A Stranger in Town (1943)

In the small town of Crown Port local attorney Bill Adams is trying to break up the ring of corrupt town officials by running for mayor. The cards seemed stacked against him when he gets ... See full summary »

Director:

Roy Rowland

Writers:

Isobel Lennart (original screenplay), William Kozlenko (original screenplay)

Stars:

Frank Morgan, Richard Carlson, Jean Rogers

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Frank Morgan	...	John Josephus Grant
Richard Carlson	...	Bill Adams
Jean Rogers	...	Lucy Gilbert
Porter Hall	...	Judge Austin Harkley
Robert Barrat	...	Mayor Connison
Donald MacBride	...	Vinnie Z. Blaxton
Walter Baldwin	...	Tom Cooney
Andrew Tombes	...	Roscoe Swade
Olin Howland	...	Homer Todds (as Olin Howlin)
Chill Wills	...	Charles Craig
Irving Bacon	...	Orrin Todds
Eddie Dunn	...	Henry
Gladys Blake	...	Birdie
John Hodiak	...	Hart Ridges
Edward Keane	...	Blaxton's Lawyer

Storyline

In the small town of Crown Port local attorney Bill Adams is trying to break up the ring of corrupt town officials by running for mayor. The cards seemed stacked against him when he gets help from a visiting hunter who, unknown to Adams and the rest of the town, is actually vacationing supreme court justice John Josephus Grant.

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Plot Keywords:

small town | supreme court | mayor | election | judge | 

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

April 1943 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ilustre Incógnito

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Loew's, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

67 min 66 min (Ontario)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

First film of John Hodiak.

User Reviews

A dandy little film with a restrained performance by Frank Morgan

Oddly, this film stars Frank Morgan as a Supreme Court justice! He's on vacation and runs afoul of a small town's corrupt administration. The crooked judge, mayor and their henchmen don't realize who Morgan is, so he's able to see first-hand their under-handed tactics. Because of their abuse of political power, Morgan decides to stick around and assist a naive young lawyer (Richard Carlson) in his bid to become mayor. At first, they are pretty much ignored, though in time, when the race for mayor seems tight, the old mayor unleashed a wave of dirty tricks--not realizing that Morgan holds the ultimate trump card.

I had a hard time deciding whether to score this one a 7 or an 8. It was very good--particularly for a B-movie. Being a "B", it is a relatively short picture (only 67 minutes) but unlike many Bs it has excellent production values (especially the writing) and is very entertaining. About the only knock against it is that I thought the fight scenes were a bit too "slapsticky" and didn't exactly integrate well into the rest of the picture. Still, it's a dandy performance by Frank Morgan, as he's more restrained (i.e., less "hammy") than in most of his starring vehicles--well worth seeing and a lot of fun--as well as a decent civics lesson.