Mr. Arkadin (1955)

Mr. Arkadin (first released Spain, 1955) is a French-Spanish-Swiss coproduction film written and directed by Orson Welles. Its history is convoluted; the story was based on several episodes of the radio series The Lives of Harry Lime, which in turn was based on the character Welles portrayed in The Third Man. The main inspiration for the plot was the episode Man of Mystery. In addition, several different versions of the film were released. Jonathan Rosenbaum's essay "The Seven Arkadins" is an attempt to detail the different versions including the novel and radio play. Adding to the confusion is a novel of the same title that was credited to Welles; Welles claimed the book was only ghostwritten with Maurice Bessy. In 1982 Welles described it as the 'biggest disaster' of his life, due to him losing creative control of the film. Mr. Arkadin was not released in the United States until 1962. Some compensation for Welles came in the form of Paola Mori who played the role of his daughter. In private life, Countess Paola Di Girfalco, she would become his third wife.