The Stranger (MGM Film Noir) [Import]

"You can threaten me with the bottom pits of hell," Edgar G. Robinson as War Crimes Commissioner Mr. Wilson exhorts a roomful of tired old Europeans, "this obscenity must be destroyed."
The "obscenity" is former Nazi Franz Kindler (Orson Welles), a death camp mastermind who disappeared shortly after the war. Wilson wins his argument and Konrad Meinike, one of Kindler's Nazi subalterns, is allowed to escape, hoping that he'll lead Wilson to Kindler.
Like the best film noirs, this is a handsome movie of shadows and sunlight. Meinike does make a shadowy escape, and Wilson follows him to the bucolic town of Harper, Connecticut. The stakes are implied but clear - Kindler and his ilk are malignant cancers, and Harper is pure and uncorrupt. Evil can't be allowed to sink its rotted tendrils into Harper. Harper with its ivied walls and paper chases, with the boys whistling at pretty blondes and new brides hanging new curtains.
Meinike does find Kindler, now Dr. Charles Rankin, early on in the movie. Evil needs shadows and dark places to grow. "We must stay hidden 'til the day we strike again." Kindler/Rankin is hunted, he knows it, and Meinike is an unwelcome intrusion. The last thing he needs is an old army buddy with the thick German accent hanging around.
Kindler makes and shallow plants the first corpse of the film, and so we're off.
THE STRANGER is a slick little suspense movie that really shouldn't be subjected to intense scrutiny. For instance, it's probably better we believe that Kindler was able to "disappear" into Smalltown, USA so smoothly. It's best we ignore the nagging question of how Rankin was able to woo and win the heart and hand of the beautiful daughter of a liberal Supreme Court Justice so quickly. And, later on in the movie, it's better not to snort at Wilson's rationalization for putting Mary Longstreet Rankin's (Loretta Young) life in danger. And it's definitely better not to wonder how a woman who is astute enough to question someone's advocacy of a "Carthaginian peace" can be so blind to her husband's dark secrets.
Young is wonderful as a young woman who has to journey from naïve young bride to a confused woman torn between love and terror. Robinson is just right as the driven Nazi hunter. Welles, in the lead role, is another story. He's too much the ham for a role like this. He's a little too over the top. Rankin/Kindler is a man who is living a great lie, and the penalty is great if he's found out. The role calls for someone who can internalize dread and terror, and Welles was never a great internalizer. Gregory Peck probably would have been perfect in the role - Peck was always better at repressing, rather than expressing, emotions.
Quibbles aside, I strongly recommend THE STRANGER. There's enough going on here to forgive its minor excesses and inconsistencies. Besides, it LOOKS so darn good. Welles' movies always have something visually interesting going on.
This IS a budget dvd, so the print and sound quality are less than pristine. I've seen worse, and frankly I didn't notice the scratches and splotches and such until I started looking for them.

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.

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)