But, Castle cut his teeth with several crime and mystery films which often bordered on Noir such as early entries in The Whistler series. Not bad for having bit parts in 1943! Third-billed Robert Mitchum was elevated to star status on the reissue prints of When Strangers Marry, which unfortunately tended to give away the film's surprise ending; also in the cast in a tiny role is Mitchum's future Out of the Past co-star Rhonda Fleming. Jonathan Majors Dropped by Manager Entertainment 360 Following Domestic Violence Charges, AI-Generated Fake Drake/Weeknd Collaboration, Heart on My Sleeve, Delights Fans and Sets Off Industry Alarm, Beef Star David Choe Appears to File Copyright Takedowns for 2014 Podcast Video of Him Joking Hes A Successful Rapist, Bruce Springsteen Contracts COVID and Misses His Archives Inaugural Awards Show, but Presents Via Video. Betrayed or When Strangers Marry starts out with a a murder being committed by an unseen man. When I saw on opening credits William Castle directing this minor Noir I had really stayed worried about that, however he proves to be a prolific director as displayed in this one, the movie suffers of a lack of veracity when a young girl Mildred Baxter (Kim Hunter) marries an older man Paul Baxter (Dean Jagger) in few days, around twice of her age, it sounds to me implausible, Mildred already has been courted by the personable Fred Graham (Robert Mitchum) around 27 years typified as better choice for her naturally, well saying that, the plot stays is lame to start, when a murder is committed at Hotel Philadelphia which was stolen 10.000 cash, seemingly Paul Baxter is the murder, when his wife is invites by Baxter for a meeting at New York's hotel, strangely he didn't appears, raising unequivocal suspects by such unusual behavior, the screenplay driven forces to the audience reach in this unasked conclusion, as said an oldest saying "In this bush had a rabbit", the veteran actor Neil Hamilton plays a Police Lieutenant Blake in arobust acting, for a low budge movie shot in a week or so by the multi-skilled and cherished William Castle!! Supplements: none When Strangers Marry Full PDF. Helpful. His evasive actions are enough to raise suspicions even in a naive Ohio gal like her -- he makes her wander the streets of wartime Greenwich Village at night (as she did a year earlier in Val Lewton's The Seventh Victim). He keeps the girl to ruin her reputation so that Etienne will be forced to withdraw his marriage offer and challenge him to a duel. While I think the twins were great characters I felt the book needed to focus more on the married couple, Lysette became background filler toward the end of the book and it was disappointing. Girl finds her man in hiding, and the two continue dodging the cops. On a scale of Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor, That Castle just didn't get it; no wonder he turned to effect-heavy horror flicks. . Packaging: Keep case . WHEN STRANGERS MARRY (William Castle, 1944) ***, A tight, tense little thriller that helped consolidate the noir cycle. Solving the mystery of who killed Max's first wife, kind of. The critical reception of When Strangers Marry was excellent considering that the film had been distributed by the Poverty Row studio of Monogram. Millie Baxter, a nave woman, comes to New York City to meet her salesman husband Paul Baxter, whom she had met only months before, and discovers that he may be a murderer. A King Brothers Production. Then begins another type of manhunt, the police on the trail of a killer who to all intents and purposes is the disappearing husband. IMDb Backstory 2: Interviews with Screenwriters of the 1940s and 1950s. . She had only met Paul 3 times before they tied the knot. I found the hero, Max, to be sexy and refreshing since he wasn't constantly ordering his new bride around, but he could also be dismissive and secretive. By the end of 1944, film noir was in full bloom. When Strangers Marry was written by Phillip Yordanthough its more correct to say that it was rewritten by Yordan since his usual practice was to farm out projects to underlings. Strangers Again Kdrama Ending Although the ending of the Korean drama Strangers Again left many fans disappointed it is noteworthy that the show's Episode 12 garnered its highest viewership of the entire series. HarperCollins. "When Strangers Marry" (not "When Cousins Marry" like the poster in the musical 'The Producers') is a good 1944 noir directed by William Castle starring Robert Mitchum, Kim Hunter, Dean Jagger, and Neil Hamilton. After that a young woman (Kim Hunter) awaiting her newly married husband (Dean Jagger) in New York. "House on Haunted Hill" director William Castle's murder & mystery "Where Strangers Marry" is a good crime thriller with a great surprise reversal in the final moments. Hopper, Hedda. An intriguing noir premise is undone by a terrible lead character that is so annoying and fucking naive it set me on edge. Alfred Hitchcock transformed himself into a spokesman for his "branded