i thought the cinematography and welles and robinsons performances were excellent. a old thriller that still works. but it is just a thriller nothing more so i can't say that i disagree with the general consensus that it's one of welles' lesser works. it feels like something hitchcock would have done (though he would have done it differently in some places)
shareAs Robert Osbourne said last night when introducing the film on TCM, ANY Welles film is worth watching. And this wasn't "just any Welles film." Was surprised at its lack of reputation as being a great flick. Was glued to the set from beginning to end. Had never even heard of it before. Welles was a genius. It's just too bad that he didn't continue making great flicks till he died-- or any flicks at all.
shareAfter Citizen Kane, Hearst destroyed his life. This movie was one that I had never heard of surprisingly. Another Welles classic!
shareI, too, watched this last night when it aired on TCM. Well, I actually taped it and watched it later in the night, but you know what I mean.
I don't know if there's much to be said about The Stranger. I only saw it for the first time yesterday and while not a bad picture, it does not compare to the other Welles films I have seen before.
But Edward G. Robinson's gave a great performance.
I finally got around to watching 'The Stranger' shortly after viewing 'Journey into Fear'. I enoyed this much more that 'Journey'; on par with 'Lady from Shaghai'. The narrative seemed to have more urgency than most Welles films.
shareIf its in the public domain, why doesn't Criterion have a go at it?
shareI agree, it's much better than what people say.
shareI thought that this movie was fantastic except for a couple of large, but not fatal, problems.
1. Orson Welles - he was miscast as the professor/former Nazi. I did not like his performance.
2. The ending, everything came together a little too neatly at the end. For someone who really had it together and who seemed iron-willed and with nerves of steel, ol' Franz sure did crumble quickly and just in time for the story to get wrapped up just as pretty as you please.
The photography was absolutely perfect and the careful crafting of suspense filled moments was done expertly.
purplepines, I agree. It would be great if Criterion would put out a version. Maybe they'll get to it eventually.
I think I agree with the general consensus that it might not be Citizen Kane, but still very good. I always like Robert Osborne too, and I agree that any Welles film is worth watching.
Despite any plot holes and the standard suspense stuff in the last act, I think the dialogue at the dinner scene alone make this movie stand out. The whole discussion about the German psyche, (especially since this is from '46 right after the war), reforms in Germany, Marx etc etc is good stuff. And I love this part:
"Surely you don't support a Carthiginian peace?"
"Well...nobody has had any trouble with Carthage in 2000 years."
Makes me think of Harry Lime
It is one of his underrated films but I think you sell it short as well by calling it nothing more than a thriller. I think it very effectively evokes the idea of a monster in our midst -- not a new idea, for sure, but Welles brilliantly portrays Franz Kindler as corruption and evil personified, emboldened by the unwavering, granite-hard belief that he is right.
shareOn the whole, I think the Stranger is a really good film, but . . .
Why does Wilson have to wait to flush F. Kindler out into the open. When every person he confides in believes him, and he has jurisdiction to free a Nazi war criminal and travel from Europe to South America to North America, why can't he simply bring Charles Rankin in for questioning, and not put Mrs. Rankin in mortal danger?
Barring that enormous plot hole, The Stranger is a really fun movie, and I love the way Wells directs. Not every movie needs to be Citizen Kane, and that is a good thing. If everything was epic, nothing would be epic.
It seems to me like Wilson needed more proof than just his intuition, so he stayed on, and when he gets his suspicions confirmed with the body, he goes to check the suitcase to make sure there was no mistake with the man he followed, that somehow his agents didn't get confused along the way.
On top of that, Kindler was the son-in-law of a Justice of the Supreme Court and a man who was previously well-respected by his community. Maybe Wilson just didn't want to create the uproar that might ensue if he did things too quickly.
I think you are grasping at straws. The whole third act is a lot of baloney (or bologna).
A Supreme Court Justice is not going to let a potential war criminal endanger his daughter even if it means risking the man's reputation with every one of the fifty residents in that town.
