The Stranger (DVD)

This film noir classic features Orson Welles in one of his best thrillers and expertly creates white-knuckle suspense out of ordinary situations like a dog digging in the leaves, college boys on a paper chase, and a broken clock. Edward G. Robinson is Wilson, a detective in the War Crimes Commission seeking the mastermind of the Holocaust, blood-thirsty Franz Kindler (Welles). Kindler has erased his identity so successfully that only his former ally, Meinike, can identify him. Wilson and Meinike both trace Kindler to Harper, Connecticut, where Meinike is murdered. Kindler's new wife (Loretta Young) has no clue as to her husband's past evil deeds and comes within an inch of her own life when Kindler suspects her of knowing too much. The film's climactic scene is one of the most memorable in cinema history.

• mystery