Absurd, theatrical, and meandering, THE TRIAL is an almost faithful adaptation of Kafka’s literary critique of legal bureaucracy. In this episode, we talk about the movie’s lack of narrative pull, its garish monochrome palette and impressive set design, and what it says that Orson Welles changed the lens of Kafka’s novel to focus on the individual – and then cast himself as the villain.

Watch THE TRIAL on the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/the-trial-1962

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Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: "Adagio Prologue" by Jean Ledrut from the THE TRIAL soundtrack.

Timestamps

0:00 - Episode 224: THE TRIAL (1962)

2:43 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary

4:25 - Orson Welles’s Advocate and differences from the book

17:43 - Red Scare anger and an ego-fueled daydream

23:41 - An abstruse bureaucracy designed to prey on public guilt

34:30 - Impossible spaces

45:24 - The Junk Drawer

54:01 - Good Grief, Give Me a GIF!

58:11 - Cody’s Noteys: With Franz Like These