The Stranger

DVD Features:

Description by OLDIES.com:

This film noir classic features Orson Welles in one of his best thrillers and expertly creates white-knuckle suspense out of ordinary situations like a dog digging in the leaves, college boys on a paper chase, and a broken clock. Edward G. Robinson is Wilson, a detective in the War Crimes Commission seeking the mastermind of the Holocaust, blood-thirsty Franz Kindler (Welles). Kindler has erased his identity so successfully that only his former ally, Meinike, can identify him. Wilson and Meinike both trace Kindler to Harper, Connecticut, where Meinike is murdered. Kindler's new wife (Loretta Young) has no clue as to her husband's past evil deeds and comes within an inch of her own life when Kindler suspects her of knowing too much. The film's climactic scene is one of the most memorable in cinema history.

Product Description:

THE STRANGER: Orson Welles directed and starred in THE STRANGER, a tense black-and-white thriller that Welles made for maverick producer Sam Spiegel. Welles portrays Charles Rankin, a respected academic at a prominent Connecticut college. He seems to have the perfect life: a beautiful new wife, Mary (Loretta Young); and a charming home in a small town that holds him in high esteem. Enter Mr. Wilson (Edward G. Robinson), a detective on the hunt for Nazi war criminal Franz Kindler. The appearance of Mr. Wilson threatens to reveal that underneath this idyllic veneer is a secret that could tear everything apart.

Although many of Welles's most interesting scenes wound up on the cutting-room floor when Spiegel reedited the film, THE STRANGER is still multilayered, complex, and fascinating. The scenes between Welles and Robinson are intellectually gripping, leading up to the stylized, shocking conclusion. As with so many of Welles's films, he was unhappy with the final result, but the viewer won't be. It would be most interesting to see the film as Welles intended it to be, but in the meantime, this version of THE STRANGER is a marvel.

Plot Synopsis:

A Nazi war criminal is hounded across America by a federal agent after he assumes a false identity.

Plot Keywords:

Deception | Film Noir | Nazis | Suspense | Theatrical Release | Thriller

Production Notes:

• Theatrical Release: July, 1946
• An uncredited John Huston had a large hand in the development of the script.
• The producers, led by Sam Spiegel, cut many of Welles's favorite, more complex scenes. Welles was never happy with the final cut.
• THE STRANGER was the first Hollywood film to use real footage from World War II concentration camps.
• Welles originally wanted Agnes Moorehead to play the character eventually played by Edward G. Robinson.
• THE STRANGER was the only Welles-directed film to show a profit upon its initial theatrical release.
• THE STRANGER is perhaps the most mainstream of Welles's films; he shot it within the studio system, shooting it by the book.
• Konstantin Shayne (Meinike) was Akim Tamiroff's brother-in-law; Tamiroff starred in Welles's MR. ARKADIN.