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When Strangers Marry
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Wikipedia article
'When Strangers Marry' (rerelease title 'Betrayed') is a 1944 American suspense film directed by William Castle and starring Dean Jagger, Kim Hunter and Robert Mitchum..When Strangers Marry, Monthly Film Bulletin; London Vol. 12, Iss. 133, (Jan 1, 1945): 22.
Plot
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.
Cast
* Dean Jagger as Paul Baxter
* Kim Hunter as Millie Baxter
* Robert Mitchum as Fred Graham (billed as Bob Mitchum)
* Neil Hamilton as Det. Lt. Blake
* Rhonda Fleming as Girl on Train
Production
The film was originally known as 'Love from a Stranger' and then 'I Married a Stranger'.
Producers Frank and Maurice King liked 'The Whistler', a film that director William Castle had made, and borrowed him from Columbia Pictures for $500 a week. Castle later said that the script originally offered to him was "horrible", the story of a gangster who is killed, rejected from heaven and returned to earth. Castle had previously directed 'Chance of a Lifetime' from a script that he disliked and did not wish to repeat the experience. He advised the King brothers that they should not make the film, and they agreed. The brothers introduced Castle to writer Philip Yordan, with whom he devised a new story idea that the Kings liked.Castle p 80-85 Yordan gave the story to aspiring novelist Dennis Cooper, but Yordan later rewrote Cooper's work. Cooper and Yordan were given joint screenwriting credit in the film.[http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft0z09n7m0&chunk.id=d0e17295&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d0e17295&brand=ucpress McGilligan, Patrick. Backstory 2: Interviews with Screenwriters of the 1940s and 1950s. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1991. http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft0z09n7m0/]
With only seven days and a budget of $50,000, filming took place in June 1944. Neil Hamilton and Kim Hunter were borrowed from Selznick International.SCREEN NEWS HERE AND IN HOLLYWOOD: Warners Will Remake 'Sweet Adeline' -- 'Attack!', Army Film, Due Next Month
Special to THE NEW YORK TIMES 16 May 1944: 18. Castle persuaded the leads to rehearse without pay and on their own time.
'When Strangers Marry' marked Rhonda Fleming's film debut in a small role. Fleming later claimed that she had been cast when Castle saw her walking through the backlot and said "you'll do." She also said that she was not paid for her role.Rhonda Fleming... Lucky Star!: RHONDA FLEMING
Hopper, Hedda. Chicago Daily Tribune 15 June 1952: g6.
Robert Mitchum's role is among his earliest, and he had previously appeared in 'Johnny Doesn't Live Here Anymore' for the King brothers. The Kings later claimed that they had Mitchum under a multi-picture contract and tried to enforce it, but he made no further films for them.Controversy Looms Over Robert Mitchum
Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times 17 Oct 1946: A3.
Castle was slated to next direct 'Dillinger' for the King brothers but instead accepted an offer to direct the Broadway play 'Meet a Body'.Castle p 85
Reception
Critical response
'Variety's' review was positive: "Only thing wrong with this film is its misleading title. Tag, 'When Strangers Marry', suggests another of the problem plays of newlyweds when in reality pic is a taught ('sic') psychological thriller about a murderer and a manhunt full of suspense and excitement."[https://variety.com/1943/film/reviews/when-strangers-marry-1200414174/ 'Variety'], film review, 1943. Accessed: July 6, 2013.In a contemporary review of the film, Orson Welles wrote: "It isn't as slick as 'Double Indemnity' or as glossy as 'Laura', but it's better acted and better directed ... than either." Welles would later work with Castle on 'The Lady from Shanghai'.
James Agee later wrote: "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 energetically and sensibly used in a film".
Adaptation
The film was adapted for an episode of 'Lux Video Theatre' as "I Married a Stranger."Grant Takes KMPC for New Contract; Cotten Hosts'On Trial' Series
Ames, Walter. Los Angeles Times 13 Apr 1956: B6.
References
Note
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