredited)

Costume Design by
Orson Welles		(uncredited)

Makeup Department
Roy Ashton	....	makeup artist (uncredited)
Arcadio Ochoa	....	makeup artist (uncredited)
Francisco Puyol	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Production Management
Michel Boisrond	....	production manager (uncredited)
Juan N. Solórzano	....	production manager: Spain (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Isidoro M. Ferry	....	assistant director (as Ferri)
José María Ochoa	....	assistant director (as Jose Mario Ochoa)
José Luis de la Serna	....	assistant director (as De La Serna)

Art Department
Francisco Prósper	....	construction coordinator (uncredited)
Enrique de la Riva	....	property master (uncredited)

Sound Department
Jacques Carrère	....	sound re-recordist (as Jacques Carrere)
Jacques Lebreton	....	sound
Jaime Torrens	....	sound engineer: Spain (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Paul Rodier	....	camera operator
Louis Stein	....	camera operator
Félix Mirón	....	additional cinematographer (uncredited)
Julio Ortas	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Rafael Pacheco	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Raúl Pérez Cubero	....	additional camera operator (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Colette Cueille	....	assistant editor
Lolita López	....	assistant editor (uncredited)

Music Department
Antoñita Moreno	....	saeta singer (uncredited)

Other crew
Johanna Horward	....	script clerk
Jacques Laird	....	researcher (as Jacqueline Laird)
Julio de Fleischner	....	supervising director (uncredited)
Alfredo Ruescas	....	production assistant (uncredited)
Tadeo Villalba	....	production assistant (uncredited)
Billie Whitelaw	....	dubbed voice: Paola Mori (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Filmorsa (as Film Organisation S.A.)
• Cervantes Films
• Sevilla Films
• Mercury Productions
• Bavaria Film

Distributors

• Art Free (Greece) (theatrical)
• Cari Pictures (1962) (USA) (theatrical)
• Chamartín (1955) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Enrique Pérez Font (1955) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Janus Films (1962) (USA) (theatrical)
• Sociedade Importadora de Filmes (SIF) (1957) (Portugal) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. (1956) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. (1956) (France) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. (1955) (UK) (theatrical)
• Continental Home Vídeo (2000) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (USA) (laserdisc)
• Media Cooperation One (MC-One) (2005) (Germany) (DVD)
• Passworld (2002) (Italy) (DVD)
• Warner Bros. Continental Films

Special Effects

• LAX Lab.

Other Companies

• Sevilla Films  sound post-production
• Cinémathéque Municipale de Luxembourg  2006 comprehensive version created by
• Cinémathéque Municipale de Luxembourg  film material: 2006 comprehensive version
• Corinth Films  film material: 2006 comprehensive version
• Criterion Collection, The  2006 comprehensive version created by
• Criterion Collection, The  picture restoration: 2006 Comprehensive Version
• Euro-London Films (I)  film material: 2006 comprehensive version
• Euro-London Films (I)  under exclusive license from: 2006 comprehensive version (as Eurolondon)
• Filmmuseum München  2006 comprehensive version created by
• Filmoteca Española  film material: 2006 comprehensive version
• Luna  furniture
• Mengíbar  furniture (as Menjíbar)
• Modern VideoFilm  telecine color timing: 2006 comprehensive version (as Modern Videofilm, Los Angeles)
• Post Logic  additional color correction: 2006 comprehensive version (as Post Logic, NYC)
• Scanlab Saint Cloud  additional color correction: 2006 comprehensive version
• Technicolor Madrid  additional color correction: 2006 comprehensive version

Also Known As:

"Confidential Report" - UK
"Dossier secret" - France
"Mister Arkadin" - Spain
"Monsieur Arkadin - Dossier secret" - France
"Bizalmas jelentés" - Hungary (imdb display title)
"Dossier secret" - Belgium (French title)
"Geheim versla" - Belgium (Flemish title)
"Grilhões do Passado" - Brazil
"Herr Satan persönlich" - Austria
"Herr Satan persönlich!" - West Germany
"Herr Satan själv" - Sweden
"Mr. Arkadin" - Brazil
"O kyrios Arkadin" - Greece (transliterated ISO-LATIN-1 title)
"Rapporto confidenziale" - Italy
"Relatório Confidencial" - Portugal
"Salainen raportti" - Finland
"Tajne akta" - Poland

Runtime:

93 min | France:95 min (Cannes Film Festival) | USA:98 min (TCM print) | USA:105 min (2006 Restored Version)

Country:

France | Spain | Switzerland

Language:

English | German | French | Polish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Ultraviolet High Fidelity Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (re-rating) | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Bavaria Filmstudios, Geiselgasteig, Grünwald, Bavaria, Germany

Company:

Filmorsa

Trivia:

Mr. Arkadin was created from three episodes of the 1951-1952 radio program, The Lives of Harry Lime: Man of Mystery (AKA Greek Meets Greek), Murder on the Rivera and Blackmail Is an Ugly Word. Arakdin is based mostly on the first of the three and centered on a character named Gregory Arkadian. Primary characters and set-ups are taken from the other two episodes.

Goofs:

Continuity: When the camera is facing Guy and Mily as they are watching the religious procession, he is standing to her left. When the camera is behind them, he is standing to her right.

Quotes:

Gregory Arkadin:Baroness, a fool is a man who pays twice for the same thing.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Brunnen (2005)

Soundtrack:

Saeta

Let's drink to character

You guys are great...so much interesting, smart stuff in all the comments. What can I add? Well, I saw it last night, and I was thinking about The Auteur Theory and Roland Barthes' thoughts about the one big book of which all books are a part. And, although I haven't seen Alphaville for years, I realized that the connections between these two films are important: the Mizraki score and the performance of Akim Tamiroff.Godard is such a great mannerist, and this film (Arkadin) is such a basic text for director - driven cinema. How can this film mean anything to anyone who doesn't understand the rage to create - against all odds, against one's self-destructive nature, against one's death wish? It is "breathless", truly. Scenes never give the impression of ending, everything is done in overdrive, people are constantly looming, dizzyingly moving in and out of shot; the grotesquerie of the bad acting rhymes with the grotesquerie of the costume set pieces and with that of the B movie Euro - freak character actors parading, one by one, in front of the camera for their star turns. "Feeding time" indeed! I saw Arkadin shortly after seeing Spielberg's Munich. The only similarity is in the constant change of location. But where in the Spielberg this functions as a celebration of money, budget and the power of illusion, here each location is both overcrowded and threadbare. The Munich of Arkadin is a bombed-out nightmare with traces of its former elegance. The Europe of this film is so haunted and sleepwalking; the world of this film is made up of bits and scraps.

The fact that Arkadin connects closely to Kane or Quinlan is obvious and certainly interesting. Although it should seem obvious at this late date that Welles has patterns and themes that reoccur throughout his films. Does this fact still illuminate anything? If anybody questions the fact that Welles is an artist...well, this film will just add to their confusion. But for us believers this film can function like the ritual suffering of the penitents in the film. It hurts so good!