Strangers When We Meet (1960)

Sadly Over-hyped

Expected more

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The Ninth Commandements was the title in Brazil,speak for itself,when l watched this fine movie in late 1983 in dubbed version of course l found it a different look about a simple adultery,they really falling in love,in fact for Kim Novak who doesn't???She is really hot,transpire sex through the pores,she raise dead man from the grave,anyway Douglas whom we know him,don't stay back,surprisingly Matthaw made a very interesting role as a shady behavior,trying taken benefit for yourself,a doubtful profile,a turning point of this drama...nice to see it again in widescreen format but with subtitles...Resume: First watch: 1983 / How many: 3 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 7.5

I was surfing the net and saw this movie on Ebay, decided to buy it since I could not find it in the video store. I was surprise this is a good movie, Kim Novak was fabulous, look fabulous in this movie. The love relationship between her character and the Kirk Douglas's character was flawless, stupid but yet flawless. I can't understand why a man would like his beautiful and loving wife play by Barbara Rush to have an affair with another woman, when that woman told him up front that she doesn't want to leave her husband, even though he was willing to leave his wife for her. It was obvious from the beginning, all she want was some attention that her busy husband failed to give her. You know that in the end, they will just end up hurting each other and their individual families. Any woman who would leave her husband just for sex, would do it again when the new husband becomes busy or the thrill of sneaking around becomes dull. At the end of the movie, the last scene suggest she would do it again. This is an excellent movie from two still living legend.

I was totally shocked when I saw this film as a kid, home sick from school. Here was one of my movie heroes, Kirk Douglas and the lovely Kim Novak at her sexiest, and they were NOT doing good things in their neighborhood. Ahhhhhhhhh... so THIS is what was happening while I was at school.This "adult" themed soaper showed that Hollywood was beginning to change its tune when it came to dealing with issues like infidelity. Douglas plays a successful architect who starts an affair with Novak because he's, well, bored. Douglas' macho performance is tempered a bit and we really feel that he is in love with Novak. This isn't a tawdry affair, we're supposed to believe, because Douglas' performance is so strong. It isn't until late in the film do we realize that these types of affairs are incredibly damaging to all involved and that there are no heroes here.For establishing a subtle ground-breaking subject matter, for a strong Douglas performance, for the neat cars and a really cool barbecue on the patio (hello 60s... you can just see the neighborhood gang out there, firing up the steaks, sipping on gin and tonics and watching a space shot on one of those metal portable TVs) and most of all for the gorgeous Kim Novak, this soaper has a little more depth than you'd expect.Watch it.

If viewed from the morality of the period, this is actually quite a good movie. It attempted to tell a story about and comment on American family life, particularly on repressed desires and wedded relationships in the suburbs just before the "swinging 60's" exploded. Hearing Walter Matthau sum up his marital role as merely being considered "furniture in his own home" speaks volumes about what this film is about. Kim Novak is the sexy wife and mother to one family. Living down the manicured street is Kirk Douglas, the virile husband and dad in another - both living their lives against the backdrop of 1950's-60's morality. You do the math...Is it worthy of awards? No. Is the conflict entertaining? You bet! Definitely worth a look to those who like films from this era.