''Strange Bargain'' is a 1949 American

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...

film noir Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...

directed by Will Price and starring

Martha Scott Martha Ellen Scott (September 22, 1912 – May 28, 2003) was an American actress. She was featured in major films such as Cecil B. DeMille's ''The Ten Commandments'' (1956), and William Wyler's ''Ben-Hur'' (1959), playing the mother of Charlton ...

Jeffrey Lynn Jeffrey Lynn (born Ragnar Godfrey Lind; – November 24, 1995) was an American stage-screen actor and film producer who worked primarily through the Studio system, Golden Age of Hollywood establishing himself as one of the premier talents o ...

and

Harry Morgan Harry Morgan (born Harry Bratsberg; April 10, 1915 – December 7, 2011) was an American actor and director whose television and film career spanned six decades. Morgan's major roles included Pete Porter in both '' December Bride'' (1954–195 ...

. It is the story of a bookkeeper in need of money who agrees against his own better judgment to help a wealthy man carry out an elaborate suicide plan.

Plot

Bookkeeper Sam Wilson goes to his boss, Malcolm Jarvis, to ask for a raise, but learns he is about to lose his job because the firm is bankrupt. Jarvis then makes a strange proposition, saying he intends to commit suicide in order for his wife Edna and son Sydney to inherit his life insurance. Jarvis wants Sam to dispose of the evidence of the suicide and make it look like murder, and will pay him $10,000 to do it. Sam declines, but when he goes to see Jarvis and finds his dead body, he reluctantly goes along with the scheme. He finds an envelope with $10,000 that Jarvis has left behind for him, which he hides from Georgia, his wife. He disposes of the weapon as well, so Jarvis's fingerprints from the suicide won't be found. Lt. Webb of the police is suspicious of Jarvis's business partner, Timothy Hearne. In the meantime, Sam's conscience gets the better of him. When he goes to see Edna Jarvis to confess his role in her husband's death, Edna reveals she's the one who committed the murder, Jarvis having changed his mind about the fake suicide. Edna is about to kill Sam as well when Webb shows up in the nick of time.

Cast

as Georgia Wilson *

as Sam Wilson *

as Lt. Richard Webb *

Katherine Emery Katherine Drewry Emery (October 11, 1906 – February 7, 1980) was an American stage and film actress. Early years Emery was born in Birmingham, Alabama. She graduated from Sweet Briar College in 1928 and then went home to Montclair, New ...

as Edna Jarvis *

Richard Gaines Richard Houston Gaines (July 23, 1904 – July 20, 1975) was an American actor. He appeared in over 75 film and television productions between 1940 and 1962. Early years Gaines was born in Indian Territory and grew up in Texas, learning "to h ...

as Malcolm Jarvis *

Henry O'Neill Henry O'Neill (August 10, 1891 – May 18, 1961) was an American film actor known for playing gray-haired fathers, lawyers, and similarly dignified roles during the 1930s and 1940s. Early years He was born in Orange, New Jersey. Caree ...

as Timothy Hearne *

Walter Sande Walter Sande (July 9, 1906 – November 22, 1971) was an American character actor, known for numerous supporting film and television roles. Films Born in Denver, Colorado, he was one of those stern, heavyset character actors in Hollywood no p ...

as Sgt. Cord * Michael Chapin as Roddy Wilson * Arlene Gray as Hilda Wilson * Raymond Roe as Sydney Jarvis *

Robert Bray Robert E. Bray (October 23, 1917 – March 7, 1983) was an American film and television actor known for playing the forest ranger Corey Stuart in the CBS series ''Lassie'', He also starred in ''Stagecoach West'' and as Mike Hammer in the m ...

as Det. McTay

Reception

Critical response

A.H. Weiler, the film critic for ''

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 ...

'' penned a fairly positive review. He wrote, "As a modest entry from Hollywood, ''Strange Bargain'', which began a stand yesterday as the associate attraction to the Palace's

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic compositio ...

bill, is surprisingly diverting fare. Obviously not intended to set a cinematic landmark, it is, nevertheless, a melodrama that presents an extraordinary situation fairly suspensefully and, for the most part, through intelligent dialogue and direction. And, while it follows a familiar outline as a crime and punishment adventure, it does so neatly and with competent characterizations." Film critic Dennis Schwartz called the film " well-conceived mystery B-film, but strictly second feature material." He also noted in his review that "''Strange Bargain'' showed up in a 1987 episode of TV's ''

Murder, She Wrote ''Murder, She Wrote'' is an American crime drama television series, created by Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson and William Link, starring Angela Lansbury, and produced and distributed by Universal Television for the CBS network. The ser ...

''. By removing the original happy ending, the TV installment allowed

Angela Lansbury Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury (October 16, 1925 – October 11, 2022) was an Irish-British and American film, stage, and television actress. Her career spanned eight decades, much of it in the United States, and her work received a great deal ...

to solve the mystery of the boss' murder--and to exonerate the long-imprisoned bookkeeper, played again by Jeffrey Lynn. Also appearing on this ''Murder She Wrote'' were Lynn's ''Strange Bargain'' costars Martha Scott and Harry Morgan."

''Murder, She Wrote''

In 1987, the television series ''

'' broadcast an episode that served as a sequel to ''Strange Bargain''. This discounted the original ending of the film, instead seeing

Jessica Fletcher Jessica Beatrice "J. B." Fletcher (born Jessica Beatrice MacGill) is a detective show character and the protagonist on the American television series ''Murder, She Wrote''. Portrayed by award-winning actress Angela Lansbury, Fletcher is a bes ...

being recruited to attempt to prove Sam Wilson's innocence following his 30-year prison sentence. The episode, “The Days Dwindle Down”, saw the stars of the film, Martha Scott, Jeffrey Lynn and Harry Morgan, reprising their original roles.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Strange Bargain 1952 films 1950s crime drama films American crime drama films American black-and-white films American detective films Film noir Films scored by Friedrich Hollaender RKO Pictures films 1952 drama films Films directed by Will Price 1950s English-language films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films 1950s American films