Waste of time

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Kafka's book is simply marvellous, though difficult to adapt to film. Orson Welles' 1962 film does so laudably, and should be applauded for trying, even if it didn't quite come off (though it did do so, brilliantly).It is not as faithful as the 1993 version, which did follow the book closely while Welles' at times is more Welles than Kafka, but in terms of momentum, emotional power and atmosphere Welles' is significantly better. For the record, while to me the 1962 film was brilliant the 1993 one was a big let down and an example of being faithful not being a good thing. 'The Trial' may not be one of Welles' greatest, being not as important, innovative or influential as 'Citizen Kane' and 'A Touch of Evil', but it's still among Welles' better films and one of his more accessible in some ways.As always with Welles, 'The Trial' is extremely well made. The cinematography is wonderfully nightmarish and sometimes with an eerie and surreal quality, and Welles' use of locations is spell-binding, some of the best use of locations seen by me from any film viewed this year. The music is suitably ominous, and Welles lives up to his reputation as one of the greatest and important directors there was.The atmosphere created has a lot of power, a dark nightmarish labyrinth that is wonderfully weird, often audacious and sometimes surprisingly impish. 'The Trial' is grippingly and thoughtfully written, and the story is powerful and atmosphere, the tension never slipping.Performances are top notch. Anthony Perkins is excellent, conveying his character's paranoia extremely convincingly. Jeanne Moreau and Romy Schneider are mysterious and exotic.In conclusion, marvellous film and while a less faithful adaptation of Kafka's book it's vastly superior too. 10/10 Bethany Cox

THE TRIAL is a mystery drama which, in a creative but rather confused way, shows a tyranny and ruthlessness of a peculiar social system. It is based on the novel of the same name by Franz Kafka.Mr. K. sleeps peacefully in his bedroom, in an apartment, which he shares with other lodgers. Early in the morning, a policeman opens his bedroom door. Several detectives enter and tell him he is under open arrest. Mr. K. is pretty confused. He thinks it's a prank of his colleagues from his place of employment. The detectives collect evidence. The police refuse to inform Mr. K. of his misdeeds, or if he is even being charged with a crime, and they do not take him into custody. Later, Mr. K. converses to their neighbors about the strange event. An incomprehensible loop of charges tightens very quickly around a hapless young man...This is a trance of a ruthless and brutal law that systematically destroys one man. The social system is complex and very calculated in its intent. Mr. Welles tried to show us, through the symbolic elements, experiences of a confused and rebellious young man as a disease of a society. The confusion of an individual who is exposed to a torture of a particular system is a very common phenomenon in all societies.The story, in which the main protagonist wanders in search of meaning and output is unconventional. It is difficult to follow the main plot of a disoriented system of images and angles. A sick social harmony, in relation to the behavior of the protagonists further confuses our mind.Characterization is very good. Anthony Perkins as Josef K. is a confused and frightened hero of this story. He is a victim of social secrets. His fate is predetermined, his resistance is futile. Orson Welles as Albert Hastler, The Advocate is the main antagonist. His character is the personification of a disease of a society. He is a necessary systemic evil. Akim Tamiroff as Bloch is a symbolic representation of a systemic manipulation.Jeanne Moreau, Romy Schneider, Elsa Martinelli are trapped symbols between morality, laws and systems.I am confused even more than Mr. Perkins. Well, I have read Kafka's novel.

An unassuming office worker (Anthony Perkins) is arrested and stands trial, but he is never made aware of his charges.Orson Welles is generally considered one of the greats of the film world. And his commanding voice is hard to argue with! Combine with that one of the greatest books in classic literature, Kafka's "Trial", and you have a match made in heaven. We also get Anthony Perkins in possibly his finest performance, though he will always be known as Norman Bates.Someone wrote that what makes this adaptation great is that Welles treated the material as if he wrote it himself. He internalized it and then brought it back out in film form. If that is true, I do not know, but it makes sense... because this is a novel which is not easily turned to linear storytelling.

"The Trial" is a 1962 abstract film from an abstract script based on an abstract novel. Franz Kafka (1883-1924) is the Czech-German author of the book, and Orson Welles accounts for the rest of the abstractions and then some. Welles wrote the screen version for "The Trial," directed the movie, and then starred as a supporting actor. Welles is true to Kafka's existentialist weirdness in this adaptation for the movie. But I find it as difficult to take – or enjoy, as I did any of Kafka's works we read in school. Welles's set design and cinematography fit aptly the surreal story situation and lend further to its unevenness. One thing that puzzles me is why Welles changed the very end. With his penchant for daring, unusual, mysterious and even shock situations, Welles changed the book's ending. Instead of a crescendo to the film, which the book's ending would have been, the changed one in the film is almost silly. The acting is quite good all around, with Anthony Perkins especially good as Josef K. Other technical aspects of the film are very good. The choice of filming in black and white rather than color will become obvious to viewers who may not otherwise be familiar with Kafka's writing or Welles's work. It's interesting that Kafka wrote "The Trial" during 1914-15, but it wasn't published until after his death, in 1925. I'm not a literary expert or critic, and can't understand the adulation among some for Kafka's work. It's weird, bland and cold, hard to makes sense of in places, and surely not enjoyable. This film has a relatively high IMDb viewer rating and a sizable number of users who have rated it. From other reviews, I can only guess that many are people who enjoy so-called "art" films of today. But, unless you are among that group, you're not very likely to find this movie very entertaining.