The Stranger (1946)

The Stranger is a 1946 American thriller film noir directed and (although uncredited) co-written by Orson Welles, starring himself along with Edward G. Robinson and Loretta Young. Welles’s third completed feature film as director and his first film noir, it centers on war crimes investigator Wilson tracking high-ranking Nazi fugitive Franz Kindler to a Connecticut town. It was the first Hollywood film to incorporate actual documentary footage of the Holocaust.

The film was nominated for the Golden Lion (then-called the ‘Grand International Prize’) at the 8th Venice International Film Festival. Screenwriter Victor Trivas received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Story. The film entered the public domain when its copyright was not renewed.