The Stranger

The Stranger (1946), the third film directed by the legendary Orson Welles, is a film noir thriller of the highest order.

In the wake of World War II, Mr. Wilson, an official with the Allied War Crimes Commission (played by the legendary Edward G. Robinson), is on the trail of Franz Kindler, an escaped Nazi who was the chief architect of the regime’s mass genocide.

Wilson allows a concentration camp commandant, Conrad Meinike, to escape in the hope that he will lead him to the elusive Kindler. The trail takes them to the quiet Connecticut town of Harper, where Kindler (played by Welles) has taken on the guise of Charles Rankin, a history teacher at a boys’ school.

Kindler, as Rankin, is about to marry Mary Longstreet (Loretta Young), the daughter of an eminent Supreme Court justice, Adam Longstreet (Philip Merivale). Wilson has to establish Rankin’s identity as Kindler and overcome Mary’s disbelief.

The drama centers around a Gothic clock in a church at the center of Harper, which has not worked for many years. Rankin undertakes to restore the clock—thereby providing a clue to his identity with the Nazi Kindler, who has a mania for clocks.

The Stranger has the plot and pacing of a thriller, contrasting the profound evil of Kindler and Meinike with the naivete of a small New England town. Its sharp characterizations include the relentless Wilson, the suave Rankin, the earnest and devoted Mary, her loyal and vigilant brother Noah (played by Richard Long), and the grave but affectionate Judge Longstreet.

In an attempt to convince Mary of Rankin’s true identity, Wilson shows her then-recent newsreel footage of the Holocaust. The Stranger is the first Hollywood film to show this shocking but authentic footage.

In addition to the dramatic and tightly paced story, The Stranger features many characteristics of Welles’ masterful directorial hand: the use of shadows to create stark chiaroscuro effects; unusual and startling camera angles; and trailing camera shots that move individual scenes across locations.

The Stranger is a classic example of the Hollywood film noir genre. It will enthrall not only aficionados but anyone who appreciates the power of a compelling, tightly paced thriller.