About The Stranger (1946)
The story behind the film
The Stranger was Orson Welles' third completed feature as a director, made a few years after Citizen Kane, at a time when Hollywood studios were wary of his reputation for going over budget. Producer Sam Spiegel gave him the job, and Welles deliberately made a tight, conventional thriller to prove he could deliver on time. He also co-wrote it, though without screen credit.
The story is set just after World War II. Mr. Wilson, an investigator for the Allied War Crimes Commission, is hunting Franz Kindler, one of the architects of the Nazi death camps, who has vanished without a trace. Wilson deliberately releases one of Kindler's former associates and follows him to the quiet New England town of Harper, Connecticut. There, Kindler has become Charles Rankin, a respected teacher at a boys' prep school, about to marry Mary Longstreet, the daughter of a Supreme Court justice. Kindler's one known weakness is an obsession with clocks — and the town church has an old, broken clock tower he has volunteered to repair.
Cast & crew
- Directed by Orson Welles; screenplay by Anthony Veiller (with Welles and John Huston, both uncredited); story by Victor Trivas
- Edward G. Robinson as Mr. Wilson
- Loretta Young as Mary Longstreet
- Orson Welles as Professor Charles Rankin / Franz Kindler
- Philip Merivale as Judge Adam Longstreet
- Richard Long as Noah Longstreet, Mary's brother
- Billy House as Mr. Potter, the drugstore owner
- Cinematography by Russell Metty
Why it's worth watching
It's a cat-and-mouse thriller with a superb cast. Robinson plays the dogged Wilson with wit and quiet persistence, Loretta Young's Mary is torn between loyalty to her new husband and the growing evidence against him, and Welles is chilling as a man who hides monstrous crimes behind small-town charm. Welles' visual flair is everywhere: long, complex takes, deep shadows and a spectacular climax high in the clock tower.
The film is also historically significant: it was the first Hollywood feature to include actual documentary footage of the Nazi concentration camps, which Wilson shows to Mary to make her understand who her husband really is. Coming barely a year after the war ended, these scenes were shocking to audiences.
Fun facts
- Victor Trivas's original story was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Story.
- The film competed at the Venice Film Festival.
- It is often described as the only film Welles directed that was a clear box-office success on its first release.
Public-domain status
The Stranger's copyright was not renewed, so it is in the US public domain and is listed among US public-domain films. See "Rights & source" below.