IMDb > Not as a Stranger (1955)
Not as a Stranger
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Not as a Stranger (1955) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
6.7/10   707 votes
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Director:
Writers:
Edna Anhalt (writer)
Edward Anhalt (writer)
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Contact:
View company contact information for Not as a Stranger on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
July 1955 (USA) more
Genre:
Plot:
An arrogant doctor financially supported by his wife believes he's a god until his own mistake costs a good friend's life. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win & 1 nomination more
User Comments:
The Doctor is In But He Won't Come Out more (35 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Olivia de Havilland ... Kristina Hedvigson

Robert Mitchum ... Lucas Marsh

Frank Sinatra ... Alfred Boone

Gloria Grahame ... Harriet Lang

Broderick Crawford ... Dr. Aarons
Charles Bickford ... Dr. Dave W. Runkleman
Myron McCormick ... Dr. Snider

Lon Chaney Jr. ... Job Marsh (as Lon Chaney)
Jesse White ... Ben Cosgrove
Harry Morgan ... Oley

Lee Marvin ... Brundage
Virginia Christine ... Bruni
Whit Bissell ... Dr. Dietrich
Jack Raine ... Dr. Lettering
Mae Clarke ... Nurse Odell
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Morton Thompson's Not as a Stranger (USA) (complete title)
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Runtime:
135 min
Country:
Language:
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (RCA Sound System)
Certification:

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
This is one of the first films where an actual human heart is seen beating during open-heat surgery. more
Goofs:
Errors in geography: When Robert Mitchum and Olivia de Havilland visit "Greenville", which is supposed to be isolated and rural, they pass a truck with "Reseda Boulevard" on its side. Reseda Boulevard is just a few miles northwest of Hollywood. more
Quotes:
Dr. Snider: God help him, he made a mistake. more
Movie Connections:
References Internes Can't Take Money (1937) more
Soundtrack:
Not as a Stranger more

FAQ

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20 out of 23 people found the following comment useful.
The Doctor is In But He Won't Come Out, 17 July 2003
Author: gvb0907 from Falls Church, Virginia

Many have panned Robert Mitchum's performance in this film, but I think that his lack of expression and emotion, other than anger, suits the character very well.

Mitchum's Marsh is a completely self-absorbed individual. He's committed to medicine and can't understand human failings, especially his own. His character's cold demeanor perfectly reflects the fact that Marsh has no outer life. If he often appears robotic, it's largely because he's programmed himself to shut out everything human, ironically in service to humanity.

Of course he's a great doctor, but he's pure hell to work or live with. Bursting with pride, insensitive to the point of cruelty, Marsh is unreachable and, in more than one sense of the term, untouchable. Mitchum conveys all of this very naturally, perhaps because so much of his performance is rooted in the dark world of film noir, where the actor first made his mark. He's a physician from the neck up, but he has the heart of a contract killer. That he heals instead of kills is his patients' good fortune, though of little solace to his friends or his wife.

Although Mitchum's interpretation remains controversial, many of the other performances in `Not as a Stranger' are beyond criticism. Olivia deHavilland, as his suffering spouse, is superb as always. Charles Bickford, an actor who deserves a much greater reputation, is the epitome of a small town doctor. And surprisingly, Broderick Crawford is excellent as a gruff professor of pathology.

On the other hand, Frank Sinatra's pediatrician isn't as strong, though he has some good scenes when he tries to help Mitchum see the error of his ways. Gloria Grahame, unfortunately, is stuck with a seductress role that just as well could have been cut.

There are other weaknesses. George Antheil's score, by way of Wagner and Richard Strauss, is pretty hard to take. The script and direction are uneven. Many scenes are compelling, such as when Crawford literally throws the book at Sinatra or when deHavilland and Mitchum have one of their confrontations. Others fall flat and there is a tendency, typical in most of Stanley Kramer's work, to keep making points at the expense of the story. For example, the med school sequences with Whit Bissell's greedy and unethical Dr Dietrich (interesting choice of name there) cover a darker side of the profession very well. There's really no need for Jesse White, terribly miscast as a lawyer who cozies up to Grahame, to bring up ethical issues much later in the film.

Recommended as an above average melodrama and as an interesting time capsule of mid-50s medicine. (Though I found it hard to believe patients were allowed to smoke in the wards!)

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