Product Details

• Actors: Anthony Perkins, Jeanne Moreau, Romy Schneider, Elsa Martinelli, Suzanne Flon
• Directors: Orson Welles
• Writers: Orson Welles, Franz Kafka, Pierre Cholot
• Producers: Alexander Salkind, Michael Salkind
• Format: Black & White, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Image Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: March 7, 2000
• Run Time: 118 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (66 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305772061
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #107,678 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "The Trial" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Orson Welles's 1962 take on Franz Kafka's nightmare comedy stars Anthony Perkins as a twitchy K, a man accused of a crime that is never specified. The story has been filmed several times over the years, but not quite with the air of noir fable Welles brings to it. Beginning with an unexpected prologue in which Welles, in voiceover, tells a haunting parable while we look at artwork by pioneer pinscreen animators Claire Parker and Alexandre Alexeieff, The Trial is one surprising and visually startling chapter after another. The sense of an unrelieved, labyrinthine passage through an incoherent world--in which a very real but determinedly unclear guilt dogs poor K--is merciless but compelling to see, and resonates profoundly with Welles's obsession with the power and nature of illusion. A cast heavy on female icons from the '60s includes Jeanne Moreau, Elsa Martinelli, and Romy Schneider. Welles favorite Akim Tamiroff is also on hand, and Welles himself plays the Advocate. --Tom Keogh

Product Description

Brilliantly capturing the oppressive paranoia of Franz Kafka's classic novel, Orson Welles' "The Trial" is the story of a young clerk, Josef K., who is arrested, tried and finally executed--all without ever knowing his crime. Welles filmed this baroque work of genius in a deserted Belle Epoque railway station in Paris. The strange setting perfectly captures the bizarre and nightmarish world of Kafka's mythical totalitarian state.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

83 of 86 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Two TRIAL DVDs are not the same quality!! February 27, 2001

By Captain Z

Format:DVD|Amazon Verified Purchase

There are two different DVD versions of Orson Welles' The Trial, both available on Amazon. These are not the same quality. I give a four-plus star rating to the Milestone edition, which is beautiful and has some nice extras. BEWARE of the $5.50 version!

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I'm so glad about this DVD... April 3, 2000

By Scott D. Cudmore

Format:DVD

I'm thrilled with The Milestone Collection for doing this DVD. There are many movies that are in dire need of a proper release (on video -and- DVD) and Welles 'The Trial' was certainly one of these. The only copies that were available prior to this was a number of very bad public domain copies that were almost unwatchable, with terrible sound and picture quality. This DVD changes all that and finally presents the film to a home viewing audience how it should be presented.

The funding for this picture came from French pockets, and so it is the only film he made aside from Citizen Kane in which he enjoyed total creative control, without studio interference. Welles himself said that this was the greatest picture that he'd ever made, and I think I might even be inclined to agree with him.

If you're a fan of Welles, you will love this. If you're a fan of Franz Kafka AND Welles, than this is exactly what your looking for. A brilliant, stunning film, that finally looks brilliant and stunning.

38 of 43 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Now listen very very closely! June 12, 2001

By A* VINE™ VOICE

Format:DVD

The Trial is Welles at his best like his other masterpieces this film is confusing at times, stark, personel and a bit unnerving all of this adds up to repeat viewings. And the more you watch the more you realize how amazing and griping this story of a man accused of a crime for no reason is so damn heart stoppingly beautiful. perkins is in perfect paranoia form here stuttering and muttering through dialogue and key scenes. Welles is also very good in his brief scenes as a useless lawyer. But the true star of the film is the VISUALS. Welles knew this and decided to give the plot key scenes in edtiting instead of soundtrack cues. The scene where at Perkins job the with thousands of type writers are all typing on cue is just amazing and they all come to a halting stop to signify a change in direction cues like this are all over this flick and I love it. The camera's lense follows Perkins in such a manner as if to signify a person chasing hm through out the entire film and the use of overly large props is just priceless showing the viewer that even the characters seem not to belong in the world they live in but function in as a society. BUY this film and pay attention to detail the little nuances go along way!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Welles' best in a substandard release December 25, 2006

By ChrisWN

Format:DVD

I won't review the content of the film since many have done so & you can read more on IMDB too. Let's just say that this is one of my favorite films of all time. I used to own the laserlight edition, which was truly terrible, until I got a hold of the Milestone collection edition. The back of the packaging claims that "This special letterboxed edition of The Trial was transferred from a pristine original 35mm negative, making the film available for the first time in its original widescreen format." Not true. First, the film is presented with large black bars on the top and bottom to make it into 1:66 to 1. Because of this and the poor transfer quality (although better than any of the public domain issues) and this, it looks like this was actually transferred from a VHS & not 35mm. So if you have a widescreen tv at least half of it will be filled with letterboxing, with part of that letterboxing (top & bottom) a different color of black than the black of your TV screen (side bars), along with a nasty white line between the letterboxing in the video & the letterboxing of your tv. There is a R2 (French) 2xdvd which is supposed to have a vastly superior image quality, though you will have to shell out $$$ for it. It's too bad Criterion doesn't release this, as it is in the public domain & rights aren't an issue.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars highly influential and under appreciated February 19, 2000

By Cutter Bugspray

Format:VHS Tape

1) to accuse this film of being confusing is tantamount to saying that picasso's works were 'obtuse' or that the music of mozart or charlie parker has 'too many notes.' 2) if you appreciate the great works of the cinema then this film is essential no matter what your tastes are. 3) i really don't see how it's possible to over-rate this film (or citizen kane or touch of evil or just about any of welles works). from stanley kubrick to martin scorsese, terry gilliam to the cohen brothers--welles has influenced virtually every important (and unimportant) american filmmaker since 1940. 4) this film (video) illustrates just how well the personal and political can be integrated in a dramatic format. the tyranny of 'the system' and the character's functions within it are explored within a complex visual field than manages to be surreal and mundane at the same time. self-conscious, but never self-satisfied--the film is so carefully layered, both thematically and visually, that it stands up to literally dozens of viewings. 5) the trial is an astounding achievement. its methods and conclusions may not be comfortable, but its creative energy and honesty offer the viewer far more cause to be optimistic than any other of the so called 'feel good' products of commercial film.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A great ride, provided you synch up the audio February 2, 2002

By A Customer

Format:DVD

This film is very much in the spirit of the novel. Allusions to Kafka's other works are blended in nicely, and where Welles took directorial license to adapt the story, his choices always seem to be good ones. The audio, as others have noted, is severely out of synch with the video, which makes the movie very frustrating to watch. The timing was more appropriate for a dubbed Godzilla vs. anyone. YOU CAN FIX IT THOUGH, with many programs, including VirtualDub (which I used). Simply use the "correct audio" feature, and add 165 milliseconds to the audio and presto! you have a watchable movie. And true to Kafka, we will never know how fell asleep at the switch when they synched the audio, just they are indeed guilty.