When Strangers Marry (1944)

A naive small-town girl comes to New York City to meet her husband, and discovers that he may be a murderer.

Director:

William Castle

Writers:

Philip Yordan (screenplay), Dennis J. Cooper (screenplay),

Stars:

Robert Mitchum, Kim Hunter, Dean Jagger

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Robert Mitchum	...	Fred Graham
Kim Hunter	...	Mildred Baxter
Dean Jagger	...	Paul Baxter
Neil Hamilton	...	Lieutenant Blake
Rhonda Fleming	...	Girl in train
Marta Mitrovich	...	Mother of Baby

Storyline

A naive small-town girl comes to New York City to meet her husband, and discovers that he may be a murderer.

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Plot Keywords:

new york city | new york | waitress | postal worker | strangling | 

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Taglines:

DYNAMIC! (original print ad - caps only)

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Genres:

Drama | Film-Noir | Mystery

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 August 1944 (USA)

Also Known As:

Betrayed

Box Office

Budget:

$50,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

King Brothers Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

67 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

There is a scene where we see a framed photo of a man on a mantle. The photo is of director William Castle. Another scene features a man named "Mr. King" being paged; the producers of the film are both named King.

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Soundtracks

"Boogie Woogie"
(uncredited)
Music by Lorenzo Flennoy

User Reviews

Many Imaginative Touches

Check out that unsettling scene in the lonely police waiting room. Little guy Houser (Lubin) sits on one side and vulnerable newly-wed Millie (Hunter) sits on the other with a big empty space between. It's a great visual metaphor for the danger facing our young stranger in the city. A hostile world appears on one side and poor Millie all alone on the other. Even little things work against her in the big, impersonal surroundings—the unhelpful news guy, streetlights suddenly going out. Then too, those spare sets from budget-minded Monogram fairly echo with undefined menace.

From such atmospheric touches, it's not hard to detect the influence of Val Lewton's horror classic The Seventh Victim (1943). At the same time, the movie's director William Castle was a moving force behind the brilliantly unconventional Whistler series from Columbia studios. So the many imaginative touches here, like the lunging lion's head that opens the film, should come as no surprise.

Despite the overall suspense, I had trouble following plot convolutions—who was where, when, and why. But then the screenplay did have four writers, which is seldom an asset. Still, the mysterious husband (Jagger) and Millie's suspicions does generate core interest. In my little book, the main appeal is in the players and the atmosphere, such as the winsome young Hunter, a virile young Mitchum, and the jazzy Harlem nightclub. All in all, the sixty-minutes remains a clever little surprise from poverty row Monogram.