Three Strangers (1946)

Waste of time

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

What a surprise this seemingly little remembered film turns out to be. For those who like their movies cloaked in dramatic irony, this should please. Terrific performances drive an intelligent (if sardonic) script by John Huston and Howard Koch. It's fueled by thought provoking situations that twist and turn like an angry sidewinder. Perhaps one of the best Lorre/ Greenstreet pairings of its time.Lorre has some especially profound dialog in a part quite unlike many others given to him. Director Gene Negulesco and prolific orchestral arranger Murray Cutter create some marvelous moods. Of special note is a scene between Lorre and Joan Lorring set under a foggy London pier. Take a close look, then listen to the atmospheric sound-scape created to bring his dialog to melancholy life!. Lorre has another unique scene in a park as he talks to a monkey in sign language. Many nice touches all the way through.Fitzgerald's character is also unlike any other I've seen her play. This woman is vindictively scary to say the least. Even Alan Napier has a major part to play as the deluded husband. It's not run of the mill entertainment and Warner's probably took it out of circulation early in its day. If you can enjoy a different approach to your entertainment (slightly less commercial but still very stylized) you should not be disappointed with this work. Won't be for all tastes but very good of its type. Unfortunately, TCM's Australian print is disappointingly blurry and in need of a better copy.KenR...............

Three Strangers (1946) *** (out of 4) John Huston wrote the short story this is based on and his also co-wrote the screenplay with Howard Koch. In the film, Sydney Greenstreet, Geraldine Fitzgerald and Peter Lorre play three strangers who go to an apartment where they come in front of a Chinese goddess who is said to grant a wish if three people make the same wish at midnight. After making the wish the three go their separate ways and their lives take separate paths but soon they wind up together again with that one wish in common. Some have held this as an unseen masterpiece and while I wouldn't go that far, the movie does have some great performances that make it a must see. We basically get three different stories that are told in different style but are brought together by this magical wish. I enjoyed Lorre's story of a criminal who gets in trouble when a partner gets caught killing a cop. I found this segment to be the best because Lorre is just so cold yet funny in his role. The weakest is without a doubt Fitzgerald's because it just comes off too melodramatic, although she too is great in the film. What happens to Greenstreet's character at the end was a great twist to the film and his breakdown is masterfully done. I'm really not sure if the magical goddess thing should have been in the screenplay at all because it is rather far fetched and makes the film seem campy at times. With that said, if you're a fan of any of the actors then you'll certainly want to check it out. Again, I didn't see it as a masterpiece as some have called it but the film is still quite good for what it is.

The time is 1938 London before the World War. A woman of mystery, Geraldine Fitzgerald, invites two perfect strangers played by Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet up to her apartment. She's a believer in the ancient Chinese god of Kwan Lin and it's said that if Three Strangers wish on that deity and their's is the same wish it will be granted. In this case the wish is money and it's in the form of a sweepstakes ticket that Peter Lorre has purchased and who gives two thirds away to Fitzgerald and Greenstreet in the hope of fortune coming their way.After this we see a glimpse of the lives of the three people. Lorre is a petty criminal who's gotten himself into a beautiful jackpot being accused of a murder that he didn't commit. Fitzgerald is a shrewish wife who stays married to an unhappy Alan Napier who just wants to be free to marry Marjorie Riordan. This is a harbinger of a role that Fitzgerald really perfected a dozen years later in Ten North Frederick. As for Greenstreet, he's a solicitor, an attorney of no great significance in the legal profession, an English version of a man whose name I was once threatened with named Abe Hecht. It's now become a synonym for cheap shysters with me. Anyway Greenstreet's the trustee of an estate he's been dipping into. He wants to make a financial killing real bad because he thinks that money will buy him respectability which he craves like nothing else.The film is like a 90 minute version of a Twilight Zone episode, but that's not a putdown because some really classic stuff was done on that program. The script was written by Howard Koch and John Huston and directed by Jean Negulesco. I'm surprised Huston did not want to direct this one himself, but Jean Negulesco got some of the best performances that members of the cast ever gave on screen, especially from the three leads.Notice no really big movie names are in this cast, no leading men screen legends. That may have been an asset to the film because it concentrates on the story and the characters created. The ironic fates of all three of the sweepstakes ticket sharers could have come right out of the imaginative mind of Rod Serling. And Peter Lorre is actually allowed a little romance in a movie. That alone makes Three Strangers absolutely priceless.Three Strangers is a B picture gem, one of those low budget sleepers that Hollywood puts out to great critical acclaim that turn a profit because of the low budget. And this review is dedicated to that attorney Abe Hecht whom I never met and to his idiot brother-in-law Morris Stetch who threatened me with him back in 1979. To see if Greenstreet obtains the status of a Clarence Darrow and rises from Abe Hechtdom, don't miss Three Strangers.

Geraldine Fitzgerald, (Crystal Shackleford) strolls down a London street and manages to recruit two strangers named Jerome K. Arbutny, (Sydney Greenstreet) and Johnny West, (Peter Lorre) to her apartment in order to celebrate a Chinese New Year. Crystal has a statue in her apartment named the goddess Kwan Yin which will open her eyes and grant wishes to the three strangers which involves a sweepstakes ticket. The two strangers have some very dark secrets and Jerome Arbutny is a crooked solicitor who steals money from trust funds and Johnny West is a small time criminal who loves to drink all the time. Crystal is a woman who has a husband who just plain left her and found another woman and then he is asking her for a divorce, but Crystal will not give him a divorce. If you liked seeing these actors in previous films you will enjoy viewing this film which is very mysterious with very dark secrets. Enjoy.