I See a Dark Stranger (1946)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Frank Launder

Writers:

Sidney Gilliat (writer) &
Wolfgang Wilhelm (writer) ...

Release Date:

4 July 1946 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Thriller | War

Plot:

A young Irish woman hates England so much she becomes a Nazi spy.

Plot Keywords:

Spy | Ireland | Pub | Nazi | England

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Deborah Kerr	...	Bridie Quilty
Trevor Howard	...	Lt. David Baynes
Raymond Huntley	...	J. Miller
Michael Howard	...	Hawkins
Norman Shelley	...	Man in Straw Hat
Liam Redmond	...	Uncle Timothy
Brefni O'Rorke	...	Michael O'Callaghan
James Harcourt	...	Grandfather
George Woodbridge	...	Walter
Garry Marsh	...	Capt. Goodhusband
Olga Lindo	...	Mrs. Edwards
Tom Macaulay	...	Lt. Spanswick
David Ward	...	Oscar Pryce
Harry Hutchinson	...	Chief Mourner
Harry Webster	...	Uncle Joe

Also Known As:

The Adventuress (USA)

Runtime:

112 min | USA:98 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #11954) | Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

Devon, England, UK

Company:

Individual Pictures

Trivia:

Film debut of Albert Sharpe.

Goofs:

Continuity: In Devon in June 1944, sunset would be after 10 pm (Double Summer Time), and indeed when the clock strikes 9 and Bridie suddenly ends her date with David we see them moving against a daytime sky. Yet in the prisoner scene occurring simultaneously, it's fully dark.

Quotes:

[Bridie's thoughts as she sizes up her compartment-mate on a train.]
Bridie Quilty: His hair is going grey, but it looks very nice the way he has it brushed. He's a faraway look in his eyes... a poet maybe. No, he's much too clean. And he puts his trousers under the mattress like Terence Delaney. Hasn't he the lovely nails? He's a gentleman, I think. I don't like being alone with a strange man at this time of night. He doesn't look that sort of man, of course, but how can you tell? Mr. McGee didn't look that sort of man, and Mr. Clogherty...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Enigma (2001)

Soundtrack:

Kelly the Boy from Killane

Highly entertaining film

Known in the U.S. as The Adventuress, I See a Dark Stranger was the vehicle that first brought Deborah Kerr to the attention of Hollywood. Smartly written, produced and directed by the team of Launder and Gilliat, it is a suspense-filled and highly entertaining yarn about a high-strung Irish girl, Bridey Quilty (Deborah Kerr) who unwittingly becomes a German spy out of hatred for the British. Raised by a father who delighted in spinning tall tales about his role in the 1916 battle against the English, she leaves home at age 21 for Dublin, determined to join the Irish Republican Army and continue her father's work.

Thinking he is part of the IRA, she falls in with a German spy named Miller (Raymond Huntley) and is used as a pawn to spring a Nazi from prison. Co-star Trevor Howard plays British Army Officer David Byrne, a British Intelligence Officer who doggedly pursues and falls in love with her in spite of her anti-English attitude, however she spends the entire film keeping him at arms length. Bridie gets deeper and deeper entangled, dumping a dead body over a cliff, forging identity papers, and dodging two overweight policemen on the Isle of Man. When she comes into possession of vital military secrets, however, it has become apparent that she is in over her head and both sides are out to get her.

I See a Dark Stranger has suspense, romance, and humor all coming together in a story that becomes lighter and lighter as it moves along. For every deadly serious moment, there are two comic ones and Bridey's character comes close to being played for laughs. However, the combination of Kerr's youthful energy (she is 24 here) and a sophisticated and witty script keeps this from being taken too seriously as either a put-down of women spies or as an attack on the Irish. Great fun.