[The world's second richest man may be buying yet another storied Hollywood studio so I've been working through the Warners catalog, particularly their Janus/Criterion collection in case I need to cut ties with another streaming service. I thought I'd jot down some impressions along the way. -- MP 10/8/25]
Clearly a low-budget effort with a few notable character actors but no name stars other than Welles himself. In what I assume was an effort to save money, Welles apparently hired only cameramen under 4 ft tall, which explains why most of the interior scenes that aren’t full-face close-ups were filmed from waist height.
In general, the direction feels almost like a parody of Orson Welles, with dutched cameras, scenes shot through latticework, expressionistic shadows cast on the walls, etc. A contemporary review of Dumbo said that it had more camera angles than Citizen Kane. Mr. Arkadin has more camera angles than Dumbo.
The main problem with the movie isn’t the budget; it’s the script. Pretty much everyone agrees Welles actually wrote this one, and his limitations definitely show through. That’s not to say there isn’t a great deal of good stuff here — scenes, bits of dialogue, ideas that could have been first-rate had he worked with a collaborator who was sharp enough to see what was worth saving and strong enough not to be pushed around.
The result is absolutely essential for a true Orson Welles fan, a sharp pass for the general public, and somewhere in the middle for the rest of us.
No comments:
Post a Comment