Watch free The Stranger 1946

A war crimes investigator, played by Edward G. Robinson, lets a captured Nazi go free in the hope that he will lead him to his former commander. The trail ends in a sleepy Connecticut town, where a respected new schoolteacher, played by Orson Welles, is about to marry the judge's daughter. Welles directed it straight after the war and filled it with shadows, a creepy clock tower and real newsreel footage of the camps, among the first shown in a Hollywood film. It was his biggest hit as a director in his own lifetime, and the cat-and-mouse ending is pure suspense.

Watch it if you like post-war thrillers, Orson Welles, or Hitchcock-style suspense.

Why is it free?

Its US copyright lapsed: US law at the time required a copyright notice on release and a renewal after 28 years, and the owners didn't keep it up, so it entered the public domain.

• Wikipedia: The Stranger (1946)
• Wikipedia: films in the public domain in the US

Last checked 2026-11-01; re-checked every week. Own rights in this film or this copy? Email hello@movietrailer.channel and we'll take it down while we look into it.

Questions

Is it legal to watch The Stranger for free?

Yes, in the United States. Its US copyright lapsed: US law at the time required a copyright notice on release and a renewal after 28 years, and the owners didn't keep it up, so it entered the public domain. We only play it to visitors in the US because copyright rules differ from country to country.

Where does this copy come from?

It plays from the Internet Archive, a non-profit library that hosts public domain films. We embed the plain original, never a restored, colourised or re-scored version, because those can carry new copyright.

How long is The Stranger?

1h 35m.