Product Details

• Actors: Anthony Perkins, Orson Welles, Jeanne Moreau, Romy Schneider, Elsa Martinelli
• Directors: Orson Welles
• Format: Black & White, Letterboxed, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Milestone Video
• VHS Release Date: September 28, 1998
• Run Time: 118 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305060339
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #328,102 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential video

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

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

70 of 71 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 (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Trial (DVD)

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!

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

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

By 

A* (New York, N.Y. United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Trial (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!

17 of 18 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 (Toronto, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Trial (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.