''When Strangers Marry'' (rerelease title ''Betrayed'') is a 1944 American

suspense film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

directed by William Castle and starring Dean Jagger,

Kim Hunter Kim Hunter (born Janet Cole; November 12, 1922 – September 11, 2002) was an American theatre, film, and television actress. She achieved prominence for portraying Stella Kowalski in the original production of Tennessee Williams' ''A Streetcar ...

and

Robert Mitchum Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American actor. He is known for his antihero roles and film noir appearances. He received nominations for an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award. He received a star on the Holl ...

Plot

Millie Baxter, a naïve 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 *

as Millie Baxter *

as Fred Graham (billed as Bob Mitchum) * Neil Hamilton as Det. Lt. Blake * Lou Lubin as Jacob Houser * Milton Kibbee as Charlie (billed as Milt Kibbee) * Dewey Robinson as Newsstand Owner * Claire Whitney as Wife on Train * Edward Keane as Husband on Train * Virginia Sale as Hotel Chambermaid *

Dick Elliott Richard Damon Elliott (April 30, 1886 – December 22, 1961) was an American character actor who played in over 240 films from the 1930s until the time of his death. Early years Elliott was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Career Elliott p ...

as Sam Prescott * Lee "Lasses" White as Old Man (billed as Lee White) * Marta Mitrovich as Baby's Mother * Billy Nelson as Louisville Driver * Rhonda Fleming as Girl on Train (uncredited) *

Sam McDaniel Samuel Rufus McDaniel (January 28, 1886September 24, 1962)Tanner, Beccy (November 7, 1991)"McDaniel Opened Doors; 'Gone With the Wind' Was Actress' Most Famous Film" ''The Wichita Eagle''. Retrieved January 3, 2021. was an American actor who ap ...

as pullman porter

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 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Trade name, doing business as Columbia Pictures, is an American film Production company, production and Film distributor, distribution company that is the flagship unit of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group ...

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.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/
/ref> With only seven days and a budget of $50,000, filming took place in June 1944. Neil Hamilton and

were borrowed from Selznick International. 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.

'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. Castle was slated to next direct '' Dillinger'' for the King brothers but instead accepted an offer to direct the Broadway play ''Meet a Body''.

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." In a contemporary review of the film,

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American director, actor, writer, producer, and magician who is remembered for his innovative work in film, radio, and theatre. He is among the greatest and most influential film ...

wrote: "It isn't as slick as ''

Double Indemnity ''Double Indemnity'' is a 1944 American film noir directed by Billy Wilder and produced by Buddy DeSylva and Joseph Sistrom. Wilder and Raymond Chandler adapted the screenplay from James M. Cain's Double Indemnity (novel), novel of the same na ...

'' 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 James Rufus Agee ( ; November 27, 1909 – May 16, 1955) was an American novelist, journalist, poet, screenwriter and film critic. In the 1940s, writing for ''Time'', he was one of the most influential film critics in the United States. His autob ...

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". Agee continues: "Bits of it, indeed, gave me a heart-lifted sense of delight in real performance and perception and ambition which I have rarely known in any film context since my own mind, and that of moving-picture making, were both sufficiently young."

Adaptation

The film was adapted for an episode of ''

Lux Video Theatre ''Lux Video Theatre'' is an American television anthology series that was produced from 1950 until 1957. The series presented both comedy and drama in original teleplays, as well as abridged adaptations of films and plays. Overview The ''Lux Vi ...

'' 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

Bibliography

External links

* * *
Review
at Variety
Complete film
at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

{{William Castle 1940s American films 1940s English-language films 1940s psychological thriller films 1944 films American black-and-white films American psychological thriller films Film noir Films directed by William Castle Films scored by Dimitri Tiomkin Films set in New York City Monogram Pictures films English-language thriller films