Excellent post-war thriller, via Orson Welles.
The Stranger (1946)
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Reviews Counted: 19
Fresh: 18
Rotten:1
Average Rating: 7.7/10
Runtime: 1 hr 35 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: 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... 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. [More]
Starring: Orson Welles, Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young, Philip Merivale
Starring: Orson Welles, Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young, Philip Merivale, Richard Long, Byron Keith, Billy House, Konstantin Shayne, Martha Wentworth, Isabel O'Madigan
Director: Orson Welles
Director: Orson Welles
Producer: Sam Spiegel
Story: Victor Trivas, Decla Dunning
Composer: Bronislau Kaper
Screenwriter: Anthony Veiller
DVD Info
Reviews for The Stranger
Orson Welles's 1946 film reproduces his personal themes of self-scrutiny and self-destruction only in outline, though it is an inventive, highly enjoyable thriller.
The Stranger is socko melodrama, spinning an intriguing web of thrills and chills.
One of Welles' most conventional films: His fans don't like it because it's too plot-driven and linear but that was his goal, wishing to prove that he could make a mainstream film after the brilliant but failures, Citizen Kane and Magnificent Ambersons.
The most restrained and conventional of Welles's films, but still a thrilling entertainment.
The whole film, produced by S. P. Eagle, comes off a bloodless, manufactured show.
Welles' third film, often described as his worst, but still a hugely enjoyable thriller.
Largely unsung, this Orson Welles movie is one of his most straightforward, yet still one of his greats -- and reportedly his only film to turn a profit on its original theatrical release.
It's only 1946, and Welles is already typecast as the man with a past and not a glorious future.
a solid piece of postwar genre work about a Nazi hiding in bucolic small-town America
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