10 Lesser Known Film Noirs You Need To See
4. The Stranger (1946)
This early post-war noir deals with the-then topical issue of Nazis on the run.
Edward G. Robinson (playing against type) portrays Mr Wilson of the United Nations War Crimes Commission, who believes that he has tracked Franz Kindler, the Nazi who developed the idea of genocide, to the small Connecticut town of Harper. He suspects that local prep school teacher, Charles Rankin (Orson Welles) is Kindler.
Rankin is due to marry local socialite, Mary Longstreet (Loretta Young) and is obsessed with repairing the town's clocktower, which mirrors Kindler's own obsession with clocks. However, the deeper that Wilson digs, the greater the danger that he creates, both for himself and for Mary.
Directed by Orson Welles, The Stranger sadly shed many scenes that developed the adoring relationship between Rankin and Mary before its release, making it difficult to comprehend why she is so devoted to the suspected war criminal in the finished film. Welles had even planned for Agnes Moorehead (whose notable credits also include Citizen Kane, Dark Passage, and Bewitched) to play Robinson's role, but he was overruled by the studio.