The Trial
A feverishly inspired take on Franz Kafka’s novel, Orson Welles’s The Trial casts Anthony Perkins as the bewildered office drone Josef K., whose arrest for an unspecified crime plunges him into a menacing bureaucratic labyrinth of guilt, corruption, and paranoia. Exiled from Hollywood and creatively unchained, Welles poured his ire at the studio system, the blacklist, and all forms of totalitarian oppression into this cinematic statement—a bold, personal film that he himself considered one of his greatest. Dizzying camera angles, expressionistic lighting, increasingly surreal locations—Welles unleashed the full force of his visual brilliance to convey the nightmarish disorientation of a world gone mad.
4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
- New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- New audio commentary featuring film historian Joseph McBride
- Filming “The Trial,” a 1981 documentary about the film’s production
- Archival interviews with Welles, actor Jeanne Moreau, and director of photography Edmond Richard
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by author Jonathan Lethem
New cover by Nessim Higson
4K UHD + BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
- New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- One 4K UHD disc of the film and one Blu-ray with the film and special features
- New audio commentary featuring film historian Joseph McBride
- Filming “The Trial,” a 1981 documentary about the film’s production
- Archival interviews with Welles, actor Jeanne Moreau, and director of photography Edmond Richard
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by author Jonathan Lethem
New cover by Nessim Higson
Cast
- Anthony Perkins
- Josef K.
- Jeanne Moreau
- Marika Bürstner
- Elsa Martinelli
- Hilda
- Suzanne Flon
- Miss Pittl
- Madeleine Robinson
- Mrs. Grubach
- Romy Schneider
- Leni
- Orson Welles
- Albert Hastler, the advocate
- Max Buchsbaum
- Examining magistrate
- Arnoldo Foà
- Inspector A
- Jess Hahn
- Second assistant inspector
- Thomas Holtzmann
- Bert, the law student
- Fernand Ledoux
- Chief clerk
- Wolfgang Reichmann
- Courtroom guard
- Akim Tamiroff
- Bloch
- Maurice Teynac
- Deputy manager
- Max Haufler
- Uncle Max
- Paola Mori
- Court archivist
- William Chappell
- Titorelli
- Michael Lonsdale
- Priest
Credits
- Director
- Orson Welles
- Written by
- Orson Welles
- Based on the novel by
- Franz Kafka
- Producer
- Alexander Salkind
- Producer
- Michael Salkind
- Director of photography
- Edmond Richard
- Editor
- Fritz H. Mueller
- Art direction by
- Jean Mandaroux
- Music by
- Jean Ledrut
- Prologue scenes by
- Alexandre Alexeieff
- Prologue scenes by
- Claire Parker
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A scene from The Trial
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