Perfect Strangers (1950) User Reviews

Perfect Strangers Reveal Sequestered Love ***

[edwagreen · 7/10 · 22 July 2010]

Interesting film, but I must say that you really begin to wonder about the jury system when you have jurors serving who really don't understand the legal procedures and use feminine and male instincts to decide the fate of a person accused of murder.

10 years after Dennis Morgan teamed with Ginger Rogers in her Oscar winning performance in "Kitty Foyle," the two were again in this film. Wisecracking Thelma Ritter is interesting as the common lady on the jury, but her ignorance becomes a little too annoying.

The case takes a back seat to the relationship that develops between a divorced Rogers and a married Morgan.

The film has an appropriate ending after the jury reaches a verdict. The film is interesting in the sense that the Rogers-Morgan love affair is used in a way to parallel the man accused of murder.

Yes, that's Fred Flintstone in the jury!

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 30 March 2010]

This film is about a group of jurors who are sequestered during an important case. In the process, two of them (Dennis Morgan and Ginger Rogers) quickly fall in love--even though Morgan is still married! This illicit relationship is meant as a parallel to the murder trial, as the defendant was having an affair when his wife was murdered--making him the prime suspect. Aside from these two actors, Thelma Ritter and Alan Reed (the voice of Fred Flintstone) are on the jury. Also, one of the witnesses in the trial is a young Frank Cady ('Sam Drucker' from "Green Acres")--who is apparently alive and well even today.

Aside from the Morgan-Rogers angle, the film is essentially a less tense nor as well acted film in the vein of "12 Angry Men". For example, a lady in the jury is projecting her hatred of her ex-husband onto the defendant--much like Lee J. Cobb directed his anger at his son on the defendant in "12 Angry Men". Overall, it's good, but nothing like "12 Angry Men" in quality and the affair angle seems to get in the way and was rather unnecessary--as well as a bit sappy--especially at the end. A decent time-passer but it just doesn't hit the mark.

"Ladies and gentlemen, juror #3 is very much in love with juror #5."

[utgard14 · 5/10 · 20 August 2014]

Ginger Rogers and Dennis Morgan serve on a sequestered jury during a murder trial. The two fall in love, despite his still being married and her separated. Combination courtroom drama and soap opera. The murder trial stuff is okay. Not 12 Angry Men but interesting enough. The soaper part is weak and drags the movie down. Predictable safe ending doesn't help. The selling point is the cast. Rogers and Morgan are both likable. The rest of the jurors are made of a variety of colorful characters. The standouts being Thelma Ritter, Anthony Ross, and Alan Reed (voice of Fred Flintstone). It's watchable enough but nothing special. Avid Ginger fans will appreciate it more than most.

Forgotten Ginger Rogers/Dennis Morgan film deserves a look...

[Doylenf · 17 May 2001]

Ginger Rogers didn't have too much luck in her choice of material by the time the late '40s rolled around--except for a reunion with Fred Astaire in 'The Barkleys of Broadway' most of her dramatic films were a disappointment--but 'Perfect Strangers' has a well-written script from a play by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. The two stars play jurors who find themselves on a jury panel for a murder trial. Sequestered, they fall in love despite the fact that Dennis Morgan is married, unhappily. The suspense comes from wondering what will happen to their relationship when the trial ends.

Ginger had wanted to work with Dennis Morgan since their last teaming in 'Kitty Foyle'. Under Bretaigne Windust's sensitive direction, the two stars give interesting performances. Among the supporting roles, Thelma Ritter delivers her usual competent work. Well worth viewing, but not yet released to video. You'll have to catch it on one of the cable stations.

Better than you'd expect

[mls4182 · 7/10 · 7 November 2021]

The plot may be mundane but the writing is good and the motley cast is superb and very entertaining. This is much more than a typical courtroom drama. In face the trial is more of a subplot.

Two jurors fall in love at a murder trial.

[JohnHowardReid · 6/10 · 6 June 2018]

Producer: Jerry Wald. Copyright 25 March 1950 by Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc. (sic). New York opening at the Strand: 10 March 1950. U.S. release: 25 March 1950. U.K. release: 31 July 1950. Australian release (shortened to 78 minutes): 8 November 1951. 7,919 feet. 88 minutes.

U.K. and Australian release title: TOO DANGEROUS TO LOVE.

NOTES: Ladies and Gentlemen opened on Broadway at the Martin Beck on 17 October 1939 and ran 105 performances. Helen Hayes and Philip Merivale starred, whilst Robert Keith, Evelyn Varden and Connie Gilchrist figured in the support cast. Gilbert Miller produced, Charles MacArthur and Lewis Allen directed.

The film's semi-documentary opening was cut from the Australian release version and is often omitted by TV broadcasters.

COMMENT: Perfect Strangers has a good idea back of it but unfortunately fails to live up to expectations. It commences promisingly in semi-documentary fashion showing the fascinating process by which jurors are selected and all goes interestingly enough (with good use of real locations) until the jury is locked up and we discover that they are not as appealingly well-rounded or cleverly diverse a crowd as we would wish. In fact, to a man (and a woman) they are caricatures - and rather dull caricatures at that.

Admittedly the players do their best, but there is a sense of strain and artificiality about their endeavors. Fortunately, Windust keeps the film moving briskly enough (except for the wearisomely long tete-a-tete right at the conclusion) and it is so superbly photographed it is always a pleasure to look at, even when most tiring to listen to. Miss Rogers is good to look at too, even when she wears her hair in an unbecoming upswept style. It's a pity she wasn't given a more personable co-star than Mr Morgan, though aside from his unconvincing speeches at the conclusion, he is adequate.

The support players try hard (perhaps too hard) to make an impression, with Margalo Gillmore taking the honors in a line-up that we feel the casting director could have improved if he'd tried a little harder. The film editor too could have improved the movie with just five or ten minutes of judicious trimming. It's a pity that Windust didn't put the same attention into his script and his players as he does into attractive framing and pacey camera movements (still a fluid camera is one way to keep a story moving).

In all, certainly disappointing, but by no means a write-off. All the same, odd to see Hecht and MacArthur's name associated with such a bland offering, which completely lacks the sharp, bitingly caustic, frantically witty dialogue, the mordantly observed characters and fast, satiric plot of The Front Page.

OTHER VIEWS: A long review in The Monthly Film Bulletin commends the script's presentation of intellectual arguments on both the trial and the social issues of divorce, as well as its realistic depiction of court proceedings. Technically, however, the critic feels the film is a photographed stage play, with Morgan and Rogers dominating the screen.

boring leads but interesting 12

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 23 July 2020]

In Los Angeles, Terry Scott (Ginger Rogers) and David Campbell (Dennis Morgan) are selected to serve on the jury of Ernest Craig's murder trial. The jury gets sequestered and are forced to live in close quarters.

David comes off as dull. Terry is less so. Their chemistry is at best lukewarm. The trial is not that interesting. The rest of the jury is a motley crew of fun characters. It would be better to let the side characters stretch their legs. Almost every time, the side characters get a funny bit or a cute little moment or a poignant turn. On the other hand, the two leads have the most boring chemistry. The movie only takes off during the deliberations. It's a lesser "12 Angry Men" in that section but that's still pretty good. There is one tense scene with a cliffside re-enactment. It's very manufactured. There's no reason for that policewoman to be standing so close to the edge but that can be excused. This movie just needs to make the two leads into two of twelve.

Of mild interest...but far from "12 Angry Men"

[vincentlynch-moonoi · 6/10 · 26 September 2013]

The first third of the film is about the worst movie making I've ever seen. The director managed to create the sappiest stereotypical jurors one could possibly devise. Not believable characters at all.

The remainder of the film is a bit better. Half the script is about the murder case being tried, but the other half of the script is about the relationships among the jurors...particularly the relationship that develops between Ginger Rogers and Dennis Morgan. Will he leave his wife for Ginger? Will she let him? The story is weak, but watchable. The sets are unbelievably cheap. But some of the acting is decent. Ginger Rogers has a few very good scenes, but I would have to say that the script held her back. Dennis Morgan could be a pretty decent actor back in the 1940s (see, for example, "In This Our Lives"), but here he is just okay. His career was fading toward television at this point.

I've always enjoyed Thelma Ritter, but she always played the same character...but at least she was entertaining. Margalo Gillmore, a character actress you may recognize, has a decent role here as one of the jurors. Perhaps Anthony Ross worked better on the stage, but I wasn't impressed with him here. He seemed to try too hard. Howard Freeman, another character actor you may recognize, has a decent speaking part here. You may like to look for Alan Reed, who looked a bit like Fred Flintstone...and indeed was the original voice of Flintstone; not that this role is a particular good one. Paul Ford has a nothing role as judge; he was much better in later films where he excelled at playing a comic buffoon. Harry Bellaver is comfortable as the bailiff.

This is no "12 Angry Men". But, it's watchable, and interesting in that the first third is so bad, and for seeing some of the actors. You're not likely to see many Dennis Morgan films that are later in his career.

Watching this is like doing jury duty

[vert001 · 3/10 · 2 June 2016]

If you have a deep interest in how they picked juries in Los Angeles County around the year 1950, this is the movie for you. It begins with a couple of pre-credit shots (a rarity for Hollywood at the time) of the process and goes on its tiresome way for almost a third of the film. We are also introduced to our not very interesting jurors, who will spend most of their time talking about the case when they've been instructed not to and fighting with one another over nothing very much. Oh, and our two stars, Ginger Rogers and Dennis Morgan, fall in love for no particular reason. The murder case seems a distant afterthought for all involved.

Eventually there is a lame parallel drawn between the proto-adulterous relationship of Rogers and Morgan with the adulterous (or was that, too, still in the potential stage?) affair between the accused and his other woman, the wife being the victim. Doubling down, a more direct parallel is established between the final holdout juror and the accused murderer. If I hadn't been on a Ginger Rogers kick I'd never have made it that far. This may not be her worst film, but I do believe that it is the most tedious. The most interesting thing about it is probably the location footage of Los Angeles that occasionally graces the proceedings. 3/10.

Are Strangers Always Perfect?

[DKosty123 · 6/10 · 7 January 2012]

This effort is solid even though Ginger Rogers never dances one step. Even though she and Mr Morgan are the stars, this movies focus is more on the jury. You could call it 12 Angry Men light.

It breaks all the rules for a jury. Don't talk about the case among yourselves becomes wait until the guards are all out of the room and discuss it endlessly. While the script is not as powerful as the Fonda classic, this one has it's points.

It goes into more personal stuff about each person than you'd expect. I feel sorry for the guard in charge of communicating with the outside folks when the jury is sequestered. They ask him to do a lot of things for sure.

Still, the busy body type of script makes the movie more interesting. Ginger Rogers does a good job in this one, being clever yet ordinary. The movie does make a lot of hints at what was viewed in 1950 as to how marriages are supposed to be. Divorce gets mentioned a lot too.

While a period piece, the film has some character actors who you will know including one from Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea though his role as DA is really small.

Perfectly dreadful

[marcslope · 3/10 · 30 September 2013]

Some scintillating pre-credits footage of bureaucrats shuffling through card files of prospective jurors, and we're off on the world's least interesting murder trial, propelled by a baffling romance between jurors Ginger Rogers and Dennis Morgan. Both are still married, she's separated, and the movie doesn't seem to know how to treat the prospect of their getting together--we're supposed to want them to, yet also not to want them to, because of all the lives it would disrupt. Meantime, the rest of the jury appears to be the stupidest ever, led by Thelma Ritter, doing her usual welcome Tenth-Avenue-salt-of-the-earth thing, but with bad lines. Rogers, as was her wont at this stage of her career, is more glamorous than the woman she's playing, and one detects a large whiff of star vanity; Morgan looks understandably bored. The movie's unaccountably fascinated with the minor details of jury duty, and everyone on this panel is such an idiot that there's nothing to do but watch them jabber and spar and lead to their inevitable verdict. Bretaigne Windust's direction (now there's a name) is disinterested and uncinematic, but not even a Capra or a Sturges could have made anything of this script.

Superior predecessor to '12 Angry Men'

[HotToastyRag · 9/10 · 21 September 2023]

If you think 12 Angry Men is the quintessential jury movie, you've obviously not seen Perfect Strangers yet. It makes the Henry Fonda classic look like a first draft. Extremely similar and several years its predecessor, it follows twelve jurors as they decide the fate of a man's life during a murder trial. A mixture of men and women, the case becomes so sensationalized by the newspapers, the jurors are moved to a hotel for the duration, each bunking up with another same-sex juror. It's so true to life, with everyone's quirks and issues: one man whines about someone stealing his toothbrush, one woman takes an hour in the bathroom, another person snores, and another person's irritating jokes end up starting a fistfight.

Since the jury is comprised of men and women, it's not exactly surprising that there's a romance incorporated into the plot. Ginger Rogers and Dennis Morgan get to show off their acting chops as they fall in love against their better judgment-no pun intended. They're both married, but they feel a deep connection, one that the audience quickly understands. What I love about this movie is there are no flashbacks, and just like 12 Angry Men, all that is shown is the people's experiences as jurors. The beginning of the movie is a fascinating account of how random the juror selection is, and as nothing else is shown except their lives together in the courtroom and hotel suite, you can understand how their new world becomes their whole world. Thelma Ritter, a pregnant housewife, may worry about her children and her husband, but she enjoys being put up in a hotel and eating meals in a restaurant without having to do the dishes. Anthony Ross likes the opportunity to meet new people and make new impressions. Margalo Gillmore brings her personal prejudices to the case, much like Lee J. Cobb's character did. Dennis isn't shown as a family man so the audience has as little information as Ginger has about the happy home she might potentially wreck. You'll also see Whit Bissell as the defense attorney, Paul Ford as the judge, and Harry Bellaver as the kind bailiff.

I can't recommend this movie highly enough. One of the best pictures of the year, it has an excellent screenplay, great characters, and a story that's far more engaging than 12 Angry Men.

An inconsequential romance and juror caricatures highlight this punchless legal drama

[Turfseer · 4/10 · 25 January 2023]

If you want to see what the jury system was like in Los Angeles circa 1950, this is the film for you. Before the drama begins it feels like one is watching a docudrama. The only problem is that it's so drawn out, we're itching to get to the story a lot faster than what actually transpires.

Perfect Strangers reunites the team of Ginger Rogers and Dennis Morgan who starred almost a decade earlier in Kitty Foyle, a box office success.

Rogers plays Terry Scott who is selected for jury duty along with David Campbell (Dennis Morgan). Terry is separated and David is trapped in an unhappy marriage with two children.

The film represents a slight slap in the face to the production code as marital infidelity is held up as not such a bad thing. Terry and David fall in love during the trial which parallels the murder case they are charged with deciding.

The trial is wholly circumstantial with a husband being accused of pushing his wife off a cliff while having an ongoing affair with a mistress.

The film is partially a comedy as the sequestered jurors all manage to argue among themselves over numerous trivial affairs as well putting forth strong opinions as to the guilt or innocence of the defendant (all in contradistinction to the judge's orders not to discuss the case).

Thelma Ritter is perhaps the most notable of the jurors playing Lena a pregnant housewife who reflects the initial majority opinion of the jurors (that being not guilty!).

The drama becomes mildly interesting toward the climax when three holdouts must be persuaded of the defendant's innocence by their fellow jurors (including Terry and David who side with the defendant as well).

Margalo Gillmore as the arrogant socialite Mrs. Bradford plays the heavy until coming around after her prejudice against insensitive husbands is exposed by an intuitive David.

Don't expect much suspense from the trial. The DA's decision to prosecute the defendant seems ill-advised as there is no real substantial evidence that the victim was actually pushed off a cliff by her husband.

And as I already implied, the jurors for the most part are quite liberal as they don't seem at all affected by the infidelity which the DA seeks to use to inflame the passions of the jury.

Nonetheless the production code cannot be ignored entirely. Terry decides not to look up David even after initially agreeing to a half to full year trial separation before deciding whether to obtain divorces from their respective spouses.

What we're left with here is a romance that goes nowhere and a coterie of unfunny caricatures that make up the rest of the cast (i.e. Terry and David's fellow jurors).

The outcome of the story proves more interesting than what comes before but overall Perfect Strangers packs little punch.

12 perfect strangers must survive living together while serving on a jury

[jimjo1216 · 31 July 2010]

The half-hearted romance plot between Ginger Rogers and Dennis Morgan takes away from an otherwise interesting ensemble piece about different people living together and the American jury system.

PERFECT STRANGERS is about a jury for a murder trial. In order to protect the integrity of the jury, the judge arranges for the twelve jurors to be held up in a hotel, cut-off from all outside contact, for the duration of the trial.

The film, based on a play co-written by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, provides an interesting look at the life cycle of a jury, from the initial summons to the juror selection process to the trial and final deliberations. Like 12 ANGRY MEN (1957) it shows how jurors see things in different ways and how personal prejudice gets in the way of fair and balanced decision making. The movie also gives a humorous peek into the press room, where newspaper reporters scrape around for the scoop of the day (territory previously explored in THE FRONT PAGE and HIS GIRL_FRIDAY, also based on a Hecht/MacArthur play).

The movie doesn't delve very deeply into the courtroom proceedings or the facts of the murder case. The focus is instead on the jurors, twelve perfect strangers sharing a common experience over several weeks. The ensemble cast includes multiple Oscar-nominee Thelma Ritter and Alan Reed (the voice of Fred Flintstone), as well as Ginger Rogers, Dennis Morgan, and others.

My favorite thing about the movie is seeing twelve perfect strangers from all walks of life forced to live together in a hotel suite. It's like going to camp. There are two women to a room, but the men have to double up (four to a room). They pass the time by playing cards, arguing about the trial, and (in Ginger's case) falling in love. They eat dinner together, they write messages for their loved ones at home, and they are chaperoned at all times by the bailiff.

I liked the idea of a sequestered jury ensemble, but the film puts too much emphasis on the romance arc between the Rogers and Morgan characters (a divorcée and a married man, respectively). And the romance is the weakest part. (Sure, they're both good-looking and trapped on a jury together, but can their "love" really work out?) The film has its moments, but falls short of its potential. It's still a classic "jury movie" and is worth checking out for Thelma Ritter fans and Ginger Rogers completists.

As Dry As A Depositiion

[LeonLouisRicci · 4/10 · 26 September 2013]

A not very interesting Movie that attempts to give some clue as to the behind the scenes interactions among a Sequestered Jury. Like a Civics Lesson this is as dry as a Depositiion and only of interest to Ginger Roger's completest.

The Murder Trial is hardly on Screen limiting the depth needed to give some urgency to the Jurors Private Arguments as they contemplate a Verdict. The typical Romance that blossoms and the Pitter-Patter and Petty Conflicts among The Twelve have about as much appeal as a Boxed Lunch.

This could not be called Awful because it isn't, but it barely maintains interest and is a rather Lame Movie that is an Unremarkable Misfire that never comes to Life and remains in a Coma for most of the Running Time, its Duty unfulfilled.

Guilty Of Mediocrity

[atlasmb · 5/10 · 23 June 2023]

This film has two concurrent stories: a court case about a man accused of murdering his wife, and the two jurors who fall in love. It does neither justice.

Ginger Rogers and Dennis Morgan play the couple who find themselves on a sequestered jury, charged with determining the fate of an accused murderer. The film does little to convince the viewer that there is chemistry between the two or that these characters have much in common.

The court case is presented in "snapshots" of courtroom testimony that are unconnected and uncompelling. Most of it is just backdrop to the interactions between the jurors, who are a motley collection of emotional misfits. Unlike "12 Angry Men", there is little gravitas surrounding their interplay.

Blame the writing, which is disjointed and sometimes silly. Only at the very end does Ginger Rogers get a scene where she shows real emotion and depth of character. It is too late, and the ending is mostly unsatisfying.

THIRD TRY FOR THIS STORY

[cbmd-37352 · 5/10 · 12 March 2023]

THIS story of jury members falling in love originated with Hungarian playwright Ladislaw BirdFekete, titled 12 IN A BOX. Unclear how well the original did, but other writers kept reworking it. In 1939 Hart and MacArthur produced it on Broadway as LADIES and GENTLEMEn starring Helen Hayes. The critics loved her, but the play not so much. This third try is from 1950, and reeks of the 1950s moralism-if a man loves a woman not his wife and wants to divorce her, he is morally corrupt and capable of anything including murder. The mechanics of jury selection were somewhat interesting, but it drags on as the sequestered jury acts like a bunch of misbehaving schoolchildren. Harry Bellaver as the official having to manage them has the best part-mature non biased. The deliberations in the jury room were fairly decent. Overall it is easy to see why Reginald Rose chose to have an all male jury in his jury drama. Did enjoy seeing Sarah Selby, Whit Bissell ad Anson Rainey in bit parts. Ironically Anson Raining played a convicted killer on death row in The Last Mile.