Strangers in the Night (1944)

That was an excellent one.

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

How sad is this?

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

What'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!

"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.

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.

This 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.