Late Show: The Stranger

1946 film noir/drama starring Orson Welles, Edward G. Robinson, and Loretta Young. Welles also directed the film. It’s believed that this is the first film released after World War II that showed footage of concentration camps. The Stranger was the only film made by Welles to have been a bona fide box office success on the first release.

Wilson (Edward G. Robinson) of the War Crimes Commission is seeking Franz Kindler (Orson Welles), mastermind of the Holocaust, who has effectively erased his identity. Wilson releases Kindler’s former comrade Meinike and follows him to Harper, CT, where he is killed before he can identify Kindler. Now Wilson’s only clue is Kindler’s fascination with antique clocks; but though Kindler seems secure in his new identity, he feels his past closing in…