The Stranger [Lo Straniero] **** (1967, Marcello Mastroianni, Anna Karina, Bernard Blier, Georges Wilson, Bruno Cremer) – Classic Movie Review 5,717

Luchino Visconti’s 1967 film adaptation of the 1942 Albert Camus classic novel L’Étranger [The Outsider] is flawed but compelling. Marcello Mastroianni plays a Frenchman living in Algiers, who for no apparent reason shoots dead a young Arab man.

Co-writer/ director Luchino Visconti’s 1967 film adaptation of the 1942 Albert Camus classic novel L’Étranger [The Outsider] is flawed but compelling. It was nominated for the 1968 Golden Globe for Best Foreign-Language Foreign Film and nominated for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1967.

Marcello Mastroianni plays Arthur Meursault, a Frenchman living in French Algiers, Algeria, who for no apparent reason shoots dead a young Arab man he encounters on the beach. The Arab man was involved in a conflict with Meursault’s friend Raymond Sintès (Georges Géret), who had beaten his Arab girlfriend. Meursault is arrested and put on trial for murder.

It is a low-key but magnificent performance by Mastroianni, capturing the blank alienation of Camus’s existential anti-hero perfectly, played out against the arid scenery of northern Africa, beautifully shot in Techncolor in Algiers, Algeria, by Giuseppe Rotunno.

The Stranger [Lo Straniero] is an intelligent and honest film but, while Visconti’s direction and writing are admirable, even he is not quite able to reconcile Meursault’s meandering motivelessness with the moral depths alluded to in the novel. Unsurprisingly, Camus’s philosophical, existentialist book proves a hard nut to crack as a movie, though this is a commendable attempt. The flaws? Some aspects of the zoom-shot shooting style and the score by Piero Piccioni are ugly, jarring and over-dramatic, and have dated none too well.

It also stars Anna Karina as Meursault’s lover Marie Cardona, Bernard Blier as the defence counsel, Georges Wilson as the examining magistrate, Bruno Cremer as the priest and Pierre Bertin as the judge.

Also in the cast are Jacques Herlin, Marc Laurent, Georges Géret, Brahim Haggiag, Alfred Adam, Jean-Pierre Zola, Mimmo Palmara, Angela Luce, Jean-Marc Bory and Vittorio Duse.

It is written by Luchino Visconti, Suso Cecchi d’Amico, Georges Conchon and Emmanuel Roblès.

It is shot in colour by Giuseppe Rotunno and produced by Dino De Laurentiis.

The restoration of the film was carried out in the spring and summer of 1999 at the Technicolor Laboratory in Rome under the supervision of Giuseppe Rotunno.

Alain Delon was originally announced for the lead, and Visconti also considered George Chakiris and Tony Curtis.

It is remade by François Ozon in 2025 as L’Étranger [The Stranger].with Benjamin Voisin as Meursault.

The Stranger [Lo Straniero] is directed by Luchino Visconti, runs 104 minutes, is made by Dino de Laurentiis Cinematografica, Master Film, Marianne Productions and Casbah Film, is released by Euro International Films (Italy), Paramount  Pictures (US), is written by Luchino Visconti, Suso Cecchi d’Amico, Georges Conchon and Emmanuel Roblès, is shot in Technicolor by Giuseppe Rotunno, is produced by Dino De Laurentiis, is scored by Piero Piccioni, and is designed by Marion Garbuglia.

Release date: 14 October 1967.

It is the second of only two collaborations between Luchino Visconti and Marcello Mastroianni, following White Nights (1957).

The cast

The cast are Marcello Mastroianni plays Arthur Meursault, Anna Karina as Marie Cardona, Bernard Blier as the defence counsel, Georges Wilson as the examining magistrate, Bruno Cremer as the priest, Pierre Bertin as the judge, Jacques Herlin as director of the rest home, Marc Laurent as Emmanuel, Georges Géret as Raymond Sintès, Brahim Hadjadj as the Arab, Alfred Adam as the prosecutor, Jean-Pierre Zola as the employer, Mimmo Palmara as Monsieur Masson, Angela Luce as Madame Masson, Larry J McDonald as bearded man at port, Jean-Marc Bory, and Vittorio Duse as Lawyer.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5,717

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