The Stranger 1946

     FBI Agent Wilson is an investigator for the War Crimes Commission and he is seeking Franz Kindler.  He was the German mastermind of the Holocaust during WWII.  He has erased his identity but Wilson has arranged for his former Conrad to be released.  Wilson has followed Meinike to Harper, Connecticut.  Four other Germans have traveled to Harper.  Meinike is killed so Wilson will need to find another way to identify Kindler.  Antique clocks are a fascination for Kindler and there is one in Harper.  Wilson thinks he is closing in on an identification and he also thinks Kindler will start to sweat if he feels his past closing in on him.

     Franz Kindler is using the assumed name of Professor Charles Rankin and he has just married Mary Longstreet.  Mary doesn’t know anything about Charles except that he is a teacher.  After their ceremony, Charles goes out into the woods to bury a body?  Isn’t that what everyone does after they get married?  Wilson tries to talk to her but she doesn’t want to listen or believe anything he says.  Her father and her brother are more willing to listen and believe.   Orson Wells plays going crazy very well!!  He has the wild look on his face and his eyes.  He doesn’t want to consider that what Wilson says about him is true?  3 1/2* (I liked this movie)

95 min, Crime directed by Orson Welles with Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young, Orson Welles, Philip Merivale, Richard Long, Konstantin Shayne, Byron Keith, Billy House, Martha Wentworth.

Note:  Imdb 7.4 out of 10, 96% critic 80% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, 4.1* out of 5* with 235 reviews, Leonard Maltin 3* out of 4* user reviews 3.2 out of 5, Slant Magazine 3* out of 4*.

Special Note:  Filmed at United Artists Studios, 7200 Santa Monica Boulevard, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.  Originally Agnes Moorehead was to play the FBI agent.  This is the only film directed by Welles to show a profit in original release.  There is a scene of Loretta Young dangling dangerously many feet above a church floor.  This is not a special effect and she is being held by one hand.  The term Carthaginian peace is used and this means any peace treaty demanding total subjugation of the defeated side.  It is based on the defeat and total destruction of Carthage by Rome.  There are many poor versions of this film on the market because the original copyright was not renewed.  The New England town exterior sets were constructed on the back lot of the United Artists studio.  Life Magazine took some production shots of these sets for publication.  Included among the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die list edited by Steven Schneider.