The Stranger [1946] .avi

Director: Orson Wells

User Rating: 7.6/10

Genre: Drama | Film-Noir | Mystery | Thriller

Edward G. Robinson Mr. Wilson
Loretta Young ... Mary Longstreet
Orson Welles ... Professor Charles Rankin
Philip Merivale ... Judge Adam Longstreet
Richard Long ... Noah Longstreet
Konstantin Shayne Konrad Meinike
Byron Keith ... Dr. Jeffrey Lawrence


Coincidence or not, in the same year two of the greatest masters of American cinema attempted to tackle with similar means a similar type of story: the Nazi refugees after World War Two. Hitchcock's Notorious was in my opinion not as good as this one, both movies share a problem, their premises are not so realistic but they also share the great suspense and interesting climactic scenes. I have a problem with the female actors, I thought both Ingrid Bergman and Loretta Young slightly misplaced but maybe this can be considered an advantage since they seem to be caught in something that's way over their heads in the two stories.

The Stranger is a solid, tight movie with not one second being lost in its unfolding. Not as spectacular as other Welles films in the genre such as Mr. Arkadin or Touch of Evil it is still very efficient in getting what it aims for. Edward G. Robinson and Welles are very good as actors, I think Welles was absolutely; amazing in depicting bad guys and he here delivers a part which is in many respects better than his work in The Third Man