We Were Strangers (1949) User Reviews

Amazingly radical, pro-revolutionary Hollywood film

[pacificgroove · 7/10 · 5 November 2005]

This has to be the most radical, left wing film ever made in Hollywood. It is amazing that Huston and some of the other principals were not blacklisted afterwords; the McCarthy era was well underway in 1949 when the film was released. (Garfield was blacklisted, but not as a result of this particular film.)

This is a taut, suspenseful, exciting movie. But what stands out for me is that the central theme and focus of the story is the "need" to dedicate one's life to the overthrow of a dictatorship by whatever means necessary. I've never seen an American film so uncompromisingly pro-revolutionary. The heros of the film are guerrilla warriors planning a bombing that will kill dozens or hundreds of innocents along with lots of deserving government officials.

One significant drawback to this film is it's very extensive use of process photography, shooting the principal actors against background film shot on location. Whole scenes are shot this way and it's distracting.

Huston's 1933 Cuban Revolution

[m0rphy · 7/10 · 26 March 2003]

John Huston directed this 1948 thriller about a group of revolutionaries trying to overthrow the brutal right wing Cuban Regime in 1933 when it was a crime, promulgated by their "parliament", for more than four people to gather in public or criticise its government.

John Garfield (Tony Fenner), stars as the ex-Cuban who comes back from the U.S. to set up the revolution.He meets and is assisted by Jennifer Jones (China Valdez) who gives him active support after her 19 year old student younger brother is gunned down on the steps of his university by the evil secret policeman (Pedro Armendariaz).Tony devises a plot to assassinate the head politico hoping his family and the heads of government and their family attend his funeral at a cemetary near where China and her family live.They decide to dig a tunnel from her house and place explosive under the grave to get the hated government in one fell swoop.At least that's the plan (no spoiler here).

Yet again Jennifer Jones is in a completely new role speaking with a convincing Cuban accent.She works in a bank but cannot escape the attention of the secret police who keep hounding and threatening her for information on Tony Fenner whom she has now grown to love.Assisting them both are a group of committed partisans including Gilbert Roland who plays a simple dock worker (his brother was killed by the government).He steals this picture by his acting and by singing topical calypsos about their revolutionary activities;(I find myself singing these verses or even making up new ones!).Another member "goes off the rails" and nearly gives the game away.

I suppose if you know Cuban modern history you can guess the outcome as Huston has to stick to the facts.The final showdown with Thompson sub-machine guns is almost surreal.This title is hard to find and is not available from main stream video dealers.Occasionally it comes up for auction on "e-Bay".If like me you love quality 1940's films you will enjoy this actioneer.

"What is wrong and what is right / Will be decided by dynamite"

[imogensara_smith · 7/10 · 20 November 2006]

As the bombastic credit music fades, a prologue rolls across the screen, laying out the historical situation in black and white: evil government, heroic rebels. The opening scene presents the Cuban Senate passing a bill to outlaw all public assemblies. Just as your heart is sinking at the prospect of a heavy-handed and simple-minded pageant, the style of the scene changes. The senators are told to stand if they are in favor of the bill, and a few rise immediately. Then, one by one, in a series of close-ups, the senators glance around nervously, feeling the pressure to conform, look craven or embarrassed or merely indifferent, and stand. I've never seen a more subtly scathing attack on politicians, and it works because it's visual, not verbal. Instead of lecturing us, it lets us see for ourselves.

WE WERE STRANGERS is exceptionally well-directed by John Huston, shot not just with flair but with moments of disorienting originality, and inkier shadows than many a film noir (the actors' faces often half-obliterated by darkness.) The script is even more surprising, and it's hard to believe this film was made in Hollywood during the McCarthy era, or indeed any era, since it condones not only assassination but the murder of innocent bystanders for political ends. It stars John Garfield and Jennifer Jones as Cuban revolutionaries and features lame Hispanic accents and some atrocious back-projection scenes in which the actors appear to be walking in place in front of a movie screen. It could be a disaster, but instead it's gripping and fascinating; not a complete success, but both unexpected and unforgettable.

Set in Havana, the story centers on China Valdez (Jones), a proper young woman whose brother, a member of the revolutionary underground, is shot down in front of her eyes after passing out leaflets. Bitter and burning for revenge, China joins the underground and volunteers for a project headed by an American, Tony Fenner (Garfield) to wipe out the entire government by assassinating a high-ranking politician and then bombing his funeral. The small band of rebels moves into China's house, digging a tunnel from the basement to the family mausoleum of the intended victim. The group includes a relaxed, rumba-singing dock-worker (Gilbert Roland) and a wealthy university student who goes crazy with guilt because the man they plan to murder is a family friend. Meanwhile China is shadowed by Ariete, the secret police man who killed her brother: an oily, menacing villain whose suspicions of China are heightened by his lust for her and obsessive jealousy of Fenner.

Granted, Jennifer Jones looks ridiculously glamorous; even after she has joined in digging through the rotting corpses of the graveyard she appears in every scene with flawless eye makeup, crisp sexy blouse and upswept hairdo. Granted, her accent is on a par with Natalie Wood's in WEST SIDE STORY (all of the "Cubans" speak accented English; Garfield, thank heavens, speaks in his usual Bronx-bred tones) But Jones is good, wearing a hardened, mask-like face that barely conceals her terror whenever Ariete pops up. They have a terrific if obvious scene together, in which China sits rigid with mounting disgust and panic as Ariete messily devours a crab, pounding and crunching and slurping, gulping rum and getting drunker and sweatier as he tells her that he's really a man of sentiment and honor.

Garfield's performance is not at all what you'd expect; he's so restrained, in his early scenes he seems almost drugged. We never learn much about his character, a ruthless, efficient mastermind. Once he trades his light tropical suit for a grimy t-shirt, he becomes a more familiar Garfield: skin glistening with mud and sweat as he digs, he exudes grit and sex appeal and lets his façade crack to show vulnerability. With little build-up, he and Jones fall into a predictable clinch, in a scene unforgettably shot in pitch blackness with spare flashes of lightning. The triumph of his performance is that he never tries to make Fenner likable, charming or heroic; the irresistible Garfield grin is nowhere in sight. He's callous, laconic and impassive, yet somehow his charisma is overpowering. Because he was so intense and unafraid of emotion, I've never thought of John Garfield as an under-actor, but in his late performances it's remarkable how little he actually does. He gets tremendous effects out of stillness, often just watching and listening to his busier co-stars. You feel what he feels, almost physically; he has no need for pantomime.

*********SPOILERS BELOW****************

WE WERE STRANGERS is a blend of stark honesty and Hollywood clichés, brilliant direction and cheesy effects. Unfortunately, at the end, Hollywood wins. Garfield gets to go out in style, holed up with his true love, blasting away with a machine gun, lighting sticks of dynamite from his cigarette and lobbing them like hand grenades at the police. Jennifer Jones makes a hokey speech over his corpse—and then the revolution breaks out and in five minutes the government topples! The film never really comes to terms with its endorsement of mass murder (Gilbert Roland insouciantly sings, "What is wrong and what is right / Will be decided by dynamite"), and it's hard to say whether it shows honorable ambivalence or shameful woolly-mindedness. But I came away from this strange, flawed, feverish movie electrified. How did it ever sneak out of 1940s Hollywood?

Pro-revolutionary film that slipped between the cracks

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 4 June 2007]

Though directed by John Huston, written by Huston and Peter Viertel, and starring Jennifer Jones, John Garfield, Pedro Armandariz and Gilbert Roland, 1949's "We Were Strangers" is a largely unknown film. It is, however, an important one in the history of Hollywood as it was bankrolled by Sam Spiegel for Huston's new production company. Impressed with Huston, Spiegel went on to bankroll "The African Queen." Commercially unsuccessful at the time of its release, the story concerns the White Terror of the Fascist government in Cuba from 1925-1933. When her brother, a member of the resistance, is killed, China (Jones) joins the fight to overthrow the government. A plan is concocted by Tony Fenner, an American born in Cuba who is posing as a talent agent. The idea is to assassinate a high-ranking official and then set off a bomb at the funeral, killing the top people in the government.

The best scene in the film is between Jones and Pedro Armendariz, who plays a secret policeman, Ariete. He is deeply suspicious of Fenner and is sure that China is his lover. While the revolutionaries hide outside in the rain, he eats and bullies, threatens, and flirts with China, who is terrified but tries to keep calm. A taut, excellent scene. All of the acting is excellent - Jones, wearing darker makeup and sporting an accent, is very good as well as beautiful. Garfield does a good job as Fenner, and Gilbert Roland is a standout. The last 15 minutes of the film are very exciting, with the last scene being poetic but failing to be upbeat, which was perhaps the intention. It's a downer.

A very good movie that for some reason didn't get everyone in it in trouble and accused of being a Communist - surprisingly, Garfield's appearance in the movie had nothing to do with his eventual blacklisting. I guess "We Were Strangers" was too obscure.

A walk with love through the dead.

[dbdumonteil · 17 January 2008]

"We were strangers" is considered a minor film among all Huston's masterpieces of the era:"treasure of the Sierra Madre" "Key Largo" "Asphalt jungle'' or "African Queen" .But many of this director's works are sleepers :"a walk with love and death" "Heaven knows mister Allison" or " Reflections in a golden eye" -which was an accurate rendition of McCullers' novel- are good examples ,sometimes more praised abroad than in America.

"We were strangers " is in the center of Huston's work:one of his permanent features was failure ("treasure" "asphalt" "misfits" ).the heroes of "strangers" are in a way ,misfits:they do not mix with the people and they do not feel that history is moving faster than they do.Forget the political background which may seem,to some,naive and vague :sometimes we wonder whether the heroes themselves are believing in what they are doing:hear this little ditty one of them sings as a leitmotiv ("we are digging all day,we are digging all night" "We were strangers" shows Huston's fascination for death: it would reappear in the overlooked "walk with love and death" ,in the dance macabre at the beginning of " under the volcano" and it is even more glaring in the director's final opus "the dead' where one of the characters ,still alive,appears on her deathbed.

Fighting against the tyrants is one good thing:doing so by digging a tunnel to get to a graveyard to kill one of the men of the dictatorship,Huston challenges realism!"there are two parts in the cemetery,says Jones ,one for the poor,one for the rich" even in death...

Jones ,some kind of romantic passionnaria (the part was tailor made for her- and Garfield an idealist American are part of the odd couples who are numerous in Huston's work:"African queen" "Heaven knows..." or "Roots of heaven" or "the Barbarian and the geisha" or "Annie" or...you name it...

a Huston which should not sink into oblivion....

A Coup d'etat in Cuba

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 4 March 2009]

The part of a fiery revolutionary in 1933 Cuba seems tailor made for John Garfield. Both his politics and screen persona mesh nicely in the role of Nick Fenner for him in We Were Strangers. As for his lack of Hispanic accent, we are told that he is of mixed Cuban and American parentage. I'm glad Garfield didn't try an accent, he looked downright silly doing one as Porfirio Diaz in Juarez.

John Huston directed We Were Strangers and even second drawer Huston is better than first drawer of most directors. The film is about a really far out plot for a Coup d'etat against President Gerardo Machado of Cuba in 1933. Garfield has sold them one a plan to assassinate the president and his entire cabinet by means of a bomb at a funeral internment. As it happens Jennifer Jones's house is located across from Havana's main cemetery. The idea is to first kill a right-wing Senator and then when the funeral takes place and the deceased is interred at the family mausoleum, to blow up the place as the president and a lot of top bigwigs are sure to attend.

The scheme involves tunneling from Jen's house to the mausoleum and We Were Strangers starts to resemble The Great Escape at this point. Jen's cooperative because her brother was killed by Machado's secret police, but something terribly unforeseen spoils things and the assassins are forced to flee.

In fact the something that is unforeseen should have been foreseen and Garfield should have come up with a better idea. But the drama of this film is the tension of these conspirators working together in close quarters and we the audience getting to know them. We Were Strangers at first, but they all become comrades during the shared experience of conspiracy. Besides John Garfield and Jennifer Jones, the other in the plot are Gilbert Roland, Wally Cassell, and David Bond.

Best performance in the film by far though is that of Pedro Armendariz as the secret police lieutenant. Huston might have seen Armendariz in a similar role in John Ford's The Fugitive which was set in Mexico. It was a good stroke of typecasting then because Armendariz is a truly hateful figure.

I looked up Gerardo Machado who was the president of Cuba at the time and he was overthrown in 1933 but not by these guys. Wikipedia describes him as an equal opportunity tyrant who had all factions hating him by 1933. He started out as a fighter and youngest general in the Cuban war for independence against Spain in the 1890s. But last year's freedom fighter has a way of turning into today's tyrant.

We Were Strangers in the Huston career comes between Key Largo and The Asphalt Jungle, both better films, but this one while the assassination plot is far fetched is carried along by the skilled direction of a fine group of players.

What a strange flick.

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 3 June 2010]

It's strange because in 1949 we were on cozy terms with Cuba. American Fruit and the Mafia were notoriously friendly with the government in those pre-Castro days, and here we have a movie lauding the efforts of Cuban citizens to overthrow a thuggish dictator in Havana.

The six strangers are rebels who come together in the house of Jennifer Jones with the intention of digging a tunnel to a point at which the corrupt El Presidente is supposed to make an appearance -- then blowing up him and his cronies, including his piggish Police Chief, Pedro Armendariz.

One of the rebels is John Garfield. Of course he and Jones fall for each other. Strenuous digging takes place throughout the middle of the movie, as well as a lot of talking, some of it rambling.

It's an unusual movie, too, because director Huston paid so much attention to details. Imagine the final shoot out, in which the surrounded Garfield and Jones are fending off the police. Garfield has a tommy gun. Ordinarily, the weapons wielded by the heroes never need attention. Here, Jones hides in the kitchen and feeds Garfield magazines for his gun, which she has filled, round by round. And, in digging under a cemetery, the rebels must wear masks to protect them from the clouds of cadaverine they unleash.

It's strange to see Jennifer Jones in a small-budget movie. She was Mrs. David O. Selznick and mostly appeared in lavish productions especially designed for her. (In her next vehicle she was Emma Bovary.) She looks sleek and sexy in her Latina make up, though her accent admittedly sometimes strays into Russian territory or maybe Urdu.

None of the acting is outstanding. The script does go on. And the rendering of Spanish into "English without contractions" places an additional burden on the performers. "I can not leave without you." "Let us go now and begin the tunnel." If it has its weaknesses, and it does, it isn't a failure either. These poor guys have their necks on the chopping block. They're digging this tunnel, sweating away, while the cops know that they're up to something and are putting pressure on Jones to squeal. All that work -- and then the tunnel fails. You can smell the despair of the characters.

Sadly, at the final moment, Garfield is mortally wounded and then the revolution takes place. It lasts about 30 seconds, the fastest revolution in the history of man or beast. At the end of that time, the church bells ring out, El Presidente is dead, and Armendariz is strung up like Benito Mussolini.

So all that work on the tunnel was for nothing. It's a little like Hemingway's Cubano fisherman who works like hell only to lose his noble marlin to the sharks.

John Huston's Cuba

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 11 February 2021]

Cuba has descended into a corrupt dictatorship under former general Gerardo Machado y Morales. An underground opposition conspiracy is looking to overthrow the government through assassination advocated by American Tony Fenner (John Garfield). China Valdés (Jennifer Jones) is a simple bank clerk who turns to revolution when her brother is killed for distributing leaflets. She is recruited by Tony in a scheme to blow up most of the government.

John Huston's directing is visually compelling. The subject matter is compelling. What this movie needs is a more suitable rooting interest. Tony is shown to be callous early on. The only possible one is China. This should be her movie. She could be pulled into the revolution but still holding onto her ideals about saving the innocent. It needs to be much later before she finally realizes that neither side cares. Dismissing civilian casualties so early in the movie is really off-putting and leaves no one to root for. It's an interesting movie but it lacks a central character which can take the place of the audience.

Unique Hollywood revolutionary film

[treagan-2 · 9/10 · 31 March 2005]

This film is an astounding anomaly to Hollywood film-making, in that it is openly supportive of armed revolutionary terrorism, even if it means the death of innocent people. And since it was made in 1949, by Columbia Pictures, just as the Hollywood Blacklist was beginning, it is even more unusual.

The quality of the film is first-rate—a taut, well-constructed thriller, with convincing characterizations by the actors and strong direction by John Huston. The fact that it is about Cuba, made 10 years before the victory of the Fidel Castro-led revolutionary forces, is more coincidence.

The revolutionaries are seen as intense fanatics, yes, but each with a justification for their zeal. They are seen as different from each other, occasionally at odds, but essentially united in their purpose. They openly discuss the rights and wrongs of revolutionary violence, and come to a consensus to go ahead.

Jennifer Jones is impressive, as are Gilbert Roland, Pedro Armendariz, and John Garfield. I can't think of another studio-made American feature like this one, worth seeing for both its quality and its unique place in American movies.

Gripping Revolutionary Tale!

[bsmith5552 · 7/10 · 2 September 2018]

I must admit that I hadn't heard of this film until now. Being a fan of John Huston, I can't explain it. Besides, It's a good movie with crisp direction provided by Mr. Huston and a top notch cast headed by Jennifer Jones, John Garfield Pedro Armendariz and Gilbert Roland.

The time is the early 30s in Cuba where a corrupt police state government has been in power since 1925. Gatherings of more than four persons are considered treasonable. Peaceable China Valdes (Jones) works in an American Bank. Her brother is murdered by policeman Armando Ariente (Armendariz) for distributing anti-government leaflets. China sees the murderer and vows revenge.

China goes to her brother's revolutionary organization and is persuaded to join the movement as a means of exacting her revenge. It is there that she meets Cuban American Tony Fenner (Garfield) and the two become friends. China's home is located opposite a graveyard where many high ranking dignitaries are interred. Tony comes up with a plan to assassinate a high government official and blow up the mourners at his funeral thereby eliminating most of the corrupt government in one fell swoop.

A group of revolutionaries is assigned the task of tunneling under China's home to beneath the popular burial site. Headed by the Chief (Ramon Navarro) the group includes Guillermo (Roland), Miguel (Wally Cassell), Ramon (David Bond) ,Toto (Jose Perez), China and Fenner. The digging commences. All the while that this is going on, Chuna continues to work at the bank. One day Ariente comes in to investigate new depositers of which Fenner is one.. He becomes increasingly suspicious. He also takes an interest in China to the point of arriving at her home unannounced and making a move on her.

After weeks of excruciating labor, the tunnel is finished and a victim chosen. Unfortunately, the victim's family decides to bury him elsewhere rendering the group's tunnel useless. As the police are becoming increasingly suspicious, the group decides to escape in a boat owned by Guillermo's cousin. China cashes a check for Fenner but is followed back to her home by the police. Tony has not gone to the boat but had been waiting for China to return. The police close in and.......................................................................

The ending, which was changed from the original ending is a typical Hollywood feel good ending and spoils the whole thing, at least for me. Huston provides superb direction and it is therefore a puzzle to me as to why this film is not more widely known. The performances are excellent all round with Roland and Garfield standing out. And, you've got to see Jennifer Jones wielding a sub-machine gun at the film's climax.

Tedious and embarrassing

[bob-1070 · 2/10 · 4 March 2009]

Every once in awhile, I find a film on Turner Classic Movies with a lot of A-list talent that I've never heard of. Usually there's a good reason why I'd never heard of it: it's bad. And when it's a film directed by John Huston, which he co-wrote with Peter Viertel (who collaborated with Huston 2 years later on "African Queen"), and with a cast as good as this...well, it seems even worse because of heightened expectations. There are maybe fifteen good minutes in this film, most of which include the great Pedro Armendariz as a sleazy, scary Cuban Cop. The rest ranges from mediocre to dismal. Heavy handed, didactic dialog is presented in static, stagy tableaux. Characterization -- other than by Armendariz -- is non-existent. One clever plot reversal leads to an unbelievable ending that comes out of nowhere. Story points are suddenly dropped, things happen completely out of convenience or because the director decides they should happen that way, and there is absolutely no sense of tension. Garfield is totally miscast, Jones tries her best, and Roland is a cartoon character. You can read the other positive reviews posted here and think that I must be way off base...but just ask yourself why you've never heard of this movie. If it was any good, you would have.

A first rate 'gritty' actioner with terrific performances

[jesseman · 9/10 · 27 April 1999]

Dealing with Cuban revolutionaries a few years before Castro, the story line is tough, thoughtful, ironic. Jones(especially good as China Valdez) and Garfield are well teamed. Roland provides humor and bravado in a performance(one of his best)that balances the pace of the film's drama and action. The Mexican and American supporting players are all on the mark, a pleasure to watch. Huston directs with a consistent, steady hand; with knowledge and empathy in canvassing territory not easily accessed by the war weary now grown complacent audiences of 1949.

Decent film with a miscast leading lady

[jjnxn-1 · 6/10 · 30 April 2013]

Political drama of the initial Cuban upheaval pre-1933. Shown from the vantage point of the revolutionaries and their plot to overthrow the oppressive government in one fell swoop this is an unusual film for it's time period in that it doesn't shrink away from stating that the freedom workers might have to take innocent lives to achieve their goals. Huston's direction is assured and Garfield and Roland acquit themselves well but the picture is marred by two things. First is the overly obvious rear projection shots that occur throughout the film and the larger problem that Jones is miscast in a part that would have fit Katy Jurado like a glove. She seems neither gritty enough, she is consistently glamorous even when digging beneath a cemetery!!, nor even remotely Cuban to be believable. Not a bad film just flawed.

Passing Strangers

[writers_reign · 5/10 · 15 February 2008]

It's probable that this enterprise planted the seed that became White Hunter, Black Heart, throwing as it did screenwriter Peter Viertel and John Huston together several years before The African Queen. I seem to be in a minority here as most comments are highly favourable. I concede that it was brave in the extreme to make a pro-revolution movie at the time they did but other than that I find it on the dull side. Garfield especially is muted virtually throughout which goes completely against his screen persona of the virile, vitriolic short-fused hero and there is virtually no chemistry between him and Jennifer Jones, who comes close to reprising her Duel In The Sun shoot-out in the last reel. Gilbert Roland takes what acting honours there are in what for me is a curio rather than a lost gem.

where is this movie????

[edward-miller-1 · 23 June 2003]

Can anyone tell me where I can find a copy of this? I haven't seen it in thirty years, and if it is half as good as I remember, this is a must-see! What's up with Columbia holding back their classics? The Reckless Moment, made the same year (1949) by Columbia is also unavailable. These are major films directed by, respectively, John Huston and Max Ophuls, starring the likes of Jennifer Jones, John Garfield, Gilbert Roland, Joan Bennett, and James Mason. The Reckless Moment was recently remade decently as The Deep End, but it still doesn't compare. If anyone knows where I can get We Were Strangers, please post it here. Thanks, movie lovers!

Keeps your interest from beginning to end.

[singhaha2000 · 7/10 · 23 November 2003]

The scene with Pedro, the secret policeman sitting and drinking a whole bottle of rum and eating cracked crab while trying to seduce China was absolutely tops! I did not think however John Garfield really gave it his best in this one.

Good Premise, Bad Direction

[elevenangrymen · 6/10 · 16 March 2013]

China is a bank teller living in Cuba in 1933. Her brother is working with a group of revolutionaries who are trying to depose the government. Her brother is caught handing out leaflets for their cause, and he is shot and killed. China grows upset (understandably) and joins the revolutionaries herself. She meets an American named Tony Fenner and he comes up with the plan to blow up all of the heads of government. To do this, they will use China's house as a base. They will tunnel under the ground to a nearby cemetery. Then they will kill a prominent politician and blow everyone at his funeral up.

The plan gets complicated when the man who murdered China's brother finds China and begins to suspect she is doing something shady. Also, China and Tony begin to fall for each other, all the while Cuba descends into a totalitarian state.

It is hard to watch this film without taking into account the revolution in Cuba in the late 1950s and early 1960s. That revolution, which put Castro into power, makes this film seem very outdated. Even though it is set in 1933, this film still feels heavily dated and unrealistic. That is not the only problem. This film tries to achieve two objectives, to be a political thriller and a romantic drama, and it fails on both accounts. It appears that Huston just couldn't direct a thriller. Both The MacKintosh Man and The List of Adrian Messanger were spectacularly thrill less.

It is not as if the film is a mess, but it just had no sense of direction. With a better director, someone who cared more, this could have been a pretty good thriller. But Huston's tepid direction is nothing short of boring. Even the veteran actors on display could not save the film. Jennifer Jones is a great actress, but here she is not good. Her role is so poorly written that it just screams cliché. Her Cuban accent is rough and unbelievable. Her line deliveries are stodgy, and her character is just boring. The revenge plot device runs out of steam quickly, and we are left with people digging a tunnel for an hour.

John Garfield is a good actor when given good material, which he is not here. His character is from average from the get go, and it hurts his performance dearly. He is not accomplishing anything new in this film, and his persona wears thin quickly. The one standout in the cast is Pedro Armendariz. His character's scenes are few, but he has one standout scene which he excels in. That scene is also the highlight of the film, due much to Armendariz's talent.

The script seems to never know what it wants. It jumps back and forth between political thriller and romance. The romance seems forced, and the political side seems dated. And of course, the thrills are non-existent. The script however could have been improved, and it could have made for a good film. That, unfortunately, was not the case.

The cinematography is actually quite good. It is shot like a film Noir, with terrific lighting. However, Huston's camera refuses to be original or move much. It stays completely still, bringing an air of stuffiness to the screen. The score is good enough to listen to, but you forget about it completely after the film ends. It is just like the film, unmemorable.

I have talked often about Huston's laid back style of direction. It can definitely work for some kinds of films, but you can not direct in a thriller in a relaxed fashion! The whole point of a thriller is to thrill, not to just show stuff that can be considered thrilling. You have to put your camera into the scene, you have to make audiences feel the stakes. This film does none of that. And of course, the film is so anticlimactic. **SPOILER ALERT** Just after they kill a politician and are having the bomb made, they find out that the funeral is being held somewhere else. All the work they did was for nothing, and that's it. That's the end. Then there is a shootout and the revolutionaries win! **SPOILER ALERT**

It feels so false, that it becomes hard to take the film seriously. Perhaps I am bashing this film too hard, but I can't help it. This kind of boring, thrill less exercise feels like a waste of my time. It is not that bad of a film, but it is definitely not as good as it could have been. It left me just as quickly as it came to me, and it is one film I do not think I will see ever again.

We Were Strangers, 1949, Starring: Jennifer Jones, John Garfield and Pedro Armendariz, Directed by John Huston, 6/10 (C-)

(This is part of an ongoing project to watch and review every John Huston movie. You can read this and other reviews at http://everyjohnhustonmovie.blogspot.ca/)

A slow, long drawn out drama with a quite sedentary plot

[SimonJack · 6/10 · 3 February 2022]

"We Were Strangers" is a drama set in the 1930s during Cuba's revolutionary period that ended the government of General Gerardo Machado Morales (1925-1933). The story comes from a 1948 novel by Robert Sylvester, "Rough Sketch." That there is any romance in this film is questionable, but an apparent love develops between the two leads.

The film has a good cast, but there doesn't seem to be any life in any of them except Gilbert Roland as Guillermo Montilla. John Garfield's Tony Fenner is a very reserved character, almost withdrawn. Some of the others - Ramon Novarro as Chief, Morris Ankrum as Mr. Seymour and Wally Cassell as Miguel seem wooden. They give the impression that someone is holding a gun on them - a frequent situation in a number of movies about Nazi Germany.

Finally, the time spent digging the tunnel and workers relieving one another seems to drag on and on. There isn't much plot to this film, and it seems way too long. It may be a stretch even to give it six stars. I doubt that many modern audiences would be patient enough to sit through this film. John Huston's direction tries to develop the individual characters, but there's just not much to work with here.

There have been any number of tremendous films made about revolutions, undergrounds and resistance groups during war time and civil unrest. Most of them have been quite good. Those plots were generally more substantial than this one, and the portrayals of different scenes would keep one on the edge of his or her seat. This film was missing all of that.

Undermined at the end

[Igenlode Wordsmith · 7/10 · 11 November 2006]

This film is very nearly very good. For much of its length, with the exception of a few over-simplistic chunks of philosophy, it's a taut, nerve-stretching thriller, culminating in a brutal twist; the whole plot has been taking place on borrowed time as the conspirators race to complete their work before the secret police can finish tracking them down, and it is all for nothing. They have miscalculated, not their timing, but their entire scheme, and there is nothing left but the shaming, anti-climactic scramble for survival. In 1940s Hollywood, we just know that they aren't going to get away with it... and with the lofty ideals shattered, it's no real surprise now when the escape plan fails and hero and heroine prepare to go down together in a hail of bullets against the forces of law and order.

But this isn't film noir, even though it has long since begun to look very much like one. In a gangster film, the characters wouldn't have got away with it -- but here, our heroes are brave revolutionaries fighting against a foreign dictator, and a 'deus ex machina' can step in to save the day in the form of a popular uprising that overthrows the government without their help (and conveniently preserves them from staining their hands with the blood of innocents in the atrocity planned).

Unfortunately, this ending is very weak; not necessarily in what happens, but in how it is handled. The only way I can see it working is as the darkest of ironies -- a final savage outburst of cosmic humour at their expense, to cap even the failure of the bomb plot on the whim of the victim's elderly sisters. Gilbert Roland's Guillermo (as ever, the most memorable), is the only one to set his finger on the heart of it: to die five minutes too soon is not grounds for canonization, it is a black joke. China's final sentimental speech about how her lover is not dead, but will live on in all the laughter and singing in the world, rings utterly false in comparison; as a would-be happy ending, it not only doesn't work but comes dangerously close to undermining the preceding scenes.

A bitter laugh in the face of the tricks of fate, or a howl of despair or defiance... either might have been pulled off as a convincing coda. The film could have been ended with a long shot of Ariete's burning body, the fulfilment -- too late -- of China's terrified dream. As it stands, however, after running at a fairly steady 8/10 for most of its length, the ending pulls it down sharply to no better than a 7 overall; a more effective finale might even have been able to push it up to a 9...

As mentioned, Gilbert Roland stands out from the other revolutionaries as Guillermo, the easy-going dockworker with a rough gift for words, and a jest and song for all eventualities. Jennifer Jones is surprisingly convincing in her smouldering hatred as the sister of a murdered student who joins the revolutionaries in her turn, and David Bond is memorable as Ramon, the intellectual whose conscience and fever eventually overcome him. John Garfield is somewhat nondescript as the American hero. Pedro Armendariz imbues the sinister Ariete, representing tyranny and corruption in person for the purposes of the film, with a sense of keen intelligence and threat that survives even his drunken collapse (and is aided by his resemblance to a Cuban Poirot!)

The script mainly resists the temptation to over-romanticise its characters, and does not shrink from the brutal realities of what they are planning, or from the necessity, for example, to silence the raving Ramon. The wordless scene in which the senators, one by one, vote through the dictator's latest decree under the unspoken herd-like pressure to conform is as bitter a critique of democratic form as any; and for a film made under the shadow of HUAC, the explicit endorsement of underground activities to overthrow a government is astonishing -- I can't help wondering if the unparalleled insistence throughout on stressing the year of the setting, 1933, was an attempt to concentrate attention on the fact that this was nominally a historical tale about the overthrow of a former corrupt Cuban regime, and not a commentary on the then-current one!

In its style, the film is largely reminiscent of Huston's "Asphalt Jungle" or "Treasure of the Sierra Madre", and of any of a dozen gangster/mob thrillers where a carefully-laid plan is unravelled by the flaws of the participants or the capricious hands of Fate (a.k.a. the Hays Code). There are a number of shots whose visual impact stays in the memory, and the music -- save, again, for a brassy triumphalism in the final scenes -- is evocative and appropriate. Ariete's remorseless stalking of his prey (does he suspect China or does he merely desire her?) is nail-biting in its persistence, and there is little let-up from the tension.

It's just a pity about that saccharine cop-out of an ending.

"Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God": Thomas Jefferson

[sol1218 · 8/10 · 8 April 2007]

***SPOILERS*** Almost forgotten film about the White Terror that was unleashed on the Cuban people by the brutal and Fascist Gerardo Machado regime that lasted seven years from 1925 to 1933 when Marchado was finally driven from power in a popular and spontaneous revolution. Because of its more or less anti-corporate message, Dictator Marcado was fully supported by the US government and big business, the film "We Were Strangers" didn't get the credit or recognition that it deserved being considered pro-Communist. The film was soon put on the shelf gathering dust never to see the light of day until some thirty after it's release back in 1949.

Having her brother Manalo,Tito Renaldo, a student activist gunned down on the very steps of Havana University turned the meek and God-fearing bank clerk China Valde, Jennifer Jones, into a fiery revolutionary against the government. China joined up with a number of Cuban freedom fighters lead by American Tony Fenner, John Garfield, who masquerades around on the island as a talent scout looking for the latest in both Cuban music and dance crazes that he could bring back to America. We soon learn that Tony Fenner is really a Cuban exile named Antoino Ferrer who's father, together with his family, fled Cuba in 1925 when Machado took over.

Trying to get things going in overthrowing the Machado regime Tony who's been heavily financed by Cuban exiles, like himself, back in New York City's Spanish Harlem gets a number of his Cuban friends and fellow revolutionaries in Havana together to dig a tunnel under the Havana Cemetery. It's there they would plant some hundred pounds of explosives setting them off when a Cuban government big shot, that Tony & Co. plan to assassinate, is being laid to rest With Machado and his henchmen, political and military, in attendance thus decapitating the Machado dictatorship.

China has a far more personal reason in her covert actions in that the head of the hated Cuban Gestapo-like secret police Armondo Ariete, Pedro Armenda, was the person who gunned down, as we saw earlier in the movie, her brother Manolo. Ariete has, not knowing that he murdered her brother, been trying to make it with China since he saw her at the bank where he was checking on Cuban/USA bank money transactions. The transactions that Tony and his Cuban freedom fighters are heavily, in order to keep their resistance movement alive, involved in.

Beautifully photographed in black and white "We Were Strangers" has a strikingly sharp, and dark, film-noir quality to it with Tony and his gang of revolutionaries breaking their backs, and almost suffocating from the stench, in digging underneath and planting a giant land-mine in the middle of the Havana Cemetery. Only to have the planned funeral of Machado henchman Acento Contreras (Fred Godoy), who Tony and his gang assassinated, transfered to another cemetery outside he city because Acento's sisters wanted to have a little privacy in their brothers final send-off.

Despite a number of setbacks, like the Acento Contreras fiasco, by Tony and his revolutionary gang the Cuban people themselves later took to the streets and drove Machado from power but not before Tony, or Antiono Ferrer, Fenner's lost his life as he was gunned in a wild shootout with the police and Cuban militia at the end of the film.

It was ruthless tyrants like Gerardo Machado, and the US support of them, that made it possible for future dictators like Fidel Castro to gain control of the countries that they were driven out of. Being in league, and in bed, with dictators like Marchado and later Batista didn't play to well with the majority of the Cuban people who greatly suffered under them. In the end it not only turned them against the US but also,like in the case of Fidel Castro, welcomed Soviet support that also endangered the security of those very countries, like the USA, who during the hight of the Cold War whole heartily as well as foolishly supported them.

The Accent is on Jennifer Jones

[wes-connors · 6/10 · 8 August 2011]

Cuban-accented Jennifer Jones (as China Valdes) watches as her 19-year-old brother is shot protesting the island's tyrannical government. Vengeful, she joins the revolutionary underground. Accepted in the resistance, Ms. Jones finds romance with Havana-born John Garfield (as Tony Fenner), who returns from the US to becomes a partner. On her first assignment, Jones re-encounters Pedro Armendariz (as Armando Ariete), who shot her brother. They meet organizer Ramon Novarro (the Chief), who plots government overthrow, with a plan developed by Mr. Garfield. Also in the group is Gilbert Roland (as Guillermo), a "silent" movie star along with Mr. Novarro. "We Were Strangers" is tense and involving at times, but it doesn't always seem authentic.

****** We Were Strangers (4/27/39) John Huston ~ Jennifer Jones, John Garfield, Pedro Armendariz, Ramon Novarro

Surely the worst thing the great Hohn Huston ever directed

[Handlinghandel · 2/10 · 24 July 2007]

The idea of a movie about a revolution: Yes, that is John Huston. The casting: Well, to some degree, it may have been out of his hands. But it's a really crude, uninteresting movie. And that despite John Garfield (who is quite good) as its male lead)! Actors in community theater are taught that if play is translated or is otherwise taking place in a country where English is not the primary language, accents are unnecessary. Worse than unnecessary: They make no sense, as we are hearing what the people are saying in their language as translated into our (if we speak English.) Here, everyone except Garfield speaks with a thick Spanish accent. Garfield is playing an American.

It's heartening to see Ramon Novarro given work in the late forties. He and Gilbert Roland sound fairly realistic. And Pedro Almandariz, as the villain, does not sound fake. He is also very good.

That leaves Jennifer Jones. Here is an actress whose talents were far too often ignored or squandered. She was a charming comedienne; yet she was often cast in heavy, intense movies.

She is the star of what may be my favorite Lubitsch film, though it's an atypical one: "Cluny Brown." And she is hilarious, as a blonde, no less, in Huston's own "Beat the Devil." I can't imagine gong to a theater in 1949 with a date and having to sit through this. It is hard enough to watch on DVD.on DVD.

Before Scarface there was We Were Strangers

[PWNYCNY · 8/10 · 17 June 2007]

Tony Montana and Tony Fenner. The former was the main character in Scarface, the latter in We Were Strangers. The parallels between both characters and both movies is uncanny. Both movies involve characters named Tony interacting on some level with corrupt police. Both include beautiful yet troubled women. Both involve Hispanic characters yet both Tonys are portrayed by non-Hispanic actors. Both movies glorify violence. In both movies each Tony is brooding, moody and when provoked capable of extreme violence. Both Tonys are anti-authoritarian and do not run away. The physical resemblance between John Garfield and Al Pacino is also uncanny. Also, both movies contain unmistakable political overtones involving the political situation in Cuba. Gilbert Roland's performance is outstanding. Jennifer Jones's performance is powerful. Equally noteworthy is Pedro Armendariz's outstanding performance as the corrupt and unstable Chief of Police. As the saying goes, they don't make 'em like this anymore.

Pretty exciting stuff...

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 17 September 2009]

Although this film isn't exactly true in the way it portrays history (the ending wasn't quite accurate), then this is a pretty exciting film about a group of revolutionaries in 1930s Cuba--well before the days of Castro and Batista.

The film begins with the government suspending basic freedoms. In response, a group of students spread fliers demanding an end to the dictatorship. Shortly after this, a couple of these students (including the brother of the character played by Jennifer Jones) are killed by the police. This event propels Jones to the side of the revolutionaries. The leader of this group is played by John Garfield--who is supposed to have emigrated to the US years before (though, oddly, he hasn't a trace of a Cuban accent). The group comes up with a bold plan--to tunnel under the cemetery and blow up most of the government officials during a state ceremony. All they need to do is dig a tunnel from Jones' basement and arrange to have an important member of the Senate killed in order to provide this funeral. There's more to it than this as well as a romance. However, I don't want to say more and spoil the suspense.

The film is very good all around despite the odd casting of Garfield (without accent) and Jennifer Jones (though she did a pretty good job). What I liked about the film was the tense and intelligently written script. While not perfect (especially because I didn't find the romance all that believable), the film is interesting and unique--how many other Hollywood films deal with this period in Cuban history?

We Were Strangers-Keep it that Way **1/2

[edwagreen · 5/10 · 7 March 2008]

Revolution comes to Cuba in 1933. Funny, Fulgencia Battista's name is never mentioned. He is the one who would rule Cuba until 1959 when Fidel ended his rule.

Half way through this tedious film and we still don't know anything about the John Garfield character. Is he a soldier of fortune? Finally, it's revealed that he is a native Cuban.

Jennifer Jones has an authentic Spanish accent even though it appears that her tongue has been rolled back. There are certain scenes that she appears as erudite as Miss Dove.

Something is missing here and that's more action.

The conspirators plot the end of the dictatorship by building a bomb which they will detonate at a cemetery. Of course, they expect everyone to be there based on the person they have chosen to assassinate so as to make a funeral necessary. When this fails to materialize, it appears that all is lost until Garfield shoots it out with the government officials in the home of Jones, his lover and compatriot. Her brother has been shot to death for participating in revolutionary activities. By the way, this shoot out is not exactly For Whom the Bell Tolls. It's not even a Duel in the Sun.

As luck would have it, as the Garfield character is dying, the people of Havana begin a revolution.

Great to have freedom and to be free of this tedious, monotonous story. People sing and dance in the street as our hero Garfield lay dying. Gilbert Roland, with his usual Spanish demeanor, sings a song in praise of 1933, liberty and his friend Fennel (Garfield). This was utterly ridiculous.