Some parts and the end was different in the novel. Also read: http://www.wellesnet.com/trial%20bbc%20interview.htm

Both my favourite Welles film, and my favourite Kafka adaptation.

Welles considered this his best film. I wouldn't go that far, though it really is a great, creepy adapation of Kafka's novel.

Only Orson Welles could make such a surreal, insane and hallucinated adaptation of a Kafka novel, and as it happened to me with the book, I thought it was fantastically well done, but I just didn't get into it. And it bugs me, really; it a very well crafted film, and the last 20 minutes or so are enough to make one lose his mind. I respect the film for it, and I still think it's wonderful; but I lost my interest for the film after about 40 minutes.

Amazing use of the camera and lighting, as is typical for Welles. Loved the disorienting nature of the film, which is kind of the point. Welles takes a concept and draws strong lines between the form and the "text" of the film. I also really appreciated the opening and closing narration, as Welles explicitly puts his own personal stamp on the movie, marking its distance from the Kafka story.

A nice adaptation, if somewhat unnecessary.

I'm hard pressed to think of another movie in which conventional structure and logical progression matter less. The Trial is directed in such an offbeat manner, from the unbalanced compositions to the foreboding sound design, that it seems to exist on a different plane altogether. Instead of causing alienation, the film's abstract qualities are precisely what give it such magnetism. As it spirals into more surreal territory it only becomes more engaging.

An amazing film, a fevered nightmare of paranoia, bureaucracy and oppression, an examination of posturing and power plays and influence. Perkins is fantastic, navigating a series of awkward transitions. The locations are perfect, astonishing use of architecture and space to create moods and suggest a person's place in the power struggle. The camerawork is magnificent, finding just the right angles and lighting without ever seeming too showy. The dubbing can be distracting though.

Kafka's novel left such an impression on me that I couldn't fully accept Welles's approach. Still, the film is very successful on many levels.

The portrait of a man haunted by guilt on many different levels and senses of the word. It's an interesting adaptation of Kafka (to whom Anthony Perkins bears an eerie outer resemblance) as Welles's script takes big liberties with the story. It does capture the existential essence of Kafka's novel and its social-political themes, but Welles draws it into film-noir and mixes in more id-oriented, even sexual symbolism, dimming Kafka's vision somewhat but also adding to it. Very good, in any case.

Welles display a tremendous adeptness, "guiding" his character's elegantly through his carefully constructed maze.

God damn, this film made me feel exactly the way I felt while reading the novel: scared, uncomfortable, small, insignificant, lost. In his writings Kafka captured something about life and society that I don't really want to think about because it makes me feel so hopeless, and Welles transposes that feeling perfectly to the screen. Now I'm all depressed and shit.

Some nice shots but this is yet another disappointment from Orson

I really enjoyed the atmosphere. It felt empty, as if the actors and sets were completely isolated from a non-existent outside world.

some scenes are well made such as .k being chased by little girls in tunnels or the story of a man trying to enter a door which was intended only for him and specially a little change that Welles has made at the end of the story...but still I'd chose the book over this anytime

Completely bizarre and surreal, which makes it cool. But the ending disappointed me a little bit. It didn't maintain that "nightmare" feel like the rest of the movie, somehow. However, if you liked Brazil you'll love this...

I don't think I've seen a movie that captured the feeling of Kafkaesque dread quite as well as The Trial. I never would have thought that anyone could have done justice to one of Kafka's stories, but Orson Welles knocks it out of the park, and Perkins shows that he's more than just Norman Bates.

What's even more "nightmarish" than the eerie industrial settings is Antony Perkins' apparent lack of any acting skills whatsoever.

The dynamite ending (no, it wasn't "dynamite!" I mean the ending involving dynamite) was puzzling. I liked a lot of elements of this film, mainly the visual design. Welles emphasizes the dream/nightmare quality of Kafka's story. His choices are interesting, and it's a little all over the place and confusing, which adds to the effect.

The Trial is another example of how Orson Welles is so entirely dedicated to film. Ominous, unfamiliar and paranoid, its a fine look and venture into a awkward position of delusional stress and perspection. Anthony Perkins gives out a fine potrait of a man fallen into a stage of depression of which he will never overcome. Uncomfortably fantastic and hypnotic and also one of Welles best. Great adaptation of one great novel (Katka).

A hypnotic clash between the bombastic tiers of the law system with those which it renders, the intransigent with those under the heel of a decaying world order, Welles offers his most abstruse piece of cinema with Kafka not far behind, chasing Perkins through narrow archways of gloriously pretentious symbolism and mumbling imagery that deserts the conventional viewer on a desert island while it sneezes the same existential dread that plagued the protagonist as he decked through alleyways and my

Haunting and terrifying, in its own way, depiction of bureaucratic insanity. The film's narrative (aptly summed at the outset as having the logic of a nightmare) and the exquisite music and cinematography create an atmosphere that is simultaneously otherworldly and yet all too familiar. The pacing is sometimes a bit too slow, but generally it's a fascinating (if uncomfortable) labyrinth for the viewer to get lost in.

Orson Welles is a fucking genius, most likely the only person who can make a Kafka story better. [My favorite Welles film]

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Wow.

The expert expressionistic photography, the ominous score, the nightmarish logic, Perkins' nervous energy and Welles' own domineering presence in front of the camera all combine to make The Trial one of the most haunting and memorable films I've ever seen. There's never any point during The Trial where you're allowed to get comfortable, and you might as well not bother to make any sense of Josef K's prosecution. The entire thing is like a bad dream. (I wish more bad dreams were this enjoyable.)

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