“In Harper, there’s nothing to be afraid of.”
It’s a true form of cinematic injustice that the 1946 Orson Welles effort The Stranger isn’t as well-regarded as some of his other classics. Perhaps no other film made during this era was able to combine fascinating camera moves and a thrilling plot in the classic Welles tradition while also crafting a stirring comment on the far reaching powers of Nazi Germany. A moment featuring the film’s villain attacking a dog because he is digging up incriminating evidence, before quickly cutting to the story’s hero waking up from a dead sleep with the revelation that he’s found the one he’s looking for, is one of many standout moments in The Stranger featuring all of the above elements in what is a great example of the movie’s dynamic pulse. Throw in the mystical use of shadows, and The Stranger instantly becomes the perfect Welles masterpiece that is continuously being discovered.
In The Stranger, a war crimes investigator named Wilson (Edward G. Robinson) travels to Connecticut on the hunt for a Nazi war criminal. The man in question is Charles Rankin (Orson Welles), a former Nazi officer who has been hiding under the guise of a schoolteacher at a boys’ prep school and is engaged to the lovely Mary Longstreet (Loretta Young). When Wilson hones in on Charles, a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase ensues as hunter and prey do anything they can to take down the other, with Mary dangerously caught in the middle.
As a suspense tale, The Stranger offers up mystery and unease right from the opening credits. The way the plot moves with the utmost precision and flow is truly the work of a master and recalls the joy of watching the kind of movies made during Welles’s heyday. It’s the first 20 minutes of The Stranger which set the bar and prove a perfect introduction to the film, setting up the real story and revealing its adrenaline-charged tone in a series of shots with very little dialogue. Welles’s movie is a slow-burning dance in the darkness between its three central characters. The film begins to soar even higher as the crux of the plot stunningly unfolds at the dinner table among a pleasant family meal as, unbeknownst to anyone, the two men carefully analyze each other. To Welles’s credit, the movie’s tension is maintained all the way through thanks to the characters themselves, who are filled with frantic desperation as they make up each of their moves as they go along.
It’s hard to dismiss the bravery of Welles for taking on such a villainous role and making it the lead character in a film, particularly one with such a horrific plot. Charles is essentially Nazi Germany, invading small town America cloaked with trust and respect as he becomes a revered figure in the community. There’s so much devastation in the image of Charles and what he symbolizes infecting the goodness of the loving family unit by marrying the all-American girl who is in a way his biggest victim. Hearing Wilson describe the gas chamber processes to Mary while showing her actual footage is stark to say the least, but remains bold for a Hollywood film at that time, becoming the first one to showcase such content. The sequence may takes the audience out of the thrilling fantasy, yet it also cannot help but fill The Stranger with great authority and authenticity.
Although he makes for an unlikely hero, the role of Wilson is a fantastic one for Robinson, who gives the film so much power in one of his best turns on screen. Welles is properly chilling and menacing, yet intriguing at the same time, having to put on a variety of different masks in order to conceal his true identity in what is some of his strongest screen work. Not to be outdone by her imposing co-stars, Young is excellent as a woman consumed by both love and fear. The way she balances the two is as heartbreaking as it is breathtaking, with her reaction to discovering what the man she loves really is showing the actress at her absolute best.
Watching the film, it soon becomes clear that there are three strangers within it. There is the obscure man who sets off the series of events by finding Charles; Wilson with his unassuming and sudden presence which has the power to change fate; and Charles himself, who is a stranger to everyone he has befriended, most of all Mary. The Stranger was reportedly the only Welles-directed film to actually turn a profit during its original release, while also being his least favorite…perhaps for this very reason. Regardless, with its shocking yet socially conscious ideology, genuine mystery, and incredibly operatic ending, The Stranger is prime Welles through and through as well as so much more.
The Stranger is now available on Blu-ray from Olive Films.