If you had kids how many unnecessary risks would you take with their lives. Even if Wilson is some sort of loose cannon, the Judge would not be.
Of course, that was back in the olden days when they still had Habeus Corpus and due process of law.
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This is one of my favorite Welles' films. It features great actors, an exciting score, a suspenseful script ... everything one could want in a film. This ranks among my top three Welles' films, which also include "Citizen Kane" and "The Lady from Shanghai."
I know this is a post from a looooong time ago, but think about it.
Put yourself in the place of the Justice...
Some stranger wanders into your life, and after a couple of days declares to you he believes your new son-in-law is a fugitive from the Bosnian/Serbian war, how would you react?
1) OK, then we better haul him in for questioning!
or
2) I don't know where to begin telling you what's wrong with that!
Never defend crap with 'It's just a movie'
http://www.youtube.com/user/BigGreenProds
I wonder why... can someone explain to me? Thanks.
shareThis is my favorite Welles flick and I consider it his finest performance other than in Citizen Kane. I also consider this under-rated film to be a cult classic and an unheralded film noir. It also has Loretta Young's best acting of her career (I don't think she had any other real great acting roles including the one she won the Oscar for) and show-stopping turns by the great Edward G. Robinson (never nominated in his entire career!?) and the remarkable Konstantine Shayne, who also has a bit part in the Hitchcock classic Vertigo.
I marvel at the acting, editing, and cinematography every time I see it, but the film was only Oscar-nominated for its musical score, whose Academy-Award winning composer Bronislau Kaper later won for scoring a film far more obscure than this one. And this is the only film that I have ever watched directly from the internet. It was worth it, although I had to count the months until it was on TCM again. It has to be one of the most under-rated great movies of all time. The opening sequence when Conrad Meineke (Shayne) travels to South America is said to be one of the greatest ever filmed in black-and-white.
Another surprise in this little gem includes the debut performance of the young Richard Long, who was just nineteen when they began filming in 1945. I fell in love with him ages ago when I became addicted to The Big Valley in High school.
Other special qualities are the superb directing by Orson Welles, not to mention the fast-paced plot, so crucial in regard to the finale, one of the most bizarre ever executed (no pun intended) on celluloid, as well as the unique time frame when this was made: it was the very period when Nazi war criminals were then on the run after World War II and so many of them were actually allowed into the United States at the behest of our government. It was probably the first great film made about fugitive Nazis. It has remained the very best of the genre, entirely without equal until Franklin J. Schaffner's 1978 semi-cult classic The Boys From Brazil starring three all-time greats: Sir (later Lord) Laurence Olivier, Gregory Peck, and James Mason.
I somehow get the feeling that both Welles and Robinson (who was himself Jewish) were outraged by certain facts and wanted the public to open their eyes to reality, and in making this wonderful film they may have achieved what they had so desperately hoped despite the odds against them. Too bad the Academy ignored this small masterpiece, but perhaps they did so out of fear. Congress was then dominated by Anti-Semitic politicians, many of whom were sorry that Hitler lost the war.
It works well as a thriller due to the performances given, the twist and turns in the narrative and the evocative musical score which accompanied the suspense in great fashion. However The Stranger is much more than a thriller, it played on the fact that although World War II had ended the world still was not a safe place. Franz Kindler taking root in a small innocent town such as Harper planning and acting on his evil intentions must have brought home the harsh realities that the world was and continues to be a dangerous place no matter where you live.
"I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not".
are you saying hitchcock isn't as good as welles?
shareI've just seen this movie for the first time and it has immediately become my favourite Welles film. It definitely has a Hitchcock feel to it, notably ominous scenes being followed by scenes with upbeat music to them.
shareJust watched this for the first time, and I liked it quite a lot. I think it's a good 7 or 8/10. Overall, I liked this film better than the more famous 'The Lady from Shanghai' for example.
shareIt has an excellent visual rhythm, the opening act is brilliantly blocked and composed
share