Average Rating: 7.6/10
Reviews Counted: 20
Fresh: 19 | Rotten: 1
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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 (Konstantin Shayne) 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
Unrated, 1 hr. 35 min.
Jan 1, 1946 Limited
Feb 8, 2000
RKO Pictures
All Critics (20) | Top Critics (3) | Fresh (21) | Rotten (3) | DVD (15)
Orson Welles's 1946 film reproduces his personal themes of self-scrutiny and self-destruction only in outline, though it is an inventive, highly enjoyable thriller.
The Stranger is socko melodrama, spinning an intriguing web of thrills and chills.
Top CriticThe whole film, produced by S. P. Eagle, comes off a bloodless, manufactured show.
Orson Welles's feverish, politically uneasy noir remains an outstanding achievement; would that the same could be said about Film Chest's barely sufficient transfer of the film.
Cinematographer Russell Metty ("Touch of Evil") uses the whole film noir bag of tricks, liberal use of shadows for mood, deep focus and extreme closeups to enhance drama and suspense.
Welles is so technically proficient that even his second-tier works are well worth seeking out, and The Stranger belongs to this category.
Excellent post-war thriller, via Orson Welles.
Full of bizarre shots and fascinating little moments.
Welles's underrated third effort gets no love in this DVD version, but it's still a virtuosic, fascinating work.
As distinctively Wellesian as Citizen Kane.
One of Welles' most conventional films: His fans don't like it because it's too plot-driven and linear but that was his goal, wishing to prove that he could make a mainstream film after the brilliant but failures, Citizen Kane and Magnificent Ambersons.
The most restrained and conventional of Welles's films, but still a thrilling entertainment.
Atmospheric thriller-noir has Welles, Robinson pluses.
Welles' third film, often described as his worst, but still a hugely enjoyable thriller.
It is a tightly-plotted and well-acted thriller that bears Welles' unique stamp, in spite of it being a director-for-hire project.
Fine baroque thriller from Welles.
Comes up short as far as believability due to the lame script.
a solid piece of postwar genre work about a Nazi hiding in bucolic small-town America
Largely unsung, this Orson Welles movie is one of his most straightforward, yet still one of his greats -- and reportedly his only film to turn a profit on its original theatrical release.
A minor entry in the legendary career of Orson Welles, concerning a Nazi supporter (Welles) hiding out in Connecticut in the wake of the fall of the German empire, and how a skilled detective (Edward G. Robinson) tracks him down and tries to get him to confess to his true identity. Although boring at times and lacking
February 20, 2012Super Reviewer
Welles is so technically proficient that even his second-tier works are a clinic in form, camera blocking, and mise-en-scene. Like Bergman, he isn't afraid to use dramatic closeups to communication the emotional tics of his characters, and he always strays clear of the conventional route when it comes to his direction.
February 18, 2011Super Reviewer
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