Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows Shop News Showtimes

The Trial

Play trailer Poster for The Trial Released Dec 21, 1962 1h 59m Drama Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
84% Tomatometer 45 Reviews 87% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
Josef K. (Anthony Perkins) is accused of an unspecified crime and shambles through a series of bizarre encounters in an attempt to clear his name in the face of a hellish bureaucracy.
Watch on Fandango at Home Buy Now

Where to Watch

The Trial

The Trial

What to Know

Critics Consensus

Orson Welles may take big liberties in his adaptation of The Trial, but the auteur constructs an absurd nightmare that is unmistakably Kafkaesque -- grounded by an excellent Anthony Perkins as the befuddled Josef K.

Read Critics Reviews

Critics Reviews

View All (45) Critics Reviews
Chuck Bowen Slant Magazine Unsurprisingly, Orson Welles doesn’t efface his artistic personality for The Trial. Sep 20, 2023 Full Review Michael Phillips Chicago Tribune [A] singular two-hour experience, as dynamic and strange as anything Welles made. Rated: 3.5/4 Mar 10, 2023 Full Review Kevin Maher Times (UK) [A] fearless Kafka adaptation... Rated: 4/5 Nov 18, 2022 Full Review Jeff Beck The Blu Spot What we basically end up with is an intriguing road to nowhere, one that has some interesting sights to see along the way, but which needed a little more substance to help make the journey worth it. Rated: 2.5/4 Sep 18, 2023 Full Review Dennis Harvey 48 Hills ...among Welles' most brilliantly realized creations... Sep 14, 2023 Full Review Ray Pride Newcity What grubby filth! Josef K. (Anthony Perkins) is an office man, an ambitious junior bureaucrat, long and thin as a blade in knife-sharp suits... exacting haircut, encased in timeless tailoring, a trim suit... slim pants with pleats crisp as glass. Rated: 10/10 Mar 20, 2023 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (395) audience reviews
Teddy B Franz Kafka's story may be slightly abstracted (to put it lightly), but his ideas and views on the futility and stupidity of society are translated effortlessly through Orson Welle's carefully crafted visuals and tone as well as a fittingly befuddled performance from Anthony Perkins. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 04/16/24 Full Review Leaburn O Starts well, staying faithful to the book and depicting many of the scenes very impressively. Loses its way further along sadly. Worth a watch though given the legendary status of the novel. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 10/29/23 Full Review Matthew D Justice is impossible within a dream. Director Orson Welles' surrealist legal drama The Trial (1962) is bizarre, hard to follow, and entertaining. The Trial is truly absurd and intense with a dreamlike quality. Welles' strange direction captures the dreamy quality of surrealist author Franz Kafka's odd writing. His film noir aesthetics create a dark mood, but the constantly changing scenario makes this wrong man legal drama into a surrealist nightmare. You are unlikely to receive justice in your life, but are certainly barred from justice within a dream. Welles' direction uses weird low angles and shifting perspectives for a truly unusual tone. The Trial is funny, gripping, and ever confusing, but it is what you make of it. Orson Welles paves the way for other dreamy surrealist directors David Lynch and David Cronenberg. I kept thinking of Lynch's Eraserhead, Cronenberg's Naked Lunch, or even Martin Scorsese's After Hours. Writer Orson Welles adapts Franz Kafka's novel with a crazy delight. He throws out facts to portray the oppressive government and legal system that drags people down in the courts. The philosophical concepts are dense and highly interpretative, but the jokes of how strange everything is in every scene is entertaining. Editors Orson Welles, Frederick Muller, and Yvonne Martin use careful cuts to craft long takes and shocking dream sequence after dream sequence. You can never tell what's real at the office or the courtroom. Furthermore, I love the long panning shots from cinematographer Edmond Richard. Under Orson Welles' sterling command the camera shifts angles and does the sweeping movements. The shadowy black and white shots are striking. Few films are as ambitious in the filmmaking for the typewriters crackling in the office or strange apartments. The low camera following Perkins all over is really