The Stranger (1946) is a gripping post-war thriller directed by and starring Orson Welles. The story follows Mr. Wilson (Edward G. Robinson), a determined war crimes investigator, who is on the hunt for Franz Kindler, a notorious Nazi fugitive responsible for heinous war crimes. Wilson’s search leads him to a small town in Connecticut, where he suspects that Kindler has taken on a new identity as Charles Rankin, a respected schoolteacher and recently married man. Rankin, played by Welles, is hiding in plain sight, living a seemingly normal life and even marrying Mary Longstreet (Loretta Young), the daughter of a Supreme Court justice, as part of his cover.

As Wilson closes in, Rankin’s carefully constructed facade begins to crumble, and a tense game of cat and mouse ensues. The suspense builds as Wilson tries to reveal Rankin’s true identity, with Rankin growing increasingly desperate and dangerous. The Stranger is noted for its dark, atmospheric cinematography and themes of justice, guilt, and deception. It was one of the first films to incorporate real footage from Nazi concentration camps, giving weight to the moral stakes at play in Wilson’s pursuit of justice.