The works of Franz Kafka have been translated into every major languageexcept that of cinema. Orson Welles' film version of The Trial failed to crack the surface of bureaucratic terror and reveal the author's psychological insights. German Director Rudolf Noelte's adaptation of The Castle, Kafka's last, incomplete parable, fares little better.
On the surface, all is well. Like the book, the movie begins as an anonymous stranger (Maximilian Schell) arrives at a village. He announces that he is the new land surveyor for the "Castle" perched on a nearby hill. Inexplicably, the...