Trial

Pros: Anthony Perkins exhibits a perfect understanding of Kafka's humor.
Cons: Most people will see his portrayal of K. as humorless.

Introduction: Of Alienation

It's a terribly easy thing to make a film about an alienated character, but terribly difficult to make a film about alienation. People will line up to sympathize with the shallow, histrionic disaffection of...

Pros: Anthony Perkins shows great range as the confused Joseph K
Cons: The movie makes no sense!

The Trial is proof positive that genius is just some inner drug, because the two masterminds behind it (Franz Kafka, who wrote the book and Orson Welles, who brought it to the screen) had to be high to make the film.

The Trial is the story of...

Pros: sets, offbeat direction, story, casting
Cons: continuity, characters

In retrospect, Orson Welles could have been the greatest director in film history, instead of settling for somewhere in the top ten. What separated his career from that of Hitchcock or Kubrick was his difficulty in obtaining funds for his next picture....

Pros: Superb cinematography and lighting, ingenious use of locations, clever dialogue, great performances.
Cons: Welles’ ameliorative au courant interpretation of Kafka is perhaps too reductive and problematic.

Orson Welles’ eccentric, ornery film adaptation of The Trial is a work charged with protean ironies and stark insights. The fifty years that separated the making of the film from the writing of the novel can account for much of...