engaging. American actor Anthony Perkins is so strange as the odd hero Josef K. He's obviously named after Kafka for the K. I like Perkins' performance that ranges from straight laced seriousness to hysterical indignation at these strange, surrealist events. You see how he's gradually bothered to madness by these mysterious accusations. His accusations of bribes and corruption to false allegations is funny. French actress Jeanne Moreau is alluring and amusing as Perkins' sultry neighbor Marika Bürstner. Her outraged attitude and tired flirting is fun opposite Perkins. German actress Romy Schneider is pretty as Orson's caring and attentive nurse Leni. She is seductive and alluring like Moreau in The Trial. Italian actor Arnoldo Foà's forlorn and blunt Inspector A is really engaging. His morbid attitude places fear and doubt in Perkins' mind. American icon Orson Welles himself is hilarious as the imposing figure of Albert Hastler the Advocate. His booming voice is intimidating as his fierce exclamations in the courts. Russian actor Akim Tamiroff is fun as the portly Bloch. French actress Madeleine Robinson is enjoyable as the landlady Mrs. Grubach. Production designer Jean Mandaroux makes a huge warehouse office, tight courtroom, and strange sets to feel even more overbearing. Composer Jean Ledrut's melancholic organ music for The Trial's film score is excellent. The sorrowful string symphony fits The Trial's hopeless atmosphere. Sound designers Jacques Lebreton, Guy Villette, and Julien Coutelier keep everything quiet except footsteps and voices. You can only hear ambient typing and machines in the backdrop. Costume designer Helen Thibault creates fitted suits, designer coats for the actresses, and courtroom uniforms for the lawyers. Makeup artist Louis Dor does a great job of doing up faces. In conclusion, The Trial is erratic and amusing for 119 minutes of strange surrealism from the master director Orson Welles. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 09/18/23 Full Review Mr. Goodbytes J A fantastically Kafkaesque nightmare constructed from cinema's godfather. Orson Welles's masterpiece could be mistakenly construed as art for the sake of art, but lovers of cinema will see this movie as the great film that it is. Anthony Perkins's worried performance accentuates the entire picture and gives it an underlying and unmistakably horrifying quality, one that I believe cannot be replicated by any other actor-director combination. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 08/07/23 Full Review Thomas V Visually stunning, with great performances from Perkins and Welles. What a shame Welles wasn't able to execute his vision fully in more cases, because this showcases his genius fully. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/08/23 Full Review david l The Trial is one of Orson Welles' greatest works. This is a film that superbly translates its important source material to the screen. The cinematography is brilliant, especially the lighting and use of shadows. The set design is gorgeous and the overall atmosphere of paranoia and alienation is wonderfully achieved here. Yes, it's slowly paced, but it features excellent dialogue and probably the best performance from Anthony Perkins, whose casting here was just perfect. It's such an underrated film. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Trial

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Cast & Crew

The Young Savages 44% 52% The Young Savages Watchlist Victim 100% 88% Victim Watchlist TRAILER for Victim Le trou 94% 96% Le trou Watchlist The Manchurian Candidate 97% 90% The Manchurian Candidate Watchlist The Spy Who Came in From the Cold 86% 82% The Spy Who Came in From the Cold Watchlist TRAILER for The Spy Who Came in From the Cold Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis Josef K. (Anthony Perkins) is accused of an unspecified crime and shambles through a series of bizarre encounters in an attempt to clear his name in the face of a hellish bureaucracy.
Director
Orson Welles
Producer
Alexander Salkind, Michael Salkind
Screenwriter
Orson Welles, Franz Kafka
Distributor
Astor Pictures Corporation
Production Co
Paris-Europa Productions
Genre
Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Dec 21, 1962, Original
Rerelease Date (Theaters)
Dec 9, 2022
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 8, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$90.5K
Runtime
1h 59m
Most Popular at Home Now