The Stranger (DVD)

"He was an obscenity on the face of the earth. The stench of burning flesh was in his clothes." War Crimes Commission agent Wilson (Edward G. Robinson) is on the trail of Franz Kindler (Orson Welles), a leading Nazi and mastermind of the Holocaust, who has escaped justice by changing his identity. Wilson releases Kindler's former comrade, Meinike - a man racked with guilt over his wartime activities - and follows him to the town of Harper, Connecticut, where Kindler is now known as Professor Charles Rankin, a teacher. But Meinike is killed before he can identify Kindler, leaving Wilson with just one clue: Kindler's fascination with antique clocks. Franz Kindler, meanwhile, feels secure in his new identity...but his past is slowly catching up with him. A film noir classic directed by and starring Orson Welles, The Stranger is thought to be the first film released after World War II to show footage of concentration camps. With a cast that also included Loretta Young and a memorable score by award-winning composer Bronislaw Kaper, The Stranger was the only film made by Welles to have been a box-office success on its first release. Based on Victor Trivas's Oscar-nominated screenplay, the fi lm also earned Welles a nomination at the Venice Film Festival of 1947, and helped pave his way to greater success in Hollywood.