The Orson Welles Collection (DVD, 5-Disc Set)

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THE STRANGER: Orson Welles directed and stars in THE STRANGER, a tense black-and-white thriller that Welles made for maverick producer Sam Spiegel. Welles portrays Charles Rankin, a respected academic at a prominent Connecticut college. He seems to have the perfect life: a beautiful new wife, Mary (Loretta Young), and a charming home in a small town that holds him in high esteem. Enter Mr. Wilson (Edward G. Robinson), a detective on the hunt for Nazi war criminal Franz Kindler. The appearance of Mr. Wilson threatens to reveal that underneath this idyllic veneer is a secret that could tear everything apart.THE TRIAL is Orson Welles's claustrophobic adaptation of Franz Kafka's surreal tale of fear and paranoia in a nameless society. Tinged with background jazz, filmed in shadowy black and white--mostly with direct light--THE TRIAL looks like a classic film noir, with angled close-ups and characters shrouded in mystery. Anthony Perkins stars as Josef K., a seemingly innocent young man who is arrested one morning for an unexplained crime by men who refuse to identify themselves. K., asserting his innocence, sets off on a bizarre series of confrontations with shady government agents, overwhelming faceless courtrooms, and pompous advocates who talk in riddles. His nightmare continues through narrow, dark passageways and colorless rooms where he witnesses various forms of torture and interrogation; some of what he comes upon has echoes of the Nazis and the Holocaust. And nearly everywhere he goes he stumbles over wads of paperwork (the kind that ultimately swallowed up Tuttle in Terry Gilliam's BRAZIL, a fascinating descendant of THE TRIAL). Perkins is wonderfully paranoid as he wanders aimlessly through the labyrinthine sets, which always seem to be closing in on him. THE TRIAL is an eerie nightmare of a film, one of which writer-director-costar Orson Welles was justifiably proud.KING LEAR: Orson Welles stars in the title role in this made-for-television production of the Shakespearean tragedy about an aging king who is betrayed by his daughters.DAVID AND GOLIATH: This Italian epic version of the classic biblical tale features Orson Welles as King Saul. The story itself centers on a young man and his quest to defeat the evil tyranny of a giant Philistine who is bent on becoming the one and only power. The young man will have no such thing, believing that with the power of God and the love of a beautiful princess, he can defeat whatever odds are against him.