The Stranger

This isn't as distinctive as the best of Welles, and it's got some significant flaws in its plot development (Rankin/Kindler makes some pretty stupid mistakes for someone who's supposed to be so crafty) but it's a tense thriller that highlights the common "evil lurking in a small town" theme. The photographic work is as good as one expects from Welles, and the clock tower makes a terrific set piece. Besides a little sloppy writing, it's a fine movie.

This has an intriguing premise which, despite feeling a bit underdeveloped, supplies some good noir entertainment. Robinson is very watchable as usual, as is Welles, who unravels nicely, although I'm not sure I fully bought him as a Nazi. There is some great camerawork, and the use of light and dark is impressive. The ending was probably more fun than it should have been. Very decent.

Welles struggles valiantly but fairly fruitlessly with a weak script: some effective use of light and a moving camera fail to raise this much above the generic level that Spiegel presumably demanded. If you are going to use actual footage of Auschwitz survivors, then your movie better make a strong claim for including it: here, Nazism is basically a pretext for a thriller about darkness lurking in small-town USA, and Welles's Rankin/Kindler was never believable as an architect of extermination.

It's so fucking predictable. After 20 minutes you know how it will end, and 20 minutes before the ending you also know where it will end.

Very predictable. Poor plot progressions and cheap writing tricks employed. Otherwise solid performances of the two main leads (Welles and Robinson), poor supporting actors, some dubious expressionistic camera angles and lightning. Pretty much watchable because of Welles' magnetic screen presence and Robinson's solid juxtaposition.