Too hard on The Stranger?

[duke_mccloud]

Overall we know it was his most commercially successful film outside of I'm sure Citizen Kane(although I heard there was a battle with RKO, but I'm unsure), but nevertheless it seems that this one is almost faulted for being a bit too traditional although I do notice consistent traces of the maestro ' s touch. In retrospect I do believe it is his most accessible work but it may not be such a bad thing. Perhaps a sort of stepping stone to new Welles potentials? Thoughts??

[tonyw]

James Naremore has written perceptively on this film in all three editions of THE MAGIC WORLD OF ORSON WELLES. Despite the fact that it was drastically re-edited by the studio, the film does offer glimpses in an America oblivious or in denial of the recent world conflict whose consequences still remain even in a supposedly isolated New England town.

[Wellesnet]

Good Independent article on "The Stranger":
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-ente ... 32626.html

The Stranger deserves to be remembered, and not just as proof that Welles had the ability to deliver a genre picture par excellence. Filming began in September 1945 and this was the first Hollywood movie to present documentary footage of the Holocaust.

Welles had seen the footage in May 1945 and wrote: “No, you must not miss the newsreels. They make a point this week no man can miss: The war has strewn the world with corpses, none of them very nice to look at. The thought of death is never pretty but the newsreels testify to the fact of quite another sort of death, quite another level of decay. This is a putrefaction of the soul, a perfect spiritual garbage. For some years now we have been calling it Fascism. The stench is unendurable.”

[tonyw]

I very much affirm this since it was the second of my Welles articles in the print version of FILM INTERNATIONAL for my Welles trilogy. I've also reviewed two DVD versions on the Web site filmint.nu. It really needs better respect opposed to its unjust reputation.

[Wich2]

It's a good noir.

It's a good movie.

It's a good Welles work.

It needs no apologies.

[Wellesnet]

Now available on Netflix:
https://www.netflix.com/title/1005494

[Le Chiffre]

Netflix is showing the Kino Bluray version, which has the highest picture quality, but the most scratches of any video version of the film.

[tonyw]

http://filmint.nu/?p=23265

[Wellesnet]

Thanks for the review, Tony. Here's another good one of the film itself at Mank's Movie Musings.
The Stranger: Orson Welles’ lone box office hit may be his least personal film but it’s still a terrific Noir thriller with Welles in top form as actor & director:
https://manksjoint.home.blog/2021/05/29 ... wiseVFtCe8

[tonyw]

I have also written about the film in a detailed article in the2015 print version of FILM INTERNATIONAL. Former Ph.D graduate and colleague Richmond Adams plans another article on the film looking at it from a different perspective. Clifford Heylin and Naremore have also recognized the values of the film with full awareness of what was removed.

[atcolomb]

Liked The Stranger the first time i viewed it and it's my first Welles film i bought on dvd back in 2000 released by Laserlight.

[tonyw]

An article on the film by Richmond P. Adams will soon be available in RETREATS FROM OBLIVION: THE JOURNAL OF NOIR COM, co-edited by Matthew Sorrento.https://retreatsfromoblivion.com/about/

Richmond's dissertation on "The Damnation of Theron Ware" appeared in book publication immediately afterwards. A contributor to FILM INTERNATIONAL and others, this forthcoming article promises to be an interesting take on the New England manners preventing inhabitants recognizing who Rankin really is.

I'm looking forward to reading this since my review of the Flicker Alley noir DVD TRAPPED (1949) appears in the same issue