When Strangers Marry (1944) User Reviews

Much more than I bargained for

[Igenlode Wordsmith · 8/10 · 16 August 2005]

I wouldn't have believed that this film could run barely over an hour in length; in the course of its 67 minutes, it crams in more plot twists, emotional punch and sheer tension than recent blockbusters can manage in 200 or more, with never a wasted moment... but no lack, either, of aching silences and endless hours at night. As the innocent, idealistic young wife adrift in a city and world utterly alien to her, Kim Hunter carries the whole film with a performance of breathtaking conviction. She is scarcely off-screen from start to finish, as the character grows and matures both in confidence and desperation, and our assumptions about the outcome shift off-balance from one moment to the next. 'When Strangers Marry' is without a doubt her film. It's also an emotional roller-coaster, a gripping piece of noir -- and, unbelievably, a no-budget miracle shot in just seven days.

Robert Mitchum, in an early role, is a little wooden but crucially effective in the part of the former suitor who provides a steady shoulder for his one-time fiancée to lean on, and Dean Jagger is suitably elusive as the longed-for husband who is all but a stranger, but it is Hunter who really stands out here. I wasn't expecting much from this film but was absolutely swept away by it: an example above all of how to do a Hitchcock on Poverty Row.

Good thriller from William Castle

[The_Void · 7/10 · 7 August 2009]

William Castle would of course go on to become best known for his gimmicky horror films; an oeuvre which includes the likes of House on Haunted Hill, The Tingler and Homicidal - but before then, he made a series of film noir/mystery thrillers; and When Strangers Marry is one of those. The film is only just over an hour long and I wouldn't be surprised to find that it was made as a 'B' feature for some bigger movie. However, in spite of that; the production values aren't bad and the cast all do well also. The plot is rather unlikely and focuses on the idea of a man and a woman getting married without really knowing each other. Millie Baxter is the female half of the equation; and she has been called, by her husband, to New York in order to meet with him. However, upon her arrival; he's not at the hotel, but by chance she is greeted by her old friend Fred Graham, who clearly carries a torch for her. Fred agrees to help her look for her husband and the pair begin tracking him across New York...but it soon becomes clear that there's something sinister surrounding his disappearance.

This was an early film appearance for Robert Mitchum, and it's clear that the producers knew he was going to be a star, although his role here is a secondary one. He leads the film from the back and William Castle never misses a chance to give the actor a close-up. It's not the actor's best performance by a long shot, but it shows some early promise. Kim Hunter is the female lead and her role gives her a chance to retread some of the same ground of her debut feature, Val Lewton's masterpiece The Seventh Victim. As you would expect considering the length of the film, the story is very tight and there is little in the way of diversions from the main plot line. The main plot itself is just about good enough to hold interest for the duration of the film, although I can imagine it would become more than a little tedious if the film were longer. The ending features a twist in the story; and for my money it's a rather convenient one that doesn't really make sense. There are some attempts to explain it and the holes it creates could be patched up...but it requires the viewer to suspend some disbelief. Still, there's worse ways to spend an hour and this is a decent film.

A tight, tense little thriller that helped consolidate the noir cycle

[bmacv · 8/10 · 5 November 2001]

Like My Name is Julia Ross, another quick-and-dirty damsel-in-distress movie, When Strangers Marry helped lay down the blueprints for what would come to be called film noir. Kim Hunter has just wed a patron (Dean Jagger) of the restaurant where she waited tables without knowing much about him; off on a vague business trip, he asks her to meet him at a New York hotel. His evasive actions are enough to raise suspicions even in a naive Ohio gal like her -- he makes her wander the streets of wartime Greenwich Village at night (as she did a year earlier in Val Lewton's The Seventh Victim). An old man-pal (the very young Robert Mitchum) happens to turn up to keep an eye on her strange marriage in the big bad city. But there are recurring links to the silk-stocking murder of a businessman in Philadelpia a few days before.... William Castle, best known as a 1950s schlockmeister (13 Ghosts, et al.) shows himself to be a keen apprentice here: There's a scene involving a glass-paned hotel mail chute that is almost Hitchcockian.

Many Imaginative Touches

[dougdoepke · 10 September 2010]

Check out that unsettling scene in the lonely police waiting room. Little guy Houser (Lubin) sits on one side and vulnerable newly-wed Millie (Hunter) sits on the other with a big empty space between. It's a great visual metaphor for the danger facing our young stranger in the city. A hostile world appears on one side and poor Millie all alone on the other. Even little things work against her in the big, impersonal surroundings—the unhelpful news guy, streetlights suddenly going out. Then too, those spare sets from budget-minded Monogram fairly echo with undefined menace.

From such atmospheric touches, it's not hard to detect the influence of Val Lewton's horror classic The Seventh Victim (1943). At the same time, the movie's director William Castle was a moving force behind the brilliantly unconventional Whistler series from Columbia studios. So the many imaginative touches here, like the lunging lion's head that opens the film, should come as no surprise.

