Strangers in the Night 1944

lg325

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Sep 13, 2020
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If you can pull it up it is worth watching if you like this sort of movie like a creepy and odd movie I didn't recognize any of the actors but they all did an excellent job with their characters. It is not a movie for everyone but I found it entertaining.
 
Suggest that it was the Anthony Mann treatment that grabbed you. Became a truly all time great Director and this is one of his minor pieces . .
His collaborations with Jimmy Stewart are legendary.
Cowboy genre and film noire .
But see full list of his films and be bowled over
 
If you can pull it up it is worth watching if you like this sort of movie like a creepy and odd movie I didn't recognize any of the actors but they all did an excellent job with their characters. It is not a movie for everyone but I found it entertaining.

Yes, it is worth watching if you are classic film fan as I am. It is not an example of great film making how ever as a B movie it's much better than most. Anthony Mann directed the movie as he did many other B movies in the 40's. He was always in demand because he had a reputation of creating not really good movies but watchable movies with very low budgets that consistently made money. For example, this movie was made for $5,000. It made $10,400 in it's opening week which means it probably pulled an equal amount over next few months running on double features and drive-ins before being achieved. A few years latter it was re-released. And beginning in the late 50s on, it played late night movies for decades and was finally transferred to DVDs for sale and rental. Just guessing but I would bet this $5,000 movie made at least 20 times that and is probably still making a few bucks.

The Story idea was good and the script was not so good and even a bit corny at times. The acting/directing was pretty good. Helene Thimig was very good as Mrs. Blake.

A much better production although quit dated due to the number of times the story has been re-used, is the "The Uninvited", 1944. It is the classic ghost story with Ray Milland and Gail Russell. One of the components of the movie is the wonderful theme music, Stella by Starlight which for some reason was not used in the trailer.
 
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Yes, it is worth watching if you are classic film fan as I am. It is not an example of great film making how ever as a B movie it's much better than most. Anthony Mann directed the movie as he did many other B movies in the 40's. He was always in demand because he had a reputation of creating not really good movies but watchable movies with very low budgets that consistently made money. For example, this movie was made for $5,000. It made $10,400 in it's opening week which means it probably pulled an equal amount over next few months running on double features and drive-ins before being achieved. A few years latter it was re-released. And beginning in the late 50s on, it played late night movies for decades and was finally transferred to DVDs for sale and rental. Just guessing but I would bet this $5,000 movie made at least 20 times that and is probably still making a few bucks.

The Story idea was good and the script was not so good and even a bit corny at times. The acting/directing was pretty good. Helene Thimig was very good as Mrs. Blake.

A much better production although quit dated due to the number of times the story has been re-used, is the "The Uninvited", 1944. It is the classic ghost story with Ray Milland and Gail Russell. One of the components of the movie is the wonderful theme music, Stella by Starlight which for some reason was not used in the trailer.
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Good to see some interest in fine old film making .
But suggest you scan the full list of AM's credits . He ranks as a top international director.
The stars he was given to work with and the size of budgets underline that very point
 
If you can pull it up it is worth watching if you like this sort of movie like a creepy and odd movie I didn't recognize any of the actors but they all did an excellent job with their characters. It is not a movie for everyone but I found it entertaining.

I've seen Virginia Grey in several movies.
 
Good to see some interest in fine old film making .
But suggest you scan the full list of AM's credits . He ranks as a top international director.
The stars he was given to work with and the size of budgets underline that very point
I agree. Anthony Mann is an excellent director with many great movies to his credit. He was an actor in the 30's, became a casting director, talent scout, and then an assistant director by the 40's and directed a number B movies and a lot of great Film Noir in the 40's. In the 50's he began making major productions with big stars. One of the early one's was Tall Target, one of my favorites with Dick Powell playing a detective trying to stop the assignation of Lincoln. In the 50's he made lots great westerns such as Winchester 73, Broken Arrow, Bend in River, and Naked Spur. His collaboration with Jimmy Stewart paid off with a big hit, The Glen Miller Story. He made movies with Stewart such as Strategic Air Command, and probably a dozen more. He went on to big budget stuff like Cimarron, Fall of Roman Empire, El Cid, 55 Days in Peking in the 60s, and many more. He got 7 academy award nominations with 1 win.

Mann was popular with the studios because he delivered his movies on schedule and within budget. Casts liked him because he knew how to make good movies. Unlike a lot of directors he spend very little time seeking the advice of cast. He knew what wanted He planned the scenes, blocked them himself. And when it was time to shoot a scene, it got done with few reshoots. One things that made his westerns great was his great feel for outdoor filming.

He is one one of our great directors of his time.
 

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