The Silent Stranger
{{short description|1968 film by Vance Lewis}}
{{for|the silent film|The Silent Stranger (1924 film)}}
{{Infobox film
| name = The Silent Stranger
| image = Silent_Stranger_Poster.jpg
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| director = Vance Lewis
| screenplay = Vincenzo Cerami
Giancarlo Ferrando
| story = Tony Anthony
| producer = Tony Anthony
Allen Klein
| starring = Tony Anthony
Lloyd Battista
| cinematography = Mario Capriotti
| editing = Renzo Lucidi
| music = Stelvio Cipriani
| studio = Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
ABKCO Industries
| distributor = United Artists
| released = {{Film date|1975|06|20|df=yes}}
| runtime = 92 minutes
| country = Italy
United States
Japan
| language = Italian
English
Japanese
| budget = $1,600,000
| gross =
}}
The Silent Stranger (Italian: Lo straniero di silenzio), also known as The Horseman and the Samurai and The Stranger in Japan, is a 1968 Spaghetti Western jidaigeki film directed by Luigi Vanzi. It is the second sequel to A Stranger in Town, with twenty minutes excised for its 1975 release. The film is the third in a series of four western films starring Tony Anthony as "The Stranger". Despite being produced in 1968 for MGM, the film was never given an official release until 1975, nearly a decade after the previous film in the series.{{cite book|last=Marco Giusti|title=Dizionario del western all'italiana|year=2007|publisher=Mondadori, 2007|isbn=978-88-04-57277-0|pages=157–158}} Tony Anthony stated that he believed the film became the victim of a power struggle at MGM,{{cite web |first=Tomas|last=Knapko|url=https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/The_Silent_Stranger_%E2%80%93_The_Full_Story |title=The Silent Stranger – The Full Story - The Spaghetti Western Database |publisher=Spaghetti-western.net |date= |accessdate=2021-06-14}} and the film was re-edited when it was later released by a different studio.
Plot
The protagonist, a likeable American cowboy (Antony) in Edo-period 19th-Century Japan, becomes trapped in the middle of the strife between two feuding aristocratic Japanese families. The cowboy possesses a priceless scroll, acquired by chance while he was in Alaska, which both warring families want. Violent fighting ensues, involving Samuri swords, a Gatling gun, and a makeshift single-shot blunderbuss. In the end the cowboy returns the scroll (worth "one million dollars") to The Princess, a member of the family who are the rightful owners.
Cast
- Tony Anthony as The Stranger
- Lloyd Battista as The American
- Kin Ōmae as Lord Motori
- Kanji Ohara as Koeta
- Kita Maura as Princess Otaka
- Kyōichi Satō as Koeta's Henchman
- Yoshio Nukano as Motori Samurai
- Raf Baldassarre as White-Eye {{small|(uncredited)}}
- Gaetano Scala as Thief in Klondike {{small|(uncredited)}}
- William Conroy as Thief in Klondike {{small|(uncredited)}}
Reception
Paul Mavis, of DVDTalk, reviewing the 2015 Warner Archive Collection DVD release of The Stranger Collection, wrote, "While they're not in the league of Leone (what is?), Anthony's grimy, sneaky little punk killer is an intriguing addition to the genre. Tony Anthony did some very interesting things with the spaghetti Western genre, including, perhaps, presaging the Trinity movies, while certainly "inventing" the West-meets-East subgenre".{{cite news|last1=Paul Mavis|title=The Stranger Trilogy (Warner Archive Collection: A Stranger in Town, The Stranger Returns, The Silent Stranger)|url=http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/68546/stranger-trilogy-warner-archive-collection-a-stranger-in-town-the-stranger-returns-the-silent-stranger-the/|access-date=31 October 2015|work=DVDTalk|date=May 6, 2015}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|0203953}}
- [https://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-silent-stranger-am133414 The Silent Stranger] at AllMovie
{{The Stranger}}
{{Tony Anthony filmography}}
{{Films directed by Luigi Vanzi}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Silent Stranger, The}}
Category:1960s Italian-language films
Category:English-language Italian films
Category:Spaghetti Western films
Category:1968 Western (genre) films
Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
Category:Films with screenplays by Vincenzo Cerami
Category:Films scored by Stelvio Cipriani
Category:Japanese-language American films
Category:Japan in non-Japanese culture
{{1960s-Italy-film-stub}}
{{1960s-Western-film-stub}}