''A Stranger Came Home'' is a 1954 British film noir directed by

Terence Fisher Terence Fisher (23 February 1904 – 18 June 1980) was a British film director best known for his work for Hammer Films. He was the first to bring gothic horror alive in full colour, and the sexual overtones and explicit horror in his films, ...

and starring

Paulette Goddard Paulette Goddard (born Marion Levy; June 3, 1910 – April 23, 1990) was an American actress notable for her film career in the Golden Age of Hollywood. Born in Manhattan and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, Goddard initially began her career ...

, William Sylvester and

Patrick Holt Patrick Holt (31 January 1912 – 12 October 1993) was an English film and television actor. Biography Born Patrick G. Parsons in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, Holt spent some of his childhood in India with his uncle, after which he was sen ...

. The film was produced by Hammer Films at

Bray Studios Bray Productions was a pioneering American animation studio that produced several popular cartoons during the years of World War I and the early interwar era, becoming a springboard for several key animators of the 20th century, including the ...

with sets designed by the art director

J. Elder Wills James Ernest Elder Wills (1900–1970) was a British person who had a lengthy career in the film industry. He mainly worked as an art director, but he also worked in other roles, including director. Films he was involved in include '' Tiger ...

. It is based on the 1946 novel ''Stranger at Home'', which was credited to film actor

George Sanders George Henry Sanders (3 July 1906 – 25 April 1972) was a British actor and singer whose career spanned over 40 years. His heavy, upper-class English accent and smooth, bass voice often led him to be cast as sophisticated but villainous chara ...

but was actually ghostwritten by

Leigh Brackett Leigh Douglass Brackett (December 7, 1915 – March 18, 1978) was an American science fiction writer known as "the Queen of Space Opera." She was also a screenwriter, known for '' The Big Sleep'' (1946), '' Rio Bravo'' (1959), and '' The Long Go ...

. It was released in the United States by

Lippert Pictures Lippert Pictures was an American film production and distribution company controlled by Robert L. Lippert. History Robert L. Lippert (1909-1976) was a successful exhibitor, owning a chain of movie theaters in California and Oregon. He was frustrate ...

under the title ''The Unholy Four''.

Plot

Four friends go on a fishing trip but only three return. After an absence of four years, during which time he had been an amnesiac, the fourth man, Philip Vickers, returns home after regaining his memory. He tells of a "friend" who knocked him out, drugged him, and left him to die. Any one of the remaining men could be a suspect as Job Crandall, Bill Saul and Harry Bryce have all been interested in Philip's attractive 'widow', Angie. Unfortunately, Philip's return coincides with a murder and he becomes the main suspect. Angie joins forces with her husband to help solve the mystery and clear his name.

Cast

Paulette Goddard, A Stranger Came Home publicity (1954) II

as Angie * William Sylvester as Philip Vickers *

as Job Crandall * Paul Carpenter as Bill Saul * Alvys Maben as Joan Merrill *

Russell Napier Russell Gordon Napier (28 November 1910 – 19 August 1974) was an Australian actor. Biography Russell Napier was born in Perth, Western Australia. Originally a lawyer, Napier was active as an actor on the stage as early as 1936; on the scree ...

as Inspector Treherne *

Kay Callard Kay Callard (10 November 1923 – 7 March 2008) was a Canadian film and television actress who spent most of her career in Britain. She was married to the actor Jack McNaughton Jack McNaughton (22 December 190522 February 1990) was a British ...

as Jenny *

Patricia Owens Patricia Molly Owens (January 17, 1925 – August 31, 2000) was a Canadian-born American actress, working in Hollywood. She appeared in about 40 films and 10 television episodes in a career lasting from 1943 to 1968. Early work Owens moved ...

as Blonde *

David King-Wood David King-Wood (12 September 1913 – 3 September 2003) was a British actor. He was born in Tehran, Iran (then Persia), the youngest of four children. His father was William King Wood (CIE, CBE), Director of the Indo-European Telegraph Departm ...

as Sessions *

Jeremy Hawk Jeremy Hawk (20 May 1918 – 15 January 2002) was a character actor with a long career in music halls and on London's West End stage. Early life Hawk was born Cedric Joseph Lange in Johannesburg, South Africa; his father was a matinee idol wh ...

as Police Sergeant Johnson

Production

Filming occurred at

in Berkshire.

Critical reception

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' wrote, "A THIRD-RATE British-made whodunit called ''The Unholy Four'', featuring Paulette Goddard and a nondescript cast...A few more fly-by-nights like this Lippert presentation, produced and written by Michael Carreras, and the still-shapely Miss Goddard may find herself collecting the pieces of a career";

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fi ...

called it "Muddled"; whereas '' Allmovie'' called it a "suspenseful drama."

References

External links

* 1954 films 1954 crime drama films British crime drama films British black-and-white films Film noir Films based on British novels Films directed by Terence Fisher Hammer Film Productions films Lippert Pictures films Films shot at Bray Studios 1950s English-language films 1950s British films {{crime-drama-film-stub