Orson Welles wrote, directed and starred in this unsettling postwar noir from 1946, in which unrepentant Nazi Franz Kindler (Welles) attempts to escape prosecution for his war crimes by adopting a new identity in a sleepy Connecticut town, teaching at local school as “Professor Charles Rankin” and planning to marry his Mary (Loretta Young), the daughter of a Supreme Court Justice, who knows nothing of his sinister past. But Kindler’s’ plans are challenged when an investigator (Edward G. Robinson) from the U.N. War Crimes Commission shows up. What ensues is a harrowing cat-and-mouse story, which poses questions about the roots of fascist violence, and the stability of both personal and national identity. 95 min.
Part of the Emory Cinematheque series “Resisting Fascism.” Each film in the series will be introduced by Paul Buchholz, assistant professor of German Studies, with contributions from other faculty in Emory’s Department of German Studies.
