Based on a novel by Franz Kafka, The Trail is filmmaker Orson Welles at his most Wellesian. Anthony Perkins stars as K, a man accused of a crime he neither committed nor comprehends. K can ask all the questions he wants, but only riddles come back. Welles stacks the deck through the majesty of set design: Doors dwarf K while ceilings close in on him. Hallways offering escape extend into the infinite. And just when he thinks he’s making headway, another government official steps out of nowhere to block him. It’s like K’s trying to run a marathon through a tub of glue. Welles thought it was one of his best, and he might be right.

The Trial (1962)
Written and directed by Orson Welles
Adapted from the novel by Franz Kafka by Pierre Cholot
Produced by Yves Laplanche, Alexander Salkind
Starring: Anthony Perkins, Jeanne Moreau, Suzanne Flon, Romy Schneider, Elsa Martinelli, Akim Tamiroff, Orson Welles
Astor Pictures Corporation, Not rated, Running time 119 minutes, Premiered August 1962 at the Venice Film Festival

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The above blurb first appeared in the pages of Boulder Weekly, Vol. 27, No. 38, “Home Viewing: Existential Cinema.”