1962 - THE TRIAL, film version of the Kafka novel

 If you have read Kafka's The Trial or even attempted to read The Trial, one would have to admit Welles stuck very close to the novel in transcribing it's nightmare story for the screen.  

Anthony Perkins is Joseph K, a man being pursued by the authorities for a crime he may or may not have committed.  The issue seems to be that no one will tell him what exactly he has done. Orson Welles plays his lawyer, Romy Schneider is either Welles lover or servant.  Akim Tamiroff  is another of Welles's clients who had gone bankrupt in his encounters with the law.

  

The film is full of Orson Welles's famous baroque touches using light and shadow and has some amazing tracking shots to give the story a real sense of an individual caught up in a bureaucratic mess.

 

Obviously this film is not for everyone, but I would recommend it and place it as one of the more successful films in Welles's eccentric film career.

The screenplay was by Welles and the running time is 118 minutes.