Despite the overall suspense, I had trouble following plot convolutions—who was where, when, and why. But then the screenplay did have four writers, which is seldom an asset. Still, the mysterious husband (Jagger) and Millie's suspicions does generate core interest. In my little book, the main appeal is in the players and the atmosphere, such as the winsome young Hunter, a virile young Mitchum, and the jazzy Harlem nightclub. All in all, the sixty-minutes remains a clever little surprise from poverty row Monogram.

Your life may depend on it!

[hitchcockthelegend · 7/10 · 14 June 2014]

When Strangers Marry (AKA: Betrayed) is directed by William Castle and written by Philip Yordan and Dennis J. Cooper. It stars Dean Jagger, Kim Hunter, Robert Mitchum and Neil Hamilton. Music is by Dimitri Tiomkin and cinematography by Ira H. Morgan.

A compact William Castle noir that finds Hunter marrying a man she barely knows (Jagger), only to find he may be a murderer. Robert Mitchum is on hand for help and advice…

Well put together by Castle who keeps things brisk and simple whilst keeping the mystery element high, that in turn does justice to the decent script. There's plenty of noir touches, from expressionistic photography and up-tilts, to cool montages and feverish scenes. Some odd characters add to the psychological discord, while Tiomkin blends jazzy dance strains with "he's behind you" type rumbles.

Cast performances are more solid than anything spectacular, but Mitchum serves very early notice of what a presence and icon he was to become. Some sequences look cheap, which for a Monogram cheapie is to be expected, and this type of pic has been done far better by others, notably Hitchcock and Lewton, both of whom Castle doffs his cap towards. But this never outstays its welcome and there's plenty here for the noir lover to get hooked on. 7/10

Pre-noir, over the top, compact crime film that works!

[secondtake · 7/10 · 15 October 2014]

When Strangers Marry (1944)

Also known as, "Betrayed."

A rather tight, odd, compelling film. It's a B-movie, for sure, straight from William Castle territory (known for his sensational low-budget films). But it has Robert Mitchum in a strong early role, and Dean Jagger as a compelling bad guy. And the leading woman, played by the rather plain looking Kim Hunter, is good, too.

There are a lot of small elements that make this click along. For one, it's edited with utter economy. Then there is the slightly offbeat settings, including near the end a wonderful club scene with simple stride jazz, all African American. That three minutes is almost worth it alone, low key and stripped of glamour. A touch of Harlem, via Hollywood.

The plot, which has some conventional qualities, is also really odd at times, and it takes a minute to buy the idea of the title. That is, a naive woman marries a salesman she barely knows, and she hasn't seen him in a month. But he shows up just when a murderer has been making headlines, escaping from justice. You automatically connect the two, and yet there are tiny doubts. Maybe we're being set up.

The drama here is part of the pleasure—mostly night stuff, strong angles, hard light. And of course a trusting woman who slowly realizes there might be true terror on her hands. There's nothing like worrying for an innocent. Mitchum plays the good guy here, and he's young but already has his familiar style in place, which I assume is basically the real man. And he worries, too.

Jagger is actually pretty terrific. He plays an odd, difficult sort, covering up his apparent past (we aren't sure), but also showing real concern for this young woman, who is so utterly innocent. We eventually, slowly, feel for his situation. The turn of events at the end of the plot are a bit too much too fast, unfortunately. It undermines a solid progression up to then. Even so, watch this if you like the era, and crime movies. Well enough done. And fast.

WHEN STRANGERS MARRY (William Castle, 1944) ***

[Bunuel1976 · 7/10 · 17 February 2011]

William Castle's first noteworthy effort (incidentally, the copy I acquired bore a new title - BETRAYED!) was made at Poverty Row studio Monogram within a genre he would intermittently return to until the genial director saw he could particularly make a mint with Horror. It is a noir with a distinct Hitchcock feel: in fact, the plot bears obvious nods to both SUSPICION (1941) and SHADOW OF A DOUBT (1943), a murder attempt is borrowed wholesale from FOREIGN CORRSPONDENT (1940), and there is even Castle's own 'appearance' (which is actually treated as a recurring in-joke here!).

It was an equally important film for Robert Mitchum, not only because it showed that his star was definitely rising but in view of the fact that the ultimate revelation as to his character's true nature would be reworked in some of his later (and most impressive) work. Curiously enough, I was under the impression that he would be the suspected murderer husband – but the way things played out, I must congratulate the scriptwriters (including Philip Yordan) on their ingenuity. Leading lady Kim Hunter (ideally cast as the fresh-faced bride) had just come off the Val Lewton production THE SEVENTH VICTIM (1943), while Dean Jagger has an atypical lead role (it is even more unusual to see him sporting a full head of hair!) – their awkwardness is never more effectively delineated than when they find themselves stranded inside a Harlem nightclub (showcasing an over-enthusiastic black dancer). Also on hand is Neil Hamilton (later Commissioner Gordon in the campy but popular BATMAN TV series of the 1960s) already in his element as a Police Inspector; incidentally, his ambivalent relationship with Mitchum throughout pays off in droves during the frenzied climax.

