the plot: In Europe, Nazi war criminal Konrad Meinike (Shayne) is allowed to escape from his cell and gain passage to America. Meinike’s escape is all part of an elaborate plan by War Crimes Commission investigator Wilson (Robinson), who believes Meinike’s jaunt to America will reveal the location of an even more notorious Nazi—Franz Kindler, one of the prime architects of the Holocaust. Wilson’s suspicions are confirmed when Meinike makes his way to Harper, Conn., and meets up with Charles Rankin (Welles), a professor at a local private school who is actually Kindler in disguise. As Wilson tries to determine who among Harper’s residents Kindler is posing as, Kindler goes about cementing his identity as Rankin by marrying Mary Longstreet (Young), the daughter of Supreme Court justice Adam Longstreet, who, incidentally, lives in Harper. After a few chance encounters with Rankin, Wilson begins to suspect that the mild-mannered professor is Kindler, but he can’t prove it. But, soon, Rankin’s lies begin to unravel and Wilson forces the unrepentant Nazi to engage in a murderous endgame.

why it’s good: Despite a killer premise and a star-powered cast, “The Stranger” never really becomes more than a better-than-average film noir. Perhaps it had something to do with Orson Welles’ relative lack of enthusiasm about the project—“The Stranger” was another in a long line of films in which the studio wrested control from Welles, with significant edits and casting changes. There are some classic Welles touches, especially the frenetic climax in the town’s clock tower and a neat sequence near the beginning of the film in which Rankin tries to cover up a murder, but the film never manages to maintain an even pace. Edward G. Robinson is good as the jowly, tenacious Wilson (a role Welles initially wanted to give to Agnes Moorehead), but Welles is lacking as Rankin/Kindler. Welles couldn’t seem to resist playing up the Nazi’s inherent evilness, and he spends so much of the movie acting shifty, weird and creepy that it’s a wonder Edward G. Robinson didn’t arrest him in the film’s first five minutes. The supporting cast is similarly average. Shayne gives off a good Peter Lorre kind of vibe, but Loretta Young, as Welles’ matrimonial cover story, is fairly boring. However, Billy House steals whatever scenes he’s in (and he’s in quite a few) as Mr. Potter, the town clerk and owner of the general store. By turns endearing and irritating, Mr. Potter is the kind of gossipy gadfly immediately recognizable to anyone who grew up in a small town.

why you should own it: There are various version of “The Stranger” floating around on DVD, but the best of the bunch is probably MGM’s release earlier this year. The edition screened in the Video Vault was from a box set called “Film Noir: Killer Classics,” released by some unknown distribution company, and the picture was dark and the sound exceedingly quiet, so watch out. Film noir fans should at least rent “The Stranger,” although Welles enthusiasts will probably want to add it to their library