The Stranger

[Roger Ryan]

More good news regarding Welles on Blu-ray...

http://www.amazon.com/Orson-Welles-Stra ... B00E5MIM86

It appears that Kino is releasing a Blu-ray of THE STRANGER this October transferred from a restoration undertaken by the Library of Congress. Keeping my fingers crossed that this is better than the overly-digitally scrubbed public domain print released earlier by Film Chest.

[LostOverThere]

Interesting. I've seen only a few prints from the Library of Congress in cinemas (most recently the fabulous Cat People), but all of them have looked exceptional. Likewise, Kino put out continuously great releases.

Looking forward to this one.

[A Sled in Flames]

Excited. Just was watching the MGM DVD, and it really could be improved. Kino really depends on the quality of their source material transfer. The LOC does excellent restoration work though, AFAIK; LostOverThere is right.

All Welles's films truly deserve the HD upgrade. Cinematography looks amazing given the resolution. Of the ones currently just on DVD, Lady from Shanghai and Othello really deserve an upgrade as well.

[atcolomb]

DVD BEAVER has review the the new blu-ray release from Kino. Looks very good from the screen shots i saw.

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film3/blu-ray_ ... lu-ray.htm

[Le Chiffre]

It certainly blows away the other Bluray release; you can see that just from the screen captures. I'd like to see it compared to the MGM DVD, though. I'm sure it's better, but how much better would be interesting to see. Real nice extras on this new one, however. Looking forward to hearing the Bret Wood commentary, as he did a real nice writeup on STRANGER and LADY FRON SHANGHAI for for Video Watchdog some years ago.

[atcolomb]

It certainly blows away the other Bluray release; you can see that just from the screen captures. I'd like to see it compared to the MGM DVD, though. I'm sure it's better, but how much better would be interesting to see. Real nice extras on this new one, however. Looking forward to hearing the Bret Wood commentary, as he did a real nice writeup on STRANGER and LADY FRON SHANGHAI for for Video Watchdog some years ago.

I just received my blu-ray release and compared it to the MGM dvd. The blu-ray release has a much sharper and brighter picture and makes the MGM version look like a VHS copy of the film. The sound is much improved too so i would suggest all to buy it.

[Le Chiffre]

Thanks for the review, Atcolomb. I'm pretty tempted now.

[Roger Ryan]

I finally got around to seeing the KINO Blu-ray of THE STRANGER and agree that the image is the best home video has seen and the sound is clear (for the most part). However, there is more damage to the print than is seen on the MGM DVD with numerous tram line scratches and missing frames occurring sporadically throughout. Of even more concern is the fact that close to thirty seconds of footage is actually missing from the film: following the meeting between Wilson, Judge Longstreet and the housekeeper Sara, nearly all of the footage showing Kindler sawing through the ladder rungs is gone! The lack of continuity here is quite jarring as we're given no sense that any time has passed. Fortunately, the final long shot of Kindler sabotaging the ladder survives in this print so the idea of what he's up to isn't entirely lost (in fact, the inadvertent loss of footage makes the scene a little more mysterious and subtle although I realize this is little consolation!).

The good news is this transfer comes from an early print (possibly one that played in the cinemas in 1946) when the film was distributed through RKO Radio Pictures as evidenced by the concluding credit superimposition over the final shot of Edward G. Robinson. Every other version of the film I've seen cuts to black immediately following Robinson's "pleasant dreams" line in a distractingly abrupt manner. Here the shot is held as "The End - An International Production - Distributed By RKO Radio Pictures" is superimposed over it which makes for a far more graceful ending. I have to assume that when the film was re-released in 1953 by Independent Releasing Organization this final credit needed to be excised; the solution was to simply cut the shot early.

Ideally, it would be nice for a proper restoration to be done by digitally repairing this print (I imagine the original negative no longer exists) and reinserting the missing footage from a secondary print. As it is, it's nice to have the film looking better overall. The clarity of the image even revealed something I had never noticed before: I suspect that one or two of the art pieces hanging on the walls of Kindler's home are original paintings by Welles himself! One of them appears to be an abstract rendering of a demon not dissimilar to the one seen on the clock tower. In the same way that Welles created surreal artwork for the fun house finale to THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI, this may be another attempt to add to the dreamlike nature of THE STRANGER, an aspect that interested Welles but was largely removed from the film in editing.

[Wich2]

Thanks for the deets about the various discs, Roger; it IS frustrating, when each of several releases is slightly flawed in a different way.

The Wife and I love this film. Really well done across the board, and perhaps the most accessible to all of Welles' features. (And containing some of its lead's better acting, I think - the strangling in the woods is very deftly played.)

-Craig

[tonyw]

The painting would also fit in to one of the common elements of noir, namely modernist art being regarded as an aberrant entity symptomatic of the villain's mindset which Welles would develop in his own creative manner. I hope they dod rework this copy. also, in the Crazy House sequence of THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI I noticed that the logo STAND UP OF FALL DOWN (sic?) is repeated twice indicating the struggle going on in Michael's mind.

[Le Chiffre]

Good eye, Roger. I'll have to check my Blu-ray again for the things you cited. The clarity of the Kino Blu-ray is amazing, and I don't mind the occasional scratch or blemish, but when the climax of the film is marred throughout by an ugly looking scratch that's almost impossible to ignore, that's a serious problem. Craig, the MGM DVD of THE STRANGER had no real significant flaws that I could see, but then of course, it's Standard rather then High definition, so I guess you could say it's flawed by being technologically outdated.

[Wich2]

Thanks, Chief.

I have the Roan DVD (that includes CAUSE FOR ALARM), which was a vast step up from the several VHS tapes I'd had over the years.

-Craig

[Roger Ryan]

...I have the Roan DVD (that includes CAUSE FOR ALARM), which was a vast step up from the several VHS tapes I'd had over the years...

The MGM DVD is a big step up from the Roan and the KINO Blu-ray is a huge step up from the MGM DVD. As disappointing as the scratches, missing frames and missing shots are, the KINO release is an important one as it represents the film as seen in 1946. Given the way the 1953 re-release version cuts the ending credit off, I suspect all the 35mm prints, 16mm prints and subsequent home video releases since that time have come from a duped source. As battered as it may be, the Library of Congress transfer appears to come from a first generation print.

By the way, the "demon artwork" I referred to in the above post appears quite ominously above Mary's bed in the scene where Kindler wakes her from her dream.

[Byron Stayskal]

I mentioned on the Too Much Johnson thread that the Mr. Bongo version of the film is available on TubiTV. After running across Johnson, I did a quick site search for “Orson Welles” and found other items that might be of interest to fellow Welles-netters. And at the very least, it’s nice to know that in this age of streaming media (and in this case, free streaming media) there’s some Welles material out there and accessible to those who might not have much acquaintance with Welles.

The other Welles’s film on TubiTV is The Stranger. It’s not the best print by any means, but again, it’s encouraging that it’s out there. The Gregory Ratoff film Black Magic with Welles as the lead is also available, and in certain themes it makes for an interesting comparison with The Stranger. I hasten to add that I don’t think that the Ratoff film comes close to The Stranger in terms of art, but Black Magic is fun and inventive in an eccentric kind of way (and just for the record, I’m very much a fan of The Stranger).

Welles is the villain in both films, and in both he has a kind of manipulative hypnotizing power. In Black Magic, the power is quite literally hypnotic; Welles plays the gypsy magician Caliostro who actually hypnotizes people with his gaze (and what better eyes than Welles’s to make that believable). An even closer parallel is how the villains of both films meet their demise. Both Kindler and Caliostro are impaled by a sword high on a towering building and then fall dramatically to their deaths. I can’t help but wonder whether Welles suggested the sword fight and fall to Ratoff. Or perhaps Ratoff had seen The Stranger. Seems too close a parallel to be accidental. In any case, it’s a fun comparison, and since both films are on Tubi, it’s easy to view both endings.

The Stranger
https://tubitv.com/movies/9404/the_stranger?start=true

Black Magic
https://tubitv.com/movies/291182/black_magic?start=true

[Le Chiffre]

Nice catch, Byron. Yes, BLACK MAGIC is a bit cartoonish, but still entertaining, and Welles seems to be having a good time chewing the scenery. It's too bad they cut the original ending, which has Lorenza see a ghostly vision of Cagliostro laughing and driving away in a carriage. I suppose they figured they needed a happy ending for American distribution. I'd never heard of Tubi before; I'll have to keep an eye on it.