House of Strangers (1949)

After years in prison, Max promises revenge on his brothers for their betrayal. His lover Irene and memories of his past yield him a broader perspective.

Director:

Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Writers:

Philip Yordan (screenplay), Jerome Weidman (novel)

Stars:

Edward G. Robinson, Susan Hayward, Richard Conte

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Edward G. Robinson	...	Gino Monetti
Susan Hayward	...	Irene Bennett
Richard Conte	...	Max Monetti
Luther Adler	...	Joe Monetti
Paul Valentine	...	Pietro Monetti
Efrem Zimbalist Jr.	...	Tony Monetti
Debra Paget	...	Maria Domenico
Hope Emerson	...	Helena Domenico
Esther Minciotti	...	Theresa Monetti
Diana Douglas	...	Elaine Monetti
Tito Vuolo	...	Lucca

Storyline

In New York, after seven years in prison, the lawyer Max Monetti goes to the bank of his brothers Joe, Tony and Pietro Monetti and promises revenge to them. Then he visits his lover Irene Bennett that asks him to forget the past and start a new life. Max recalls the early 30s, when he is the favorite son of his father Gino Monetti, who has a bank in the East Side. Gino is a tyrannical and egocentric self-made man that raises his family in an environment of hatred and Max is a competent lawyer engaged with Maria Domenico. When Max meets the confident Irene, he has a troubled love affair with her. In 1933, with the new Banking Act reaches Gino for misapplication of funds. Max plots a plan to help his father but is betrayed by his brothers. Now Max will see his brothers that have also being raised under the motto "Never Forgive, Never Forget".

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Plot Keywords:

brother versus brother | prison | bank | hatred | kiss | 

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Taglines:

A powerhouse of emotion.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

1 July 1949 (USA)

Also Known As:

East Side Story

Filming Locations:

Ocean Park, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to Kenneth L. Geist's biography of the film's director Joseph L. Mankiewicz, People Will Talk, the film's producer Sol Siegel hired Philip Yordan to adapt Joseph Weidman's novel for the screen. After Yordan submitted three-quarters of the script, Siegel, finding the script unacceptable, fired him and asked Mankiewicz to redo the script. Mankiewicz rewrote all of Yordan's dialogue, reshaped the script and finished it. The Screen Writers Guild ruled that Yordan receive sole story credit and that Yordan and Mankiewicz share credit for the screenplay. Mankiewicz refused to share credit for a screenplay he had basically written and so received no credit. The studio remade House of Strangers as a western in 1954 as Broken Lance and Yordan was given credit for the story and won an Academy Award for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story. As Yordan's filmography shows, he was a prolific front in the 1950s for screenwriters who were blacklisted. And so, it seems oddly fitting that he received his only Academy Award for a film (Broken Lance) that he did not work on that was based on a screenplay to which his contribution is a matter of dispute.

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Goofs

At 2:00, Max approaches the front door of the Monetti Trust and Loan building. A young woman wearing a beret and a vertically-striped jacket steps out of the door, makes a right turn (from Max's perspective), and continues to walk until she disappears into the right side of the frame. 15 seconds later, the same woman is seen walking in front of the same building--again from Max's left to to his right--as if she had never been inside.

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Quotes

Max Monetti: Pa, have you read the new banking act?
Gino Monetti: I don't even read the old one. Why?

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Connections

Version of The Big Show (1961)

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Soundtracks

Largo al factotum
From the opera "Il barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville)" (uncredited)
Music by Gioachino Rossini (uncredited)
Lyrics by Cesare Sterbini (uncredited)
Performed by Lawrence Tibbett
Played on the phonograph before dinner at the family house

User Reviews

A TRIUMVIRATE OF SUPERB ACTING

"House of Strangers" features three of my all-time favorite actors--Edward G. Robinson, Susan Hayward and Richard Conte--all at the very top of their form, as well as moody, almost noirish direction by the great Joseph L. Mankiewicz, in moody black and white. Those ingredients alone should indicate that a fine work is in store for the viewer, and such, happily, is the case here. The tale is told mainly in flashback, in which we learn how the four sons of Lower East Side banker Edward G. became enemies after their Pop got into some legal trouble. Susan Hayward, never more beautiful, plays a high-class dame who becomes involved with lawyer Conte, despite Conte's engagement to a proper Italian girl from "the old country." The relationship between Hayward and Conte is very adult for the restrictive late '40s. By the film's end, we really come to care about these two and hope that they can survive as a couple. As usual, Edward G. gives a bravura performance, this time as the domineering patriarch of his Italian clan. I believe his performance received a well-deserved award at Cannes that year. Conte and Hayward, both of whose careers are ripe for reevaluation and rediscovery, match him every step of the way. Luther Adler is fine also, in his role as Conte's elder brother, who feels he never got the respect he deserved. Deborah Paget, in one of her earliest parts, looks fine in a decorative role. For me, though, the main lure of this picture is the triumvirate of superb acting by the three leads. What a pleasure it is to watch these three great talents do justice to the well-written script here. I just love this movie, and suspect that a real treat is in store for the first-time viewer. Check it out, by all means!