''Talk About a Stranger'' is a 1952 American film noir directed by David Bradley and starring

George Murphy George Lloyd Murphy (July 4, 1902 – May 3, 1992) was an American dancer, actor, and politician. Murphy was a song-and-dance leading man in many big-budget Hollywood musicals from 1930 to 1952. He was the president of the Screen Actors Guild fro ...

Nancy Davis Nancy Davis Reagan (; born Anne Frances Robbins; July 6, 1921 – March 6, 2016) was an American film actress and First Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989. She was the second wife of president Ronald Reagan. Reagan was born in New ...

and Billy Gray. The motion picture was shot by noted cinematographer

John Alton John Alton (October 5, 1901 – June 2, 1996), born Johann Jacob Altmann, in Sopron, Kingdom of Hungary, was an American cinematographer of Hungarian-German origin. Alton photographed some of the most famous films noir of the classic period and wo ...

, A.S.C. and was based on

Charlotte Armstrong Charlotte Armstrong Lewi (May 2, 1905, in Vulcan, Michigan – July 18, 1969 in Glendale, California) was an American writer. Under the names Charlotte Armstrong and Jo Valentine she wrote 29 novels, as well as short stories, plays, and screenp ...

's short story "The Enemy", which was published in the May 1951 issue of ''

Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine ''Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine'' is a bi-monthly American digest size fiction magazine specializing in crime fiction, particularly detective fiction, and mystery fiction. Launched in fall 1941 by Mercury Press, ''EQMM'' is named after the fict ...

'' and was subsequently chosen for the top prize in the ''Mystery Magazine's'' yearly selection of best stories.

Plot

The picture tells the story of Bud Fontaine Jr. ( Billy Gray), who takes an instant dislike of Matlock, a strange new neighbor in town (

Kurt Kasznar Kurt Kasznar (born Kurt Servischer; August 13, 1913 – August 6, 1979) was an Austrian-American stage, film and television actor who played roles on Broadway, appearing in the original Broadway productions of '' Waiting for Godot'', ''The ...

). After his dog turns up dead by poison, Bud blames the stranger and sets off a campaign to smear his name and spread vicious rumors about him. His parents (

and

) can't seem to handle the boy. After Bud endangers the crops in the valley by his vandalism of the neighbor's oil tank, and is told the dog was killed by eating poisoned meat meant for coyotes, Bud comes to realize that people are not always what they appear to be.

Cast

as Robert Fontaine Sr. *

as Marge Fontaine * Billy Gray as Robert 'Bud' Fontaine Jr. *

Lewis Stone Lewis Shepard Stone (November 15, 1879 – September 12, 1953) was an American film actor. He spent 29 years as a contract player at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and was best known for his portrayal of Judge James Hardy in the studio's popular ''Andy H ...

as William J. Wardlaw *

as Dr. Paul Mahler, alias Matlock * Anna Glomb as Camille Wardlaw

Reception

According to MGM records the film earned $278,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $97,000 elsewhere resulting in a loss of $276,000 despite its low cost.

References

External links

* * * * {{AFI film, 50679 1952 films 1952 drama films American black-and-white films Film noir Films directed by David Bradley Films based on short fiction Films scored by David Buttolph Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films based on works by Charlotte Armstrong American drama films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films