Mr Arkadin

1955, Orson Welles, a revised version of the obviously mangled (in a sense) picture.
This picture could easily be called a complete mess. The quality of the stock is low, the sound is verging on disastorously muffled, and the scenes are obviosuly missing which would make the story somewhat more intelligible. Nevertheless, Welles' searing talent strikes through.
The low framings, with the wide angle lens, are here taken to a degree perhaps even more extreme (especially angle wise) than even 'The Lady From Shaghai'. It is remarkable, genuinely physically powerful; the castle that juts out at crazy angles as though stakes on which the figures loom. Their is also a remarkable use of canted angles. In a way, it combines a kind of Soviet framing with an expressive freedom of camerawork, certainly drawing attention to itself.
The editing is a mixture of overlapping fades, a Welles signature, and long takes of a remarkable virtuosity. The film stock appears to be increasingly overexposed as the film continues, leading the characters to even require sunglasses.
The story is clearly similar to Citizen Kane, with Welles' title character remaining mysetrious (unseen at the start) and with an investogation of his past (though the actual contents are less important). The film seems to examine memory, knowing oneself and the past, identity. Then it moves into an evocation of a horrible world, closing in all around, with noirish elements. There is a kind of primal horror here.
A quite remarkable picture, for its sheer refusal to do anything that is not at the very limits.