Despite the evident economy of means, the film still displays considerable style along the way (atmospheric chiaroscuro lighting, effective low-angle shooting, an imaginative hallucination sequence, etc.); the role-reversal in the opening and closing scenes is a nice touch, too. For the record, I own several more of Castle's (by all accounts, lesser) noirs but I probably will not have time to fit any of them in my current schedule...

On short acquaintance

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 2 November 2014]

Some important names were getting good exposure for their talents in When Strangers Marry. In front of the camera were Kim Hunter and Robert Mitchum. And behind are director William Castle later famous for horror pictures and Dimitri Tiomkin whose music scores were usually in films with far bigger budgets and vistas than When Strangers Marry.

Young Kim Hunter arrives in New York where she's on impulse married salesman Dean Jagger on short acquaintance. He's been delayed in Philadelphia and tells her to go to his flat and set up housekeeping. A helpful friend in Robert Mitchum proves even more helpful when Jagger is delayed for quite some time.

Good reason he has been delayed. The opening shows the homicide of a drunk and flannel mouth Dick Elliott who was bragging about the $10,000.00 he had even dropping large bills on the barroom floor. The next thing we see is the hotel maid finding the body and the cops Philly have a lead the suspect has gone to New York.

Where Neil Hamilton of the NYPD takes over and Jagger looks good for it to a disbelieving Hunter.

Not the greatest of noir films. But When Strangers Marry gave Robert Mitchum his first taste of a genre where at RKO he would get some really great roles and become a mega-star. Hunter and Jagger do well in their parts.

For a look at some movie legends developing I would give When Strangers Marry a viewing.

First-Rate Fun

[zardoz-13 · 8/10 · 10 August 2017]

"House on Haunted Hill" director William Castle's murder & mystery "Where Strangers Marry" is a good crime thriller with a great surprise reversal in the final moments. By now, everybody knows that Castle cribbed from Hitchcock's "The 39 Steps" when the maid took the mask off the dead man and the editor cuts to a train with a screaming whistle. All I can say is that it works for Castle as well as it worked for Hitchcock. Performances are above-average in this hypnotic tale of deception with Dean Jagger cast as a shady salesman who has just gotten himself hitched to sweet, innocent heroine Kim Hunter. When our heroine suspects that her husband, Paul Baxter (Dean Jagger of "Bad Day at Black Rock") may be a notorious 'silk stocking' slayer, she runs to another salesman, Fred Graham (Robert Mitchum of "The Night of the Hunter") for advice. Paul fails to show up at a hotel in New York City, so Fred takes her to see a homicide detective, Lieutenant Blake (Neil Hamilton of TV's "Batman), where he played Commissioner Gordon of Gotham City. Throughout "When Strangers Marry," Jagger casts a crooked shadow. He is downright anti-social. Furthermore, he lies to his newly wed bride and she catches him in a lie. Neither Castle nor his scenarists, Oscar-winner Philip Yordan for "Broken Lance" and Dennis J. Cooper of "Fear," working for a story by George G. Moskov of "Green Fields," telegraph the revelation during the closing moments. Everything about "When Strangers Marry" is polished. Clocking in at a nimble 67 minutes, Castle never loiters, and the last minute train scene hearkens back to an earlier one.

Neat little "B" thriller with a great twist.

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 27 November 2011]

Monogram produced a lot of stinkers, but they also had their share of classics. "When Strangers Marry" (under its re-release title "Betrayed" for the DVD), is one of the best. Ingenue Kim Hunter, years before Brando emotionally screamed "Stella!" to get her attention, plays an innocent young girl from Ohio who has been married for only a month to a man she hardly knew. In fact, he immediately went on the road on business, and has just sent for her to meet him in New York when she arrives and runs into an old flame (Robert Mitchum). The husband remains mysteriously out of site for a while, so she gets reacquainted with Mitchum before finally encountering her husband (Dean Jagger). It becomes apparent the moment he shows up that he is in trouble and may be the killer of a drunk man he admits to having rolled in Philadelphia.

The fast-moving film noir like mystery presents its facts, adds on a couple more clues, and delivers the truth with a neat little twist that remains surprising even if it was a bit predictable. Neil Hamilton, an early 30's leading man (and later the police commissioner on "Batman") is fine as the investigator whom Mitchum and Hunter go to see to find Jagger. Hunter shows great promise and within a few years, would go onto film immortality in "A Streetcar Named Desire" and gain cult status by donning heavy make-up as Zira in "Planet of the Apes". Mitchum and Jagger are fine as well. This was one of Mitchum's first major roles after tons of walk-ons, and within a year of this, would be one of Hollywood's most popular "tough men", a new breed of leading actors like Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster that would change the way Hollywood made movies. This is a definite must see for fans of '40's "B" features.

The title is confusing...

[AlsExGal · 5/10 · 10 February 2024]