The Stranger on dvd

[atcolomb]

Has anybody seen the lastest dvd release of The Stranger which is being released by Allied Artists Classics? I know that you can buy it now at Amazon.com but i do not know how good of a print they are using. I have the Citizen Welles version and a version with a Tony Curtis introduction and one that i recorded from TCM (Turner Classic Movies) on my dvd recorder so i want to know how good this one is.

[Chirpy_Sabz]

I liked Orson's performance in this film.

It was an average film.

[jaime marzol]

so far the best stranger is the roan disc. dvd beaver will probably be the first to answer your question. they always do side by side capture comparison.

[Orson&Jazz]

What does the Roan disc offer? Does it offer any extras?

The dvd I bought was the Alpha Video version. It has is the movie and that's about it.

I would like to see some extras for this movie if there is actually any dvd out there that offers them.

I think I will check out dvd beaver to appease my curiousity.

[R Kadin]

The Roan disc doesn't offer any extras, unless you count the other noir-ish film (Tay Garnett's Cause for Alarm) that rounds out this budget-priced double feature disc.

Those travelling to Locarno might arrange in advance to acquire copies over there of the apparently superior MGM Region 2 DVD (in PAL format), which seems only to be readily available in France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland (unless you want to pay, in my case, almost $30 CDN just for delivery).

[atcolomb]

I received an email from Gary Tooze from DVD BEAVER and he
thinks that the Allied Artists version comes from a public domain print which means don't buy it!! Amazon.com has the Roan dvd Film Noir Vol. 1 for sale for $10 which has a second film on it. The dvd i have with the Tony Curtis intro is made by Delta which has their logo on the lower right of the screen during the movie. Maybe somebody will release a special edition of the movie with extras?

[jaime marzol]

that is the one to get, the roan with the other film. didn't know the mgm dvd was only available in europe.

[R Kadin]

Well, as best I could ascertain via numerous web-based searches, Europe (i.e. those countries I specified) was the only place I could find discs for sale that were unmistakably the MGM/UA version studied on the DVDBeaver site. Caveat emptor: there are lots of versions out there, many with brand names that could mean anything in terms of their quality and provenance. Gary Tooze's comparative analysis clearly demonstrates the difference between "the best" and "the rest".

And let's not forget an ongoing thanks to all the contributors here whose informed advice helps Wellesnetters the world over track down the best versions of OW's often elusive output.

Without this site to steer me right, I could have misspent an awful lot of money on some pretty marginal product, never knowing that I didn't have to settle for it and that it can be possible to see and hear a number of Welles' works in a condition very close to that which first emerged. It's tough enough to watch some of those films and imagine what might have been had his vision not been pre-empted; take away the quality of the images that at least made it through the process and, although you're still left with quite a lot (his work being so rife with other solid merits), it's just not the same. Not even close, sometimes.

So, thanks, guys & gals. I, for one, owe you big time.

[R Kadin]

Following up on my previous post, a note of caution: a seller on Amazon.fr is advertising the MGM/UA version of The Stranger ("Le Criminel") on DVD but is actually delivering some no-name knock off that looks to have been copied from some sketchy VHS source. Caveat emptor, indeed!

[R Kadin]

Two updates to my previous post:

1. To his well-deserved credit, the seller referred to, above, graciously refunded my entire outlay - shipping costs, included - without argument or even a demand for a (costly) return of the item.

2. I went back to Amazon.fr and ordered the MGM/UA disc, proper. It just arrived and is one of the crispest transfers of a Welles film I have ever seen. It is to the Roan disc as the Criterion F for Fake is to the previous favourite, the "Japanese" version.

[Anton]

Thanks, RKadin. That DVD Beaver is an amazing site. Too bad they say they're a sinking ship. So, "Spur Des Fremden" is the one to get? The Stranger comparism page says that that version runs about 3 minutes shorter then the Roan disc, so I hope nothing is missing. Also interesting is that the original trailer for the film is included as an extra. I've never seen that before, how is it?

[Wilson]

The 3 minute difference is probably just PAL speedup, which makes films 4% shorter in terms of runtime. I highly doubt anything was edited out.

[chrissie]

Just spotted the German MGM release on ebay, so I've finally put my money down for it. The DVD Beaver comparison makes a good case, as does R Kadin! I'm sure it was supposed to come out in the UK in Feb '04 as well, but MGM have a nasty habit of pulling UK releases at the last minute (Witness for the Prosecution was slated last year but never surfaced, for instance).

I've been meaning to track this down for ages, but watching a snippet of the UK PD release I have the other day reminded me of how awful the quality was, mediocre VHS transfer standard kind of stuff. Worse than the blurring, even, is the loss of contrast, most blacks being mid-tone grays -- which kinda makes an average film's virtues even harder to admire.

And on the obsessive front, I think it's time for me to track down the unrestored Kane DVD! I have no real problem with this restoration (though it suffers a bit from jaggies here and there), but the old print I have on VHS is fine, really -- did anyone look at that bogus comparison on the restored version? The unrestored prints I've seen didn't look like that! Is that a joke or what?! Or do these people seek the worst-possible prints to work from to justify their efforts?

[colwood]

Regarding the Stranger trailer, if memory serves, it isn't anything special and doesn't appear to have been done by Welles, but it is still worth a watch once.

Below is a link to the trailer at the Turner Classic website. Also on the site are the trailers to Kane, Ambersons, Touch of Evil and the Trial,

http://www.turnerclassicmovies.com/Multimedia/Popup/0,,12008,00.html

[R Kadin]

Anton - I don't know about you but I couldn't get that TCM link to play the trailer for me. In case you're having a similar problem, I'll simply agree with colwood in saying that it's typical of the overwrought studio-generated promos at that time. And the visual quality is mediocre, at best.

But I do find it interesting to compare it (a testament of how its producer, Sam Spiegel, would have viewed it in "product" terms) to what we know of Welles' intentions for it. It makes Welles' realization of how he simply had to get out of Hollywood to get anything interesting done all the more inevitable.