Taking a schvitz at the Hotel Seymour
When Strangers Marry is one of those standout poverty row productions worth catching. It marks Robert Mitchum's breakaway from background roles in B-westerns. Here, he's one of the leading players. The film is visually engaging and covers a lot of ground in only 67 minutes. Light and space are well taken advantage of, efficiently communicating emotional tone and propelling the action. It struck me that some of the creative tricks seen in this film may have come from Hitchcock's bag: cinematographer Ira H Morgan uses scene transitions reminiscent of those that gave Rope (a later film, 1948) its uninterrupted, theatrical flow. And we see the same device in this movie that was used in The 39 Steps (1935) where a panicked housemaid's scream melds into the sound of a train whistle.
Kim Hunter plays a naive young woman from small-town Ohio who has married a traveling salesman (Dean Jagger) she barely knows. When he does not appear as expected at a hotel rendezvous in New York, she turns to old buddy Robert Mitchum to track his whereabouts. Hunter's character is very similar to the one she played the year before in Val Lewton's The Seventh Victim: a fresh-faced innocent who quickly adapts to strange and serious circumstances.
One remarkable scene has Hunter and Jagger abruptly dropped off in Harlem, where they try not to attract the attention of the law! I can't point to any other films of this time with an entire scene full of African Americans (excluding films expressly made for and by the community, like the films of Herb Jeffries). And my first reaction was how modern the scene looks and sounds, despite the ultra-40s jazz music and dancing. It's a full room of folks socializing, with the NYPD guys on motorbikes out front chatting about the big fight that was just won by a local champ. And just look at this guy (below)! He's not even credited but I have the feeling Mitchum was lucky not to be in this scene, because there might have been way too much hepcat vibe for one room to contain! Once Hunter and Jagger sneak off, we're firmly back in the past again, following their adventures in a wholly caucasian America.
Dancing in a Harlem club
Cops chatting about the big fight while our white bread couple sneaks past
When Strangers Marry is in some ways just another 40s crime themed B-noir, likely more famous today because of Mitchum's presence. As a whole package though, this one remains fun. William Castle called it the best movie he ever made.
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