Kelly WandConfidential Report
September 16th 2006 01:48
“Confidential Report” is not in that league. It is not even in the same game. Do you know that scene in Tim Burton’s “Ed Wood” where Ed meets Orson in a bar? The joke here is that this film is so bad it makes that scene look like a meeting of equals! Yes, friends, that was an exclamation mark. I don’t use many of them but here it is warranted.
The plot vaguely follows some of the ideas of “Kane” but it is so lazily executed that one suspects liquor was involved. Great camera angles do not a movie make. I know the final cut was taken away from Welles but the editing is appalling – perhaps the worst I’ve ever seen. It looks like it was just thrown together. The story is all sound and fury and, if it signifies anything, I missed it. When the story gets boring it changes location and, since it is always boring, it is always changing location. To top it all off, the performances weren’t just phoned in; they arrived on a postcard.
A low budget excuses a lot but this film goes beyond the need for an apology. It looks like a film that nobody even cared they were making.
I’d love to tell you this film was worth seeing but it isn’t. Only academics need apply themselves. If someone has a good word to say about this film, kindly leave a note in the comment box. I would dearly love to be proved wrong on this one but I suspect I will hear nothing.
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Sadly I must agree, Confidential Report is more a curio than a must see Welles delight.
It does have moments of magic but they are fleeting.
Chalk me up as a fan of The Stranger, Touch Of Evil, Citizen Kane etc, but where in god did you get to see The Magnificent Ambersons?
Its one that has eluded me all my life and I only hope the directors cut is eventually released on DVD.
On a positive note, how good is the new 2 disc edition of The Third Man? Aside from the memorable Welles enterance there is so much to worship about this film. And the DVD has the extras to prove it.
Comment by Bob Short
The first day I went to study video, they shoved The Third man on the telly and told us that this film contained everything we would ever need to know about film making. Whilst that isn't completely true, it is close enough to the truth that you could swear it in a court of law.
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD