It's a dark movie - literally. At the first look at the vileness Hilda Blake (Helen Thimig) you will probably think: this is very bad acting. Than you realize Mrs Thiming is a great actress and that Hilda is a very scary character. There is an interesting romance between a soldier and a woman doctor suffering with a little community prejudice. All the action happens around a very big picture of a beautiful young woman, and the sinister Hilda give orders all the time to her submissive "friend" Ivy Miller (Edith Barrett). It's a pity that in the end the screenplay turns a little dumb in important details. This is the sixth film from Anthony Mann, and its style reminds me the very early Alfred Hichcock.
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dagomirmarquezi6 August 2010
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mackjay28 October 2007This rarely seen film directed by Anthony Mann has an over-the-top performance and some artificial 'Gothic' atmosphere to recommend it. If the viewer doesn't expect a great, lost masterpiece it can be fun and amusing.
After corresponding with a mysterious girl who shares with him an interest in Houseman's "A Shropshire Lad", Sgt. Johnny Meadows (William Terry) recently home from Guadalcanal arrives at the home of Hilda Blake. Here he hopes to finally meet the poetic girl. Hilda lives in an ornate Gothic-style mansion atop a cliff on the California coast. She is odd from the very beginning, but she only gets more weird as the story progresses. Living with her is a close friend Ivy Miller (Edith Barrett). The centerpiece of the mansion is a fairly kitschy portrait of a pretty young woman, Mrs. Blake's daughter. Hilda is convinced that Johnny is the destined true love of her daughter. She and Ivy extol the virtues of the girl, and convince Johnny that he will soon meet her and that the two will be very happy. However, on the train, by preposterous coincidence, Johnny had met a young woman doctor, Leslie Ross, played by Virginia Grey. That meeting introduces complications into Hilda's plans for her daughter's happiness. There are some unanswered questions that drive the plot, and it must admitted that the writers and director do a decent job of keeping the audience guessing. It's not really a bad idea for a story, but the execution here makes it more silly than serious. The main source of the silliness is the performance of Helen Thimig. With her Austrian accent and overly emotive eyes, Thimig invests Hilda with a bizarreness that should be a dead giveaway to Johnny. Something is very odd here. The film also has the kind of fake Gothic atmosphere that only exists in Hollywood films from this period. Several scenes look so artificial that they only work to remind the viewer that he's watching a movie. Definitely worth a look for Anthony Mann fans, but not one of his greatest efforts. -
This could have been a good movie. The main characters are well acted and believable in a melodramatic way.
In spite of some unlikely coincidences like the unnecessary train derailment, and our hero, a marine, recognizing the painter of the portrait of his fantasy girl as an old buddy from college, the plot concept is reasonably engrossing, moves along well, and tension is built up to almost the end. This part is written like a classic thriller.
Unfortunately,the last few minutes of the film seem as if the production crew had either run of of time or money and hastily contrived a hardly believable ending. That's the part that looks look it was written by a fifth grade class.
I'm sure if you didn't watch the ending, the film would actually haunt you. Of course, you want to know how it's all resolved, and instead of haunting you, you come away very unsatisfied.
Not a complete waste of time, but a certainly a waste of talent. -
dougdoepke2 August 2013When you think actresses, the name Helen Thimig doesn't pop right up. But here for a crippled old lady she's scary as heck. And what's this with her daughter Rosemary whose portrait looks like a dolled up version of Laura (1944). Poor Sergeant Johnnie, he's back from the war all bunged up, but can't wait to meet the portrait girl who sent him such beautiful letters but has since gone missing.
Meanwhile he has to content himself with the lovely Dr. Leslie (Grey) who's got her own problems being a woman doctor in a man's profession. And finally there's poor Ivy (Barrett) who acts like a frightened bird, frightened even of herself let alone her employer Mrs. Blake (Thimig). Actually, Barrett and Thimig are alumni of the great Val Lewton's horror series, so it's not surprising that their compelling turns form the movie's gripping core.
Director Mann's noirish touches are evident throughout and perfectly suited to the dark subject matter. Something's up with Blake and daughter Rosemary, but what. That's the crux of the plot. Also, I like the way we get a feel of how the war is affecting the home front, while the obscure William Terry makes a good happy-go-lucky GI in contrast to the sinister mansion. I expect the movie remains obscure because of its sub-60-minute runtime and lowly Republic pedigree. But there's a lot of talent involved in a suspenseful story, making this a minor noirish gem. -
misstoes31 May 2022This nifty little noir-gothic B picture throws everything but a "dark and stormy night" at you. WW2 combat, a train wreck, a foreign-accented scheming recluse, cliff top mansion, poisonings, booby traps and terrified female retainer. The dramatic action turns on what has happened to the mysterious pen pal daughter Rosemary? Returning Marine Johnny wants to know. The new lady doctor (Virginia Grey) is baptized by fire during a convenient train derailment just outside town, which occurs at the very moment when said Marine is about to tell the "Lady Doctor" about Rosemary. (Yes Director Anthony Mann moves the plot along quickly.) The wreck is dramatically presented then promptly forgotten about, as the marine-a combination of Van Johnson and Don DeFore- knocks on the cliff top manse door looking for Rosemary. Eventually we see a "Rebecca"-style boudoir, purportedly that of Rosemary.
This is not a criticism. The performances are very good, the sets well done, Virginia Grey is luminous as usual, Helene Thimig is very creepy in a proto-Dark Shadows role. It's an easy hour of entertainment. -
greenbudgie21 February 2021A seriously wounded Marine is given the will to live again through letters from a girl he's never met. He arranges to go and visit her when he's home on leave. Aboard a train to where Rosemary lives he mistakenly thinks for a moment that their paths have physically crossed before he arrives. A woman sitting opposite is carrying a copy of 'A Shropshire Lad' book of poems by Alfred Edward Houseman. That is the very book that had brought about the correspondence between the marine and Rosemary.
The woman on the train is Dr Ross who has just become the doctor for Rosemary's household. As Johnny the Marine is about to explain his mistake to Dr Ross the train crashes and many of the passengers are in need of her medical treatment. This brings these two strangers close and romance would have seemed to have blossomed if it wasn't Johnny's love for Rosemary who had saved his life through those letters. But Rosemary is not at home when Johnny finally gets to his destination.
Rosemary's house is on a remote clifftop. There lives Rosemary's mother and her nervous companion Ivy Miller. Rosemary becomes a mystery and her disabled mother is shown to be the kind who may live in a fantasy world for some reason. Tension builds as 'Rosemary's mother' becomes capable of endangering others in her bid to keep the romance between her daughter and Johnny alive. Not one moment is lost in this deft telling of a poor deranged woman who needs to imagine an alternative reality for herself. -
fchase-7247422 June 2017What's absorbing about this film is what's not said, not seen, and not dwelled on. The other reviewers pretty much have the movie nailed, but no one seems interested in exploring to their logical ends the situations presented here.
Like the fact that the beautiful young woman the soldier guy thought he was writing to during the war and was coming home to marry was actually an old woman, and a demented one at that. When soldier guy finds this out it's like, "whatever." He apparently doesn't find disturbing the implications of his having been fooled. We however are left to go "yuck" and feel a sort of sympathy for the woman as a victim of ageism. After all, if soldier guy "loved her mind" why reject her just because she's old (and demented)?
And what does smart doctor lady think of soldier guy, her soon- to- be husband, who is so confused and easily fooled?
And then think about the whole bizarre existence of the old woman who not only created a fantasy daughter and had "her" "portrait" painted, but regularly has worship sessions in front of the painting in the cult of her nonexistent daughter--with her weak- willed loyal companion going along.
Kinda makes you wonder how often in our own way we "regular folks" create fantasy versions of people and totally misread relationships.
Paging Dr. Freud! -
kalbimassey15 November 2023The economical 56 minute- leave yer seat to buy a choc-ice and miss most of it- running time seems just about right for this low budget, low key noir, which quickly settles into an efficiently haunting groove.
Injured marine, William Terry, invalided out of service, is lured by a series of letters to the residence of lonely, disturbed Helen Thimig to meet her lovely daughter, who exists......only in the form of an imposing portrait, which dominates a wall of her gloomy, austere home.
Frustrated by the mounting excuses for the girl's prolonged absence, Terry begins to form a close friendship with local doctor, Virginia Grey.
The irrational, insane jealousy of the increasingly deranged Thimig, triggers alarm bells in her companion (Edith Barrett). A naturally timid and guileless character, will she have the necessary chops to alert the couple of the impending threat, as Thimig's conduct grows ever more unpredictable?
'Strangers' retains a darkly sombre resonance throughout. Nobody appears to be in the mood to break into a 'doodee-doobee-doo' or a 'dah-dah-dah-dah-dah' any time soon!
The movie is most notable for the negative, suspicious attitude of the time, expressed towards Virginia Grey's character, as a female doctor. -
Sergeant William Terry (Johnny) survives WW2 by clinging to the hope of meeting up with Rosemary, the girl he has been corresponding with despite never having met her. On his return to the USA, he seeks her out in California. Well, he gets to see her portrait courtesy of Helene Thimig (Hilda) who is Rosemary's mother. But Thimig seems to be putting off a meeting between her daughter and Terry. Why?
This film is a nice discovery. It contains a disturbing story, a disturbing character (no need to guess who), other likable characters, an atmospheric setting and a short running time that keeps you watching from the beginning. You'll guess what is going on – sort of – but it doesn't take away the enjoyment of the film. A nice surprise. -
adrianovasconcelos11 November 2022I really like Director Anthony Mann's no nonsense approach. Albeit at the start of his career in STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT (Frank Sinatra wrongly but persistently comes to mind) he manages to imbue this 57' production with a sense of quiet, insidious evil from the outset, and maintains it throughout, with the atmosphere in Helen Thimig's house very cleverly exploited and adding to the inevitable enigma: who really is Rosemary, the woman in the painting, and is she alive? Why does she compare Rosemary's beauty to that of Leslie (Grey)?
Well, we get the answers at the end, even if I thought the trap less than convincingly set up, because good old Thimig never leaves the house.
Superb cinematography. The train crash scene really came out of nowhere and shook me. Very good acting, especially from Thimig and Grey. Credible script and sharp dialogue.
Minor B pic but definitely worth watching! -
mark.waltz30 August 2013A strange cliff-top mansion, a handicapped widow with a mysteriously absent daughter, a nervous companion, and a handsome soldier in receipt of letters from the elusive Rosemary create a strange mystery to say the least. Mother is obviously two macadamias short of a cookie and despises the young female doctor who tends to the soldier after he collapses in the Mandalay like mansion. When the truth is revealed, mommy dearest gets desperate...and sinister!
Don't expect any doo-bee-doo-bee-doo's in this oddly titled Gothic thriller. Sinatra's signature tune does not appear. In fact, other than the circumstances surrounding how soldier William Terry meets doctor Virginia Grey, the title has nothing to do with the bizarre plot line. Helene Thinig is the heavy accented matron who truly has many psychiatric problems and Edith Barrett is her petrified companion who must question the definition of loyalty as she faces the truth about her demented employer. As directed by cult director Anthony Mann, this is a very different type of mystery, a film with a plot that seems trite at first but will certainly make you think. You certainly won't forget the gallery of nuts you encounter in this spooky mansion by the sea. -
planktonrules25 February 2017"Strangers in the Night" is a very unusual B-movie. It's a bizarre story about a seriously deranged old lady, Mrs. Blake and the weird secret she hides.
When the story begins, Dr. Ross (Virginia Grey) is introducing herself to the folks in the seaside community where she'll be taking over for the old doctor. However, when she meets Mrs. Blake (Helene Thiming), the old woman is overtly hostile towards her...inexplicably so.
Soon after this, Dr. Ross is on a train and meets Sgt. Meadows (William Terry). It seems he is headed to the same small town where Ross now works...and he's going to the Blake household to see Mrs. Blake's lovely daughter. It seems that when he was off fighting in the war, he corresponded with the lady and he's totally smitten with her. However, once he arrives at the Blake household, they inform Terry that she isn't there. And, they invite him to stay until she returns. However, days pass and it's obvious something is going on here...and the return of the girl seems to very, very vague.
In the meantime, Mrs. Blake's nervous housekeeper, Ivy (Edith Barrett) knows some sort of secret and seems to always be on the verge of telling the Doctor. What is the secret? And how does it relate to the missing daughter? And, what does a painting of the lady have to do with all this?
I really loved this film. While most folks think all B-movies are bad movies, they are not. A true B is a short film (about an hour in length) and is usually cheaply made. The purpose of the film is to be the second film in a double feature--with the A (or prestige picture) being accompanied by this B. But just because a film is short and often hastily made doesn't mean it's bad...and "Strangers in the Night" is simply terrific. In fact, it's one of the best Bs I have ever seen. The writing and acting and direction all work together perfectly and the solution to the mystery is sufficiently dark and sick to satisfy. Well worth seeing and Helene Thiming is simply terrific as this sick, disturbed and nasty old 'lady'!
My score of 9 is because the film is so good and because of how it compares to other Bs....and it's head and shoulders better than about 99% of them. -
kapelusznik1814 April 2015****SPOILERS*** Badly banged up in the fighting in the South Pacific all that Marine Sgt. Johnny Meadows, William Terry, has to look forward to after leaving the hospital is meeting up with his pen pal sweetheart Rosemary Blake whom he's never as much as seen a photo of. It's Rosemary whom he's kept in contact with and who kept his hopes high since he started writing to her after finding her name in a used book he picked up back in a San Francisco book store. Now recovered from his wounds Johnny takes a train ride to Monteflores California to finally meet Rosemary in the flesh and start up a romance with her. With a detour on the train when it derailed off the tracks Johnny meets young woman doctor Leslie Ross, Virginia Grey, who in fact is looking after Rosemary's crippled mom Hilda, Helene Thimig,who as we and Johhny soon find out is a bit wacko in the head as well as crippled in her legs!
At the Blake house Johnny is disappointed not to find his love Rosemary but a painting of her and is told by Moma Blake that she's out of town temporarily entertaining returning US servicemen, like himself, coming back from the war! Told that Rosemary will be back in a few days Johnny for the time being starts up a romance with Dr. Ross that causes Moma Blake a lot of hard feelings; Both towards the doctor as well as Johnny.
***SPOILERS*** It's Moma Blake's good friend and live in nurse Ivy Miller, Edith Barrett, who knows the whole truth about her and her obsession with her missing from the scene daughter Rosemary and tries to warn Johnny to get out of his obsession of meeting and romancing Rosemary before it's too late. Johnny himself notices that the painting of Rosemary was done, by the unique breast strokes he uses, by someone he knew and checked out to San Francisco to see him and tell him what he knows about the elusive, from everyone in the movie cast, Rosemary Blake! Somewhat ridicules final ending with Moma Blake going completely off the wall and doing in, by spiking her milk, Ivy as well as trying to off both Johnny & Dr. Ross for finding out what a total nut case she, as if we didn't know by then, really is. Totally crazed after failing to finish off, by causing them to fall off a cliff, both Johnny & Dr. Ross the end for Moma finally comes when Rosemary herself, through what can only be called supernatural powers, puts a final end to Moma Blakes insanity! -
blanche-221 September 2019Sgt. Johnny Meadows (William Terry) and Dr. Leslie Ross (Virginia Grey) are "Strangers in the Night" when they meet on a train. During his time fighting his war injuries, Johnny fell in love via mail with a Rosemary Blake, whom he tells Leslie he's en route to meet.
Leslie doesn't tell him that he's met the very strange old Mrs. Blake (Helene Thimig) who seemed very put off that Leslie was a doctor, and a pretty one at that. In those days apparently a woman doctor was very unusual and off-putting.
Johnny visits Rosemary, but she's away. Instead he meets her mother and, while looking at Rosemary's portrait, he faints, still weak from not only his injuries, but an accident that occurred during the train ride. When the doctor is called, Leslie arrives. When Mrs. Blake realizes that Johnny and Rosemary know one another, she is visibly upset.
Mrs. Blake is odd, but the woman working for her, Edith (Edith Barrett) is a total wreck. She actually comes to see Dr. Ross, wanting to tell her something, but can't seem to get it out.
However when Johnny realizes that he's fallen for Leslie in Rosemary's absence, Mrs. Blake takes action.
This is quite a story, with Grey an absolutely beautiful, radiant young woman. I only have seen her as she was twenty years later, still beautiful but not as young. She is charming as the doctor.
Directed by Anthony Mann, Strangers in the Night is an atmospheric, absorbing film, short but entertaining.
Grey's story is a sad one - she had an on and off relationship with Clark Gable, and when Gable married someone else post-war, Grey was devastated and never married herself.
William Terry is affable as Johnny. Helene Thimig makes a terrifying Mrs. Blake. -
gortx16 August 2020Anthony Mann's brief (56 mins!) is a lightly enjoyable thriller that is more old house mystery than strict Noir (even if it's often pitched as one). William Terry plays Sgt. Meadows, a WWII vet, who returns stateside to finally meet the girl of his dreams who he's only known through the letters they exchange while he was in the South Pacific. Virginia Grey plays a -- (better sit down for this) WOMAN doctor named Dr. Ross! They meet cute on a train. When the Sergeant gets to the secluded cliff side mansion of his pen pal, she's not home. Instead, he is met by her grumpy mother Hilda (Helene Thimig) and a mousy live-in housekeeper (Edith Barrett). At under an hour, there isn't much time for true intrigue (and the mystery isn't all that difficult to decipher), but Grey, Thimig and Barrett all deliver entertaining performances. Mann keeps it moving, the script based on a Philip MacDonald story is dotty fun and Reggie Lanning's camerawork is suitably moody. Mann made much better true Noirs like RAW DEAL and BORDER INCIDENT, but, STRANGERS isn't a bad time killer. And, a pretty good title song by Sinatra to boot. :)
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pauldeadman16 July 2020A watchable film. Nothing deep or which requires any analysis or thought. I was going to give it a 6 until the final scene which, unfortunately, made me laugh.
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RyanNijakowski21 May 2019I'm actually surprised that this movie hasn't resurfaced as a kind of cult classic in recent years of the digital age. We are all familiar with social media and what "catfishing" is. Strangers In The Night is a wonderfully eerie catfishing tale as it would have taken place in the 1940s before social media. In a way the movie was ahead of its time. For being just under an hour long, though, it sure does have a lot of story packed into it. There's also a feminist element to it (female doctor).
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mrdonleone11 October 2019There's something about Strangers in the Night that annoys me beyond boundaries... It is hard to say quite what, because there is a very beautiful camerawork going on here and there is some nice acting as well; but what can we say about all of this?? It is just sad. That's what it is. And the ending is surprising but silly in my eyes.
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Recently Released on Blu-ray, this Obscure Anthony Mann Film has been in the Shadows of His Top-Tier Film-Noir and James Stewart Series of Westerns.
Moving on From the 1950's Mann Chose Big-Budget Historical Epics Popular in the Early 60's like "Fall of the Roman Empire" (1964) and "El Cid" (1961).
So the Trifecta of Film-Noir, the Neo-Realist Westerns, and Behemoth Blockbusters, Pushed this Little Film to the Back of the Pack in the Mann Filmography.
It's a Strange One that Features a Gothic, Psychological, Demented Story of a German-Accented, Cripple (Helene Thimig) well in Her 80's, Suffering from Numerous Disorders of the Freudian Nature.
She Dominates this Bizarre Movie as She is a Force of Nature Trying to Control the "Regular" People in Her Spinning Out-of-Order, Out-of-Sync Orbit.
Played Today it has a Familiar Vibe Utilized in many B-Movies and TV Anthologies.
Not So in 1944. It Displays its Unnatural Universe of Secret Worships and Devastating Dementia with Things Modern Audiences can Hardly Relate.
Pen Pals, Huge Painted Portraits over the Fire-Place, and Misdirected Manipulation by an Old Hag Destroyed by Nature's Unwillingness to Cooperate with Her Demands.
Virginia Grey as a Doctor Confronting Her Peers and Patients Double-Takes because of Her Profession does add a Modern Twist to the Feminine Mystique.
Edith Barrett as Ivy, the Live-In Spinster Companion Forced to Bow and Curtow to the Dynamic Personality of the Old Woman is Simply Superb in a Difficult Role.
A Wicked and Wonderful Movie that has Finally been Given its Due. -
Sir-Final_Thoughts-No_Review8 September 2023Servicable at best film-noir that doesn't quite resonate with me. Strangers In the Night deals with a recovering GI, whose road back to full health was strengthened by letters from a female pen pal whom he has never actually met. Their correspondence begins when he obtains a book, whose previous owner, a "Rosemary" leaves her mailing address and some kind words within, in hopes that the next owner will enjoy it as much as she did. He decides to write, she replies back and through time a romance begins to blossom.
Once he is discharged, naturally him and Rosemary have arranged to finally meet and that's when Strangers In the Night really begins.
It really is predictable within the first 20 minutes, I hate to be a stickler, but its full of plot holes and doesn't have alot of build up and seriously lacks in suspense. Notable really if only for Anthony Mann as director who is pretty darn good.
Its missing alot of ingredients that define what works best in film-noir movies. A nice title for the genre but doesn't aptly fit what's going on here.