line" of movie thrillers and TV suspense shows, and Castle followed suit by inventing audience participation gags for his pictures: insurance policies, skeletons flying over the audience, "ghost viewers". arrest, bride, claim, courtship, death, honeymoon, husband, investigation, killing, loot, mail, marriage, mistake, motel, murder, newlywed, old-flame, police, questioning [police interrogation], robbery, room, stranger, suspect, waiter, wedding, bar [pub], hunting, king, man, news. 2. Betrayed, 1944. This movie. "Betrayed"/"When Strangers Marry" is a solid, fast moving noir/whodunit from 1944. A mood of unease hovers over everything, and the plot and all the characters are driven by a single unifying principal: no one can really know anyone else. Kim Hunter, a comparative newcomer, is attractive as well as immensely appealing as the disraught but loyal wife. more, All Philip Yordan scripts | Philip Yordan Scripts. With only seven days and a budget of $50,000,[5] filming took place in June 1944. This interplay of interiority and exteriority runs throughout the film from the sequence at Coney Island (great montage) with the carny barker to the couple "taking in a movie". The shifted focus from Lysette becoming Max's bride to Max's family problems is what lost my interest somewhat. I just feel the story lost steam near the middle and dragged out for no reason till the end. The tone was much darker but that was a plus for me. But fifteen years earlier, one of Castle's first directing efforts tried openly to imitate Hitchcock's actual filmmaking style on a shoestring budget. 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A naive small-town girl comes to New York City to meet her husband, and discovers that he may be a murderer.A naive small-town girl comes to New York City to meet her husband, and discovers that he may be a murderer.A naive small-town girl comes to New York City to meet her husband, and discovers that he may be a murderer. Simultaneously layered as a whodunit and a revenge story, Rian Johnson creates something so complex, so outlandish, and yet at the same, Alice Lee is eighteen years-old when she takes off from her small Wisconsin town, drawn like a moth to the bright lights of New York City. It is difficult to understand how Castle became stymied with primitive stylistic systems while he so crisply demonstrated a full understanding of who he was to become as a director in When Strangers Marry. With Jack Holt, Lilian Bond, Arthur Vinton, Barbara Barondess. To celebrate the 70th anniversary of film noirs landmark year, were looking at the six key noirs of 1944: Double Indemnity, Laura, Murder My Sweet, Phantom Lady, The Woman In the Window, and When Strangers Marry. ISBN. Castle's third feature is an interesting case of talents in the bud. Every 'Love Is Blind' Couple Who Got Engaged in the Pods: Where Are They Now? | Made by fans in Aotearoa New Zealand. However, in spite of that; the production values aren't bad and the cast all do well also. The husband remains mysteriously out of site for a while, so she gets reacquainted with Mitchum before finally encountering her husband (Dean Jagger). It's an alright Monogram noir that features a naive and none too interesting leading lady - sympathetic yes, but without any edge whatsoever - and a whole bunch of things about. What she didn't know is how far Max would go for his revenge, and when she ends up falling in love with him she wonders what he will find more preciousthe love they share or exacting his revenge that he has always wanted.When Stranger's Marry, is the updated version of Only In Your Arms. Certain scenes involve hi-key lighting setups framing characters in closeup and in these shots, Castle is consistent in providing diegetic light sources that match up. Castle's photo might be considered one of his early gimmicks and is certainly connected to my own thesis about his impresario directing playing on the enframing and "4th Wall" of screen-spectator identification. People were quick to make their wants and themselves known and didn't mince words. Overall, I understood his fear and reluctance with Lysette, but both characters suffered what I like to call Kleypasitisto a severe degree. Like My Name is Julia Ross, another quick-and-dirty damsel-in-distress movie, When Strangers Marry helped lay down the blueprints for what would come to be called film noir. , (2002 ) ( 1992 . "The story has locomotor ataxia at several of its joints and the intensity of the telling slackens off toward the end; but taking it as a whole, I have seldom, for years now, seen one hour so . Can the police get their man and can Millie find happiness? The film's is actually a blend of Hitchcock's well known Suspicion with Val Lewton's relatively obscure The Seventh Victim. Making the Decision to End Your Marriage. Shes newly arrived in New York City looking for her husband, a traveling salesman named Paul Baxter. Even little things work against her in the big, impersonal surroundingsthe unhelpful news guy, streetlights suddenly going out. . A woman who married a stranger she met on TikTok for "life experience" fell in love with her husband and "couldn't be happier". Castle frames a clock which is a popular trope of his. Paul fails to show up at a hotel in New York City, so Fred takes her to see a homicide detective, Lieutenant Blake (Neil Hamilton of TV's "Batman), where he played Commissioner Gordon of Gotham City. A symptom that finally breaks the bond between husband and wife. Release Calendar Top 250 Movies Most Popular Movies Browse Movies by Genre Top Box Office Showtimes & Tickets Movie News India Movie Spotlight. "But he's going to take me away. Fools! A man who strikes fear into everyone's hearts. Then again, nobody was exactly looking for a series of imitation Hitchcock B-pictures. Marriage was one of those subjects and comes up in the older movies. 5. If you were burned back then, you became hard and stayed that way which is depicted in the movie in one of the scenes involving renting a room. The one Castle prerequisite element that I could do without however is the plot contrivances (shoot the scenarists and producers as well). After Mitchum became an A-list star in the late forties, the film was rereleased as Betrayed, with Mitch bumped up to top billing in the advertising. An old man-pal (the very young Robert Mitchum) happens to turn up to keep an eye on her strange marriage in the big bad city. A lot of misunderstandings and miscommunications and deceit and manipulation and just*sigh*. When Strangers Marry. 133, (Jan 1, 1945): 22. The film is only just over an hour long and I wouldn't be surprised to find that it was made as a 'B' feature for some bigger movie. This quaint but comforting thriller is seemingly influenced by the likes of Shadow of a Doubt and Suspicion as it revolves around a young woman becoming suspicious of her new husband. The camera tracks Millie's walking feet through hotel lobbies, and cranes to take in clocks and other bric-a-brac; it sometimes resembles a student film by a Hitchcock-addled undergraduate. First Kleypas book I read. 12, Iss. Its one of those type books, that you can just immerse yourself in, sit before a fire or on the beach, and enjoy the ride. Now that's an almost Hitchcockian twist in itself -- you might not immediately recognize Jagger. William Castle has been known to be heavily inspired by Hitchcock's films when it comes to his run of horror in the 60's but When Strangers Marry might just be where we can see that love start. STRANGERS is very much a B movie with all the usual shortcuts (montages, stock footage and scenes that can be only seconds in length). William Castle is a master at the shocker twist shot. . In 2002, the Lisa Kleypas novel When Strangers Marry came out. Web. . This time she's Millie Baxter, a barely-kissed bride who knows very little about her husband, a traveling salesman named Paul (Dean Jagger). As the innocent, idealistic young wife adrift in a city and world utterly alien to her, Kim Hunter carries the whole film with a performance of breathtaking conviction. Within the marriage, Lysette finds Max to be a demanding yet attentive and considerate husband. Starring Robert Mitchum and Kim Hunter. It becomes apparent the moment he shows up that he is in trouble and may be the killer of a drunk man he admits to having rolled in Philadelphia. Danielle Gross, 26, jumped at the chance to tie the knot . It is, however, a must for fans of Robert Mitchumand who the hell isnt a fan of Mitchum? Wanting Something Better Out of Life. Robert Mitchum was born to play these parts and showed it in one of his first leading roles. Director Castle simply tries to be too clever and too faux artistique for such a modest melodrama. Letterboxd is an independent service created by a small team, and we rely mostly on the support of our members to maintain our site and apps. The movie ends with a train scene that either copies Hitchcock (The Lady Vanishes) or predicts him (Strangers on a Train) depending on which film you choose. I thoroughly enjoyed this. U.S. release: 21 August 1944. I guess we should be grateful that Monogram didn't cut anything out of the movie when it reissued it. Kim Hunter and Dean Jagger are the main couple, and its really her story. , , . William Castle's first noteworthy effort (incidentally, the copy I acquired bore a new title - BETRAYED!) One big flaw is the storyline, which is completely preposterous and with some of the most absurd contrived coincidences in the annals of mysteries. During his infrequent visits, Paul acts very suspiciously -- and then disappears again, with little or no explanation. Whatever the hecks goin on with Dean Jagger, hes a weird pent-up fella who well lets just say its obvious that Homies got some problems. Format. [6], The film was adapted for an episode of Lux Video Theatre as "I Married a Stranger."[13]. Share. Hunter's marriage was a whirlwind affair, and as a result she barely knows her husband. 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