The Stranger (1946)
The stranger is a 1946 American film noir. This film was
directed by Orson Welles and written by Victor Trivas. This film mainly stars
Edward G. Robinson as Mr. Wilson, Orson Welles as Franz Kindler and Professor
Charles Rankin, and Loretta Young as Mary Longstreet.
Plot
Summary
Charles
Rankin is a professor in a respectable Connecticut town about to marry the
daughter of a U.S. Supreme Court justice. But his name is fake, and his past is
filthy. An earnest convert to Christianity, who once ran a Nazi concentration
camp, is capable of revealing him. So "Rankin" kills this little old
man and buries his body in the forest. But he isn't safe since an investigator
from the War Crimes Commission is on his tail. Rankin would need his own wife
to help him elude capture. But his obsession with the nearby clock tower may
prove his undoing.
Film Noir Conventions
Themes
The themes
of this film are evil, love, and betrayal. The theme of love was displayed as
Mary Longstreet was still madly in love with Charles Ranking and even though
she found out that he murdered someone, she still stands by his side.
Furthermore, the theme of evil is shown is because the main protagonist of this
film is a criminal who escaped from the Nazi War. Lastly, the theme of betrayal
is shown is because Mary Longstreet finally comes to a sense and betray Charles
Rank, just he tried to kill her by setting a trap in a church.
Love
Evil
Betrayal
Smoking
The
element of smoking is very commonly used in film, it helps to show the
character’s power. For example, Mr. Wilson is a detective who always smokes
cigar.
Setting
There
are many settings in this film. One of the setting is when the protagonist is
burying a corpse in the forest. The dark area is common in film noir. For
example, in the beginning of this film, Konrad Meineke was at a photography
shop in search of Rankin's new identity. The environment which they were in are
dark and tight, this brings a message to the audience to tell them that the person
who is he looking for is not a good guy.
Lighting
There
is also low-key lighting used in this film. It helps to create clear shadows, clear textures, and sharp
edges. For example, there is a scene when Mary Longstreet is having a nightmare
while Mr Kindler is coming back from the forest. We can see a shadow is clearly
shown on the wall and the use of the shadow is to create a mysterious atmosphere for the audience.
Editing
The
editing also used in the film noir. There is several editing are used in this
film. Some of the scene has used fade to black and fade in & fade out. Some
of the scenes have used black and white filters throughout the movie. Besides, some
of the scenes used jump cut and some of the scenes have used quick cut.
Conclusion
From
a viewer perspective, this film is good, and the story plot is nice. The
elements and editing use in this film are also perfect. However, I still don’t
like this film as this film is not the type which I like to watch, but I still
learn several things from this film as it is a good experience for me.
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