- Format: Black & White, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC
- Language: English
- Region: (US and Canada This DVD will probably NOT be viewable in other countries. Read more about DVD formats.)
- Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
- Number of discs: 1
- MPAA Rating:
- Studio: Koch International
- Release Date: Feb 21 2006
- Run Time: 95 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B000C6NP9K
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#65,767 in DVD (See Top 100 in DVD)
- #36 in DVD > Classics > Classic Stars > Edward G. Robinson
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Product Description
Amazon.com Essential Video
The legendary story that hovers over Orson Welles's The Stranger is that he wanted Agnes Moorehead to star as the dogged Nazi hunter who trails a war criminal to a sleepy New England town. The part went to E.G. Robinson, who is marvelous, but it points out how many compromises Welles made on the film in an attempt to show Hollywood he could make a film on time, on budget, and on their own terms. He accomplished all three, turning out a stylish if unambitious film noir thriller, his only Hollywood film to turn a profit on its original release. Welles stars as unreformed fascist Franz Kindler, hiding as a schoolteacher in a New England prep school for boys and newly married to the headmaster's lovely if naive daughter (Loretta Young). Welles the director is in fine form for the opening sequences, casting a moody tension as agents shadow a twitchy low-level Nazi official skulking through South American ports and building up to dramatic crescendo as Kindler murders this little man, the lovely woods becoming a maelstrom of swirling leaves that expose the body he furiously tries to bury. The rest of film is a well-designed but conventional cat-and-mouse game featuring an eye-rolling performance by Welles and a thrilling conclusion played out in the dark clock tower that looms over the little village. --Sean Axmaker
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Well-paced thriller, atypical of Welles' style,
This review is from: Stranger Orson Welles Biograph (DVD)
The quality of this DVD is adequate: more watchable than the other Welles "Laserlight Classics," but nowhere near as sharp as, say, the recent DVD releases of "Citizen Kane" or "The Third Man." The bizarro Tony Curtis introduction is perhaps worth the price of admission alone! The bonus documentary is fairly perfunctory, but does contain some interesting and rarely seen trailers of Welles films.On to the movie itself: In a scenario reminiscient of (but far less effective than) Hitchcock's "Shadow of a Doubt," Edward G. Robinson pursues the title character (Welles), who may or may not be an escaped Nazi, through a sleepy Connecticut town. Although "The Stranger" illustrates Welles' concerns that World War II did not spell the end of fascism, the film is by his own admission more of an attempt at profitable Hollywood product than an artistic statement. Despite this and the film's failure to live up to the inevitable comparison's with "Shadow of a Doubt," "The Stranger" remains a well-paced thriller, more enjoyable when considered apart from the rest of Welles' oeuvre. The trademark Welles style is evident in the South American prologue and the drugstore scenes, and the film achieves genuine suspense during the "paper chase" scene and the grand finale.
5.0 out of 5 stars
"The Stranger (1946) ... Edward G. Robinson ... Orson Welles (Director) (2011)",
By
This review is from: Stranger [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray)
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)
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the darkest films of this giant film maker!,
By
This review is from: The Stranger (DVD)
Welles made a little gem with this picture. He followed the lines about a nazi who assumes a new identity in a small town.But Edward Robinson is ravishing when he reminds a wise statement of Ralph Waldo Emerson :Commit a crime and the world is made of glass . Superb dialogues. Powerful intense with a gothic horror ending . As all the works of the Wisconsin's genius , unforgettable.
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