The Stranger (1946)

Back on a different blog and the last challenge I did, we used to dedicate Sundays to the classic films of Hollywood as we called it Sunday At The Classics. We checked out films like Breakfast At Tiffany's, To Catch A Thief, etc. and you can read all of those here. We missed out on doing this during the first three Sundays of the month, but better late than never as we present to you 1946's The Stranger which was directed by the great Orson Wells (Citzen Kane) who also stars in the film. The film stars Edward G. Robinson (Little Caesar) as Mr. Wilson, a detective from the War Crimes Commission who is tasked with chasing down Nazi war criminals. Although, one man has been so elusive that Wilson is desperate to try anything to catch the mysterious Franz Kindler who was the true mastermind of the Nazi party. What does Wilson do? He lets another former Nazi go because he believes it will lead him to Kindler and he ends up tracking him all the way to a small town in Connecticut where a Nazi is indeed living among them.  The film also stars Loretta Young (The Farmer's Daughter) as Mary Longstreet, Wells as Professor Charles Rankin, Philip Merivale (Mr. & Mrs. Smith) as Judge Adam Longstreet, Richard Long (House On Haunted Hill) as Noah Longstreet, Konstantin Shayne (Vertigo) as Konrad Meinike, and Billy House (Bedlam) as Mr. Potter.

I didn't know quite what to expect from the film, but it was actually a very good film. I loved the fact that right from the start we identify who Kindler is, but now it's up to the rest of the actors to figure it out. Kindler right away kills the one man who could positively ID him and unfortunately for Mr. Wilson, he was knocked out before he could see the two men meet. So, now he has to do some real investigating and one conversation during a dinner meeting gives it all away and he has found his man. The only problem is that he just cant go and accuse the man, he has to smoke him out and be clever about it. That is where the real meat and potatoes of the film is and where the film gets really good. The film features a whose who of old Hollywood and they are just absolutely fantastic so it's safe to say that the acting in the film was great. If you noticed this far into my review that I have not identified Kindler because that is for you to do on your own. I was never really sure about how I felt when it came to Orson Wells as an actor, but the man is legit and he deserves a lot of credit for this film. One scene that is exciting is the town clock scene where one of the deaths occurs and it's a fitting death. The film is listed as being a film noir, but I didn't really see it cause it only contains so much of it within it. Check out the film for yourselves, I am going to give the film an B+ for a final grade.