The Stranger (1946)

The Stranger
Directed by Orson Welles
Written by Anthony Veiller, Victor Trevas, and Decla Dunning
1946/USA
International Pictures/The Hague Corporation
Repeat viewing/Amazon Instant Video

[box] Mr. Wilson: Well, who but a Nazi would deny that Karl Marx was a German because he was a Jew?[/box]

Orson Welles showed he still had what it took, particularly in those clock scenes.

Mr. Wilson (Edward G. Robinson) has a mission in life – to apprehend and punish Nazi war criminals.  He has one released from prison, though, to entrap a bigger fish, one Franz Kindler (Orson Welles).

Wilson follows the released man to Harper, Connecticut, where Kindler is hiding out as Professor Charles Rankin.  “Rankin” is to marry Mary (Loretta Young), daughter of a U.S. Supreme Court Justice.  By chance, Mary is in Rankin’s house hanging curtains when the ex-Nazi comes calling.  Rankin manages to take care of the man that very day amid the festivities leaving Mary the only witness who could tie him to his victim.

It doesn’t take the canny Wilson long to see through Rankin.  More difficult is to get Mary to believe that the man she loves could be such a monster.  Mary seems to be headed for a nervous breakdown protecting her husband and Rankin won’t risk his cover for anybody.

Edward G. Robinson is absolutely fantastic in this film.  I put his performance up there with his portrayal of Keyes in Double Indemnity. Loretta Young is very good as the torn Mary. I wonder why I have stopped seeing much of her during my journey through the 40’s.  I like Welles in this, too, though nobody could possibly believe his Rankin had ever been to Germany.  A lot of the film is fairly straight forward but Welles gets some beautiful flourishes in in some menacing scenes in a clock tower.

Victor Trivas was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXuo_5G7B4Q

Trailer