Posted Tue Feb 1, 2011 at 08:00 AM PST by Tom Landy
The 1946 Oscar nominated Orson Welles classic will be no stranger to Blu-ray in a few short weeks!
In a rather late-breaking announcement to retailers, Film Chest and Virgil Films & Entertainment will be releasing 'The Stranger' for a high-definition release on February 15.
Considered one of early cinema’s greatest talents, filmmaker Orson Welles ('F for Fake,' 'Chimes at Midnight,' 'Touch of Evil,' 'Citizen Kane') directs and stars in the film noir classic as a Nazi war criminal, Franz Kindler, who has assumed a new identity following World War II. Now Charles Rankin, Kindler is a professor at a prep school, residing in a quiet Connecticut town with his new American wife, Mary (Academy Award-winner Loretta Young, 'The Farmer’s Daughter,' 'The Bishops Wife,' 'Come to the Stable'), the daughter of a Supreme Court Justice.
Although Kindler has held strong to his fascist ideals, he has effectively erased his identity and left nary a shred of evidence – not even a photograph – to identify him as a notorious mastermind of the Holocaust.
But Mr. Wilson (Edward G. Robinson, 'Key Largo,' 'Double Indemnity,' 'Kid Galahad,' 'Little Caesar'), an agent from the U.N.’s War Crimes Commission, is relentless in his determination to track Kindler down and expose his lurid secrets. Releasing a former comrade from prison, Wilson follows him to the states and his prey … but the man is killed before he can identify Kindler.
With little hope of convincing the townspeople or Kindler’s naive new wife who the stranger in their midst really is, Wilson must come up with a plan before Kindler – who feels his past closing in – decides to eliminate his bride as well.
The release will be a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack with digitally restored video in high-definition from the original 35mm film assets presented in 4:3 aspect ratio, the original sound plus a new 5.1 mix, and special features will include Before-and-after film restoration demo and a trailer. Also included will be a collectible postcard reproduction of the original movie poster.
Suggested list price for the Blu-ray is $15.99.
You can find the latest specs for 'The Stranger' linked from our Blu-ray Release Schedule, where it is indexed under February 15.
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