The Stranger (Orson Welles) [DVD] [1946]
![The Stranger (Orson Welles) [DVD] [1946]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51NDB21ETQL._SL160_.jpg)
In a way, Scarlet Street is a remake. It’s taken from a French novel, La Chienne (literally, “The Bitch”) that was first filmed by Jean Renoir in 1931. Renoir brought to the sordid tale all the colour and vitality of Montmartre; Fritz Lang’s version shows us a far harsher and bleaker world. The film replays the triangle set-up from Lang’s previous picture, The Woman in the Window, with the same three actors. Once again, Edward G Robinson plays a respectable middle-aged citizen snared by the charms of Joan Bennett’s streetwalker, with Dan Duryea as her low-life pimp. The plot closes around the three of them like a steel trap. This is Lang at his most dispassionate. Scarlet Street is a tour de force of noir filmmaking, brilliant but ice-cold.
The Stranger, according to Orson Welles, “is the worst of my films. There is nothing of me in that picture”. But even on autopilot Welles still leaves most filmmakers standing. A war crimes investigator, played by Edward G Robinson, tracks down a senior Nazi to a sleepy New England town where he’s living in concealment as a respected college professor. Welles wanted Agnes Moorehead as the investigator and Robinson as the Nazi Franz Kindler, but his producer, Sam Spiegel, wouldn’t wear it. So Welles himself plays the supposedly cautious and self-effacing fugitive–and if there was one thing Welles could never play, it was unobtrusive. Still, the film’s far from a write-off. Welles’ eye for stunning visuals rarely deserted him and, aided by Russell Metty’s skewed, shadowy photography, The Stranger builds to a doomy grand guignol climax in a clocktower that Hitchcock must surely have recalled when he made Vertigo. And Robinson, dogged in pursuit, is as quietly excellent as ever.
On the DVD: sparse pickings. Both films have a full-length commentary by Russell Cawthorne which adds the occasional insight, but is repetitive and not always reliable. The box claims both print have been “fully restored and digitally remastered”, but you’d never guess. –Philip Kemp
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Horror at Trumpton,
Nazi-hunter Edward G Robinson (Wilson) tracks former Nazi bad guy Orson Welles (Franz Kindler) to a small town called ‘Harper’ where he is living under an assumed name of Charles Rankin. Welles is a teacher with a passion for clocks and Robinson arrives on the day of Welles’s marriage to Loretta Young (Mary). Robinson sets about trying to prove Welles’s true identity to those around him. Does he succeed or can Welles outwit him…..?..
The film plays out at a good pace with a good cast. A special mention must go to Edward G Robinson as the likable Nazi-hunter and Billy House as Mr Potter, the general store manager whose main obsession is beating his customers at checkers. These two have some amusing scenes together as they pit their wits against one another although we know that Robinson isn’t at all interested in winning the game of checkers. The scene is repeated again with House and Orson Welles to good dramatic effect as we know that Welles also isn’t bothered about winning.
There are a couple of stupid moments. The first being a scene at the beginning of the film where a group of grown-up schoolboys run around littering the woods with paper. It seems slightly strange for young men of this age to get so excited by playing paperchase. It’s a bit gay and the comment to a woman who walks past is utterly unconvincing as these young men dressed in their gym outfits begin to run around the park chasing each other. They are NOT heterosexual males so don’t try to fool us that they are. The second stupid moment is when Robinson sets up Loretta Young to be murdered by Welles. He does this and then tells Philip Merivale, who plays her father, who doesn’t seem to mind! What!!! OK – set up my daughter to be killed….thank you. Unbelievable. Still, it progresses the storyline.
However, there are some good, tense scenes, including the murder at the beginning of the film and especially towards the end with the dialogues between Loretta Young and Orson Welles. The film is worth keeping and watching again. Check out the Tower Clock.
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|The stranger is wonderful,
Orson Welles directed this film shortly after Kane to help finish his 3 contract deal at RKO studios. Aalthough not as good as Kane or The Magnificent Ambersons, it contains a well directed finishing scene in the clocktower and Welles delivers a menacing performance as a Nazi on the run. This is a must have for anyone who appreciates the brilliance of Orson.
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|“The Stranger (1946) … Edward G. Robinson … Orson Welles (Director) (2011)”,
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RKO Radio Pictures presents “THE STRANGER” (25 May 1946) (95 min/B&W) (Fully Restored/Dolby Digitally Remastered) — The Stranger is often considered Orson Welles’ most “traditional” Hollywood-style directorial effort — Welles plays a college professor named Charles Rankin, who lives in a pastoral Connecticut town with his lovely wife Mary (Loretta Young) — One afternoon, an extremely nervous German gentleman named Meineke arrives in town — Professor Rankin seems disturbed, but not unduly so, by Meineke’s presence — He invites the stranger for a walk in the woods, and as they journey farther and farther away from the center of town, we learn that kindly professor Rankin is actually notorious Nazi war criminal Franz Kindler — Conscience-stricken by his own genocidal wartime activities, Meineke has come to town to beg his ex-superior Kindler to give himself up.
The Stranger, while not too complicated, offers a thrilling, suspense-filled plot — It must have been eerie to viewers who watched it when first released.
Oscar nominated for “Best Writing, Original Story” by Victor Trivas
Under the production staff of:
Orson Welles [Director]
Anthony Veiller [Screenplay]
Victor Trivas [adaptation]
Decla Dunning [adaptation]
Victor Trivas [Story]
Sam Spiegel [Producer] (as S.P. Eagle)
Bronislau Kaper [Original Music]
Russell Metty [Cinematographer]
Ernest J. Nims [Film Editor]
BIOS:
1. Orson Welles [aka: George Orson Welles]
Date of Birth: 6 May 1915 – Kenosha, Wisconsin
Date of Death: 10 October 1985 – Hollywood, California
2. Edward G. Robinson [aka: Emmanuel Goldenberg]
Date of Birth: 12 December 1893 – Bucharest, Romania
Date of Death: 26 January 1973 – Hollywood, California
3. Loretta Young [aka: Gretchen Young]
Date of Birth: 6 January 1913 – Salt Lake City, Utah
Date of Death: 12 August 2000 – Los Angeles, California
the cast includes:
Edward G. Robinson – Mr. Wilson
Loretta Young – Mary Longstreet
Orson Welles – Professor Charles Rankin
Philip Merivale – Judge Adam Longstreet
Richard Long – Noah Longstreet
Konstantin Shayne – Konrad Meinike
Byron Keith – Dr. Jeffrey Lawrence
Billy House – Mr. Potter
Martha Wentworth – Sara
Mr. Jim’s Ratings:
Quality of Picture & Sound: 5 Stars
Performance: 5 Stars
Story & Screenplay: 5 Stars
Overall: 5 Stars [Original Music, Cinematography & Film Editing]
Total Time: 95 min on DVD ~ RKO Radio Pictures ~ (02/15/2011)
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