Directed by:
Orson WellesCinematography:
Russell MettyComposer:
Bronislau KaperCast:
Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young, Orson Welles, Richard Long, Konstantin Shayne, Billy House, David Bond, Brother Theodore, Erskine Sanford, Ethan Laidlaw (more)VOD (1)
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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. (official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (5)
A stylish spectacle full of suspense and culminating in a heart attack finale in a church tower. Orson Welles is even more unsympathetic as the escaped Nazi than as Charles Foster Kane (and that's saying something), and his character behaves beautifully unpredictably. As a director, Welles managed to keep me perfectly glued to the screen for an hour and a half. The poor picture quality didn't hurt the film either.
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Commit a crime and the earth is made of glass. It's surprising how ridiculously naïve this film is. And no, it's not in the slightest because of the year when it was made. It works well mainly thanks to the camerawork and Welles, who is able to make his character into something that was not in the script. An average noir flick that is a reflection of its time, with exceptional acting and some beautiful black-and-white scenes that will keep lingering in your mind and an amazing (albeit overly dramatic) ending.
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Orson Welles is a film genius in my opinion. Not just because he directed films like Citizen Kane, but above all because he was such a capable creator in every aspect. In the film The Stranger, he excels as an actor, and then as the director, he almost has the film culminate in the spirit of monster movies. And he pulls it off, just like the classic dark shadows of a noir film. At times, The Stranger towards the end becomes a truly chilling experience thanks to its camera work and imagery.
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Welles is subversive and even cynical as a director; as a villain, he is sleazy. And he has his own ideas about the morality of Americans who, without batting an eyelid, would lynch the snake warming itself on their breast. The enemy isn’t lurking “out there somewhere”; he is seated at your table. How are people supposed to have nice dreams, Orson, you malicious bastard? 80%
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Although a quality film, The Stranger is also the embodiment of many filmmaking techniques that today I find ridiculous and outdated. The simple story is told at a frantic pace (which is accentuated even in tense moments by the overly opulent score) and doesn't leave much room for fleshing out the characters, whose development is either very predictable (Loretta Young) or virtually non-existent and clearly defined from the beginning (Detective Robinson and the villain Welles). The suspense is built only half way, as the ending is guessable from about the middle the film, and Welles actually deserves a lot of praise for the fact that even with the lack of a mystery motif or a surprise moment, he managed to keep my attention with just a clever game of cat and mouse, waiting a long time for the right moment to set the trap. The strongest element of the film, however, remains, even considering how the long-planned trap ultimately fails more than unconvincingly, the church clock tower, which not only had an important significance for the development of the story, but also provided the stage for a truly memorable and unforgettable finale. 65%
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