IMDb > The Stranger (1946)
The Stranger
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The Stranger (1946) More at IMDbPro »

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The Stranger (1946) -- College professor Charles Rankin is actually notorious Nazi war criminal Franz Kindler. However, his true identity may be revealed when mild-mannered war crimes commissioner Wilson arrives posing as an antiques dealer.

Overview

User Rating:
7.6/10   5,165 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 23% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writers:
Anthony Veiller (screenplay)
Victor Trivas (adaptation) ...
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Contact:
View company contact information for The Stranger on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
25 May 1946 (USA) more
Tagline:
The Most Deceitful Man A Woman Ever Loved !
Plot:
An investigator from the War Crimes Commission travels to Connecticut to find an infamous Nazi. full summary | full synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Awards:
Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 nomination more
NewsDesk:
Who Are Your Favorite Movie Professors?
 (From Cinematical. 10 July 2009, 10:02 AM, PDT)

User Comments:
Vastly underrated Welles - one of his best films, one of the best thrillers ever more (102 total)

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Date with Destiny (USA) (working title)
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Runtime:
95 min
Country:
Language:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Orson Welles' least favourite film of his own. more
Goofs:
Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): The swastika that Kindler is drawing on the notepad is running in the wrong direction. more
Quotes:
Professor Charles Rankin: Who would think to look for the notorious Franz Kindler in the sacred precincts of the Harper School, surrounded by the sons of America's first families? And I'll stay hidden... till the day when we strike again.
Konrad Meinike: Franz! There will be another war?
Professor Charles Rankin: Of course.
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Movie Connections:
Featured in Prodigal Sons (2008) more

FAQ

Why are the picture and sound so bad?
What is the Orson Welles character doodling on the scratch pad?
Where has Edward G. Robinson played an investigator who gets a sudden intuition about his case?
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32 out of 37 people found the following comment useful.
Vastly underrated Welles - one of his best films, one of the best thrillers ever, 31 March 2002
10/10
Author: zetes from Saint Paul, MN

The Stranger is a little slow to start. Edward G. Robinson, playing a war crimes detective named Wilson, lets loose one of the right-hand men of an important Nazi war criminal named Franz Kindler (Orson Welles) who escaped prison and managed to erase his identity. He was the mastermind behind the concentration camps. No photographs exist of him, and only this goon might know where he is. Wilson tracks the goon to a small town in Connecticut, where Franz Kindler is posing as a history professor about to marry the daughter of an important politician. Immediately the goon disappears, but the professor arouses Wilson's suspicion.

After the setup is over, The Stranger bolts ahead at a breathless pace. All the clues point to the professor, though there is nothing definitive. When his wife, Mary, finds out (played by Loretta Young), she refuses to believe it. Kindler feeds her a nice lie explaining everything, and she's desperate to believe it. He's not sure that he can trust her.

Welles pulls a ton of suspense out of the situation. He's so good at creating points of tension out of both the simplest means, like a group of college boys on a paper chase, a dog who won't stop digging in the leaves, or something much more gothic, like the ancient, broken-down clock in the church tower. Kindler was an expert on clocks (which is one of the biggest clues), and when he revives this old monster, an iron angel with a sword chases away the devil and then rings the bell to the hour. To get to the top of the tower, an extraordinarily tall ladder must be climbed. This leads to as much or more suspense as existed in the cognate scenes in Hitchcock's Vertigo. In fact, I'm sure Hitchcock watched and liked this film. Everyone knows he admired Welles' later Touch of Evil, which he mimicked in his own Psycho, so why not this film?

The acting is quite brilliant as well. We would expect it from Orson Welles, of course. This is actually one of his very best roles. He is amazing at telling believable lies to his wife and friends, but with the dramatic irony in which the audience is in possession, we see the depth and the nervousness and the evil. Edward G. Robinson has a pretty thankless role for a long time, but nearer the end he begins to expand. We cringe when he coldly suggests that Mary is in mortal danger. He is simply great in the climactic scene (which I won't mention except to say that it is one of the best in film history, although some might find it a bit silly). Loretta Young is also great as a naive wife who so desperately wants to be the perfect wife and believe everything her husband says. If this movie were to be remade today, her character would have been developed further psychologically, but what is here is good. She is also great in the climactic sequence.

Welles' films often have thriller elements, but this is his most thrilling. It's also probably his least philosophical, and almost certainly his most conventional. He made the film as a concession. I think he was allowed to make The Lady of Shanghai in return, which is an even better film than this. That is no matter, though. It's a masterpiece anyway. 10/10.

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