Strangers in the Night (1944)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Anthony Mann

Writers:

Bryant Ford (writer)
Paul Gangelin (writer)

Release Date:

12 September 1944 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

A lonely, mentally unbalanced woman invents a fictitious daughter and has the "daughter" write to a Marine stationed in the South Pacific...

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Insanity

Cast

William Terry	...	Sgt. Johnny Meadows
Virginia Grey	...	Dr. Leslie Ross
Helen Thimig	...	Mrs. Hilda Blake
Edith Barrett	...	Ivy Miller
Anne O'Neal	...	Nurse Thompson
Audley Anderson	...	Train Conductor
Jimmie Lucas	...	Waiter
Roy Butler	...	Cab Driver
Charles Sullivan	...	Police Driver
Frances Morris	...	Nurse
George Sherwood	...	Navy Doctor
Roy Darmour	...	Sailor
Jack Gardner	...	Medical Corpsman

Also Known As:

House of Terror (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

56 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Spain:T

Company:

Republic Pictures (I)

Rare Anthony Mann Film: More Fun than Serious

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This rarely seen film directed by Anthony Mann has an over-the-top performance and some artificial 'Gothic' atmosphere to recommend it. If the viewer doesn't expect a great, lost masterpiece it can be fun and amusing.

After corresponding with a mysterious girl who shares with him an interest in Houseman's "A Shropshire Lad", Sgt. Johnny Meadows (William Terry) recently home from Guadalcanal arrives at the home of Hilda Blake. Here he hopes to finally meet the poetic girl. Hilda lives in an ornate Gothic-style mansion atop a cliff on the California coast. She is odd from the very beginning, but she only gets more weird as the story progresses. Living with her is a close friend Ivy Miller (Edith Barrett). The centerpiece of the mansion is a fairly kitschy portrait of a pretty young woman, Mrs. Blake's daughter. Hilda is convinced that Johnny is the destined true love of her daughter. She and Ivy extol the virtues of the girl, and convince Johnny that he will soon meet her and that the two will be very happy. However, on the train, by preposterous coincidence, Johnny had met a young woman doctor, Leslie Ross, played by Virginia Grey. That meeting introduces complications into Hilda's plans for her daughter's happiness. There are some unanswered questions that drive the plot, and it must admitted that the writers and director do a decent job of keeping the audience guessing. It's not really a bad idea for a story, but the execution here makes it more silly than serious. The main source of the silliness is the performance of Helen Thimig. With her Austrian accent and overly emotive eyes, Thimig invests Hilda with a bizarreness that should be a dead giveaway to Johnny. Something is very odd here. The film also has the kind of fake Gothic atmosphere that only exists in Hollywood films from this period. Several scenes look so artificial that they only work to remind the viewer that he's watching a movie. Definitely worth a look for Anthony Mann fans, but not one of his greatest efforts.