The Stranger (1946 film)
Encyclopedia
The Stranger is an American film noir
directed by Orson Welles
and starring Welles, Edward G. Robinson
, and Loretta Young
. The film was based on an Oscar-nominated screenplay written by Victor Trivas. Sam Spiegel
was the film's producer, and the film's musical score is by Bronisław Kaper. It is believed that this is the first film released after World War II
that showed footage of concentration camps.
The film was made by International Pictures, and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The copyright on the film originally belonged to The Haig Corporation, but the film is in the public domain
because the producers failed to renew the copyright in 1973.
is hunting for Nazi
fugitive Franz Kindler (Orson Welles
), a war criminal who has erased all evidence which might identify him. He has assumed a new identity, Charles Rankin, and has become a prep school teacher in a small town in the United States
. He has married Mary Longstreet (Loretta Young
), daughter of Supreme Court Justice
Adam Longstreet (Philip Merivale
).
Wilson releases Kindler's former associate Meinike (Konstantin Shayne), hoping the man will lead him to Kindler. Wilson follows Meinike to the town of Harper, Connecticut
, but loses him before he meets with Kindler. When Kindler/Rankin and Meinike do meet, Meinike, who is repentant, begs Kindler to confess his crimes. Instead, Kindler strangles Meinike, who might expose him.
Eventually, Wilson deduces that Rankin is Kindler, but not having witnessed the meeting with Meinike, he has no proof. Only Mrs. Rankin knows that Meinike came to meet her husband. To get her to admit this, Wilson must convince her that her husband is a criminal - before Rankin decides to eliminate the threat to him by killing her.
Rankin's pose begins to unravel when Red, the family dog, discovers Meinike's body. To protect his secret, Rankin poisons Red.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Rankin begins to suspect her husband, but is too blinded by love to accept the facts. She is torn between her desire to learn the truth about him, and the idea of helping him create his new life. Mr. Wilson shows her graphic footage of Nazi concentration camps, and explains how Kindler/Rankin developed the idea of genocide. But not until Mary discovers Rankin's plot to kill her does she finally break down. In a tense moment, she dares Rankin to kill her. Rankin tries to, but is prevented by Wilson and Mary's brother Noah. Pursued by them, he flees into a church belfry, and falls to his death.
had made back its budget and marketing, but not enough to make a profit
). It earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. The Stranger currently holds a 95% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes
.
, which Welles attended. Signs visible in the scene refer to a "Coach Roskie" and a "Mrs. Collins", the names of actual staff at the school during Welles's time there. One of the signs also refers to "Clover Hall", which was an actual building on the Todd School campus.
The movie became the first film released after World War II
to feature actual footage taken at concentration camps. There was also a "lost scene" which expands on Meinike trying to find Franz Kindler. The scene, at reported lengths of between 20-30 minutes long, was cut from the original print of the film. When the film was restored for re-release, it was learned that the scenes have been lost, including the negative prints.
and, especially, documentary footage of the concentration camps. In his column for The New York Post, Welles wrote that this documentary footage 'must be seen' as an index of the 'putrefaction of the soul, a perfect spiritual garbage' associated with what 'we have been calling [...] Fascism. The stench is unendurable.' (Welles, quoted in Heylin, 2005: 163; emphasis in original). Welles worked some of these preoccupations into the film: the film openly engages with the fallout of Fascism. In one striking scene Mr. Wilson shows Mary Longstreet some filmed footage of the concentration camps. Mary sits in stunned silence, and Welles holds the camera on a close-up of Loretta Young as the light from the projector flickers across her face. In the scene Wilson says that Kindler "conceived the theory of genocide - mass de-population of conquered countries."
In his Post columns, Welles wrote that the social reforms in post-war Germany would not eradicate Fascism; Nazi believers were 'laying the fuel for another conflagration...' In one of the film’s strongest scenes, Mr. Wilson and Kindler/Rankin join the Longstreets for dinner. The dinner conversation turns to an article about social reforms in post-war Germany. Rankin asserts that the Germans will never give up their dream of world conquest - directly echoing the sentiment of Welles’ Post columns.
Robinson had appeared seven years earlier in the anti-Nazi film Confessions of a Nazi Spy
.
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
directed by Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
and starring Welles, Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson
Edward G. Robinson was a Romanian-born American actor. A popular star during Hollywood's Golden Age, he is best remembered for his roles as gangsters, such as Rico in his star-making film Little Caesar and as Rocco in Key Largo...
, and Loretta Young
Loretta Young
Loretta Young was an American actress. Starting as a child actress, she had a long and varied career in film from 1917 to 1953...
. The film was based on an Oscar-nominated screenplay written by Victor Trivas. Sam Spiegel
Sam Spiegel
Sam Spiegel was an Austrian-born American independent film producer.-Life and career:Spiegel was born in Jarosław, Galicia, Austria-Hungary as Samuel P. Spiegel to a German-Jewish father and Polish mother and educated at the University of Vienna. His brother was Shalom Spiegel, a professor of...
was the film's producer, and the film's musical score is by Bronisław Kaper. It is believed that this is the first film released after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
that showed footage of concentration camps.
The film was made by International Pictures, and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The copyright on the film originally belonged to The Haig Corporation, but the film is in the public domain
Public domain
Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
because the producers failed to renew the copyright in 1973.
Plot
In 1946, Mr. Wilson (Edward G. Robinson) of the United Nations War Crimes CommissionUnited Nations War Crimes Commission
The United Nations War Crimes Commission was a commission of the United Nations that investigated allegations of war crimes committed by the Nazi Germany and its allies in World War II.The Commission began its work at the behest of the United States and the other Allied nations in 1943, prior to...
is hunting for Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
fugitive Franz Kindler (Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
), a war criminal who has erased all evidence which might identify him. He has assumed a new identity, Charles Rankin, and has become a prep school teacher in a small town in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He has married Mary Longstreet (Loretta Young
Loretta Young
Loretta Young was an American actress. Starting as a child actress, she had a long and varied career in film from 1917 to 1953...
), daughter of Supreme Court Justice
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
Adam Longstreet (Philip Merivale
Philip Merivale
Philip Merivale was an English film and stage actor and screenwriter....
).
Wilson releases Kindler's former associate Meinike (Konstantin Shayne), hoping the man will lead him to Kindler. Wilson follows Meinike to the town of Harper, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, but loses him before he meets with Kindler. When Kindler/Rankin and Meinike do meet, Meinike, who is repentant, begs Kindler to confess his crimes. Instead, Kindler strangles Meinike, who might expose him.
Eventually, Wilson deduces that Rankin is Kindler, but not having witnessed the meeting with Meinike, he has no proof. Only Mrs. Rankin knows that Meinike came to meet her husband. To get her to admit this, Wilson must convince her that her husband is a criminal - before Rankin decides to eliminate the threat to him by killing her.
Rankin's pose begins to unravel when Red, the family dog, discovers Meinike's body. To protect his secret, Rankin poisons Red.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Rankin begins to suspect her husband, but is too blinded by love to accept the facts. She is torn between her desire to learn the truth about him, and the idea of helping him create his new life. Mr. Wilson shows her graphic footage of Nazi concentration camps, and explains how Kindler/Rankin developed the idea of genocide. But not until Mary discovers Rankin's plot to kill her does she finally break down. In a tense moment, she dares Rankin to kill her. Rankin tries to, but is prevented by Wilson and Mary's brother Noah. Pursued by them, he flees into a church belfry, and falls to his death.
Cast
- Orson WellesOrson WellesGeorge Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
as Franz Kindler / Professor Charles Rankin - Edward G. RobinsonEdward G. RobinsonEdward G. Robinson was a Romanian-born American actor. A popular star during Hollywood's Golden Age, he is best remembered for his roles as gangsters, such as Rico in his star-making film Little Caesar and as Rocco in Key Largo...
as Mr. Wilson - Loretta YoungLoretta YoungLoretta Young was an American actress. Starting as a child actress, she had a long and varied career in film from 1917 to 1953...
as Mary Longstreet Rankin - Philip MerivalePhilip MerivalePhilip Merivale was an English film and stage actor and screenwriter....
as Judge Adam Longstreet (Mary's father) - Richard LongRichard Long (actor)Richard Long was an American actor better known for his leading roles in several ABC television series, including The Big Valley, Nanny and the Professor and Bourbon Street Beat.-Early life:...
as Noah Longstreet (Mary’s brother) - Konstantin Shayne as Konrad Meinike
- Byron Keith as Dr. Jeffrey Lawrence
- Billy HouseBilly HouseBilly House was an US vaudevillian, Broadway performer and feature film actor. After devoting most of his career to live performance, he moved to Hollywood where he became a supporting actor during the 1940s and 1950s...
as Mr. Potter - Martha WentworthMartha WentworthMartha Wentworth was an American actress.Originally a radio actress, she became a film actress in the 1940s, starring in several Red Ryder Western films...
as Sara
Reception
The Stranger was the only film made by Welles to have been a bona fide box office success on its first release (Citizen KaneCitizen Kane
Citizen Kane is a 1941 American drama film, directed by and starring Orson Welles. Many critics consider it the greatest American film of all time, especially for its innovative cinematography, music and narrative structure. Citizen Kane was Welles' first feature film...
had made back its budget and marketing, but not enough to make a profit
Hollywood accounting
Hollywood accounting refers to the opaque accounting methods used by the film, video and television industry to budget and record profits for film projects...
). It earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. The Stranger currently holds a 95% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
.
Production notes
One of the film's early scenes occurs at the school where Rankin teaches and contains references to the Todd School for BoysTodd Seminary for Boys
The Todd Seminary for Boys, later the Todd School for Boys was located in Woodstock, Illinois.-History:The Todd School for Boys was an independent school founded by Reverend Richard K Todd who brought from his native Vermont the New England philosophy of "plain living and high thinking, and in...
, which Welles attended. Signs visible in the scene refer to a "Coach Roskie" and a "Mrs. Collins", the names of actual staff at the school during Welles's time there. One of the signs also refers to "Clover Hall", which was an actual building on the Todd School campus.
The movie became the first film released after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
to feature actual footage taken at concentration camps. There was also a "lost scene" which expands on Meinike trying to find Franz Kindler. The scene, at reported lengths of between 20-30 minutes long, was cut from the original print of the film. When the film was restored for re-release, it was learned that the scenes have been lost, including the negative prints.
Fascism and Nazism and the film
Before The Stranger, Welles had shown an interest in the nature of FascismFascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
and, especially, documentary footage of the concentration camps. In his column for The New York Post, Welles wrote that this documentary footage 'must be seen' as an index of the 'putrefaction of the soul, a perfect spiritual garbage' associated with what 'we have been calling [...] Fascism. The stench is unendurable.' (Welles, quoted in Heylin, 2005: 163; emphasis in original). Welles worked some of these preoccupations into the film: the film openly engages with the fallout of Fascism. In one striking scene Mr. Wilson shows Mary Longstreet some filmed footage of the concentration camps. Mary sits in stunned silence, and Welles holds the camera on a close-up of Loretta Young as the light from the projector flickers across her face. In the scene Wilson says that Kindler "conceived the theory of genocide - mass de-population of conquered countries."
In his Post columns, Welles wrote that the social reforms in post-war Germany would not eradicate Fascism; Nazi believers were 'laying the fuel for another conflagration...' In one of the film’s strongest scenes, Mr. Wilson and Kindler/Rankin join the Longstreets for dinner. The dinner conversation turns to an article about social reforms in post-war Germany. Rankin asserts that the Germans will never give up their dream of world conquest - directly echoing the sentiment of Welles’ Post columns.
Robinson had appeared seven years earlier in the anti-Nazi film Confessions of a Nazi Spy
Confessions of a Nazi Spy
Confessions of a Nazi Spy is a 1939 American spy thriller film and the first blatantly anti-Nazi film produced by a major Hollywood studio prior to World War II. The film stars Edward G. Robinson, Francis Lederer, George Sanders, and a large cast of German actors, including some who had emigrated...
.
External links
- Paul Lewis, 2009: Review of the Network DVD release of The Stranger. DVDCompare
- Watch it on Retrovision