Mr. Arkadin

Orson Welles, 1955

In honor of the filmmaker’s hundredth birthday today, it seemed appropriate to present these frame enlargements and screen captures from his best film, which turns sixty years old itself this year. I understand that mine is a minority opinion regarding the worth of this work, but I also know that I’m in very good company here.  I first saw Mr. Arkadin in 1975 at the University of Connecticut Film Society.  It was the first film by Welles that I saw projected on a screen, and, though it probably wasn’t the best print, it was certainly the best version of it then available, the Corinth version, which remains the one I prefer (though I don’t at all mind seeing the others when the opportunity arises.)  I urge anyone interested in Welles, in his life and work, to see this movie, if it is yet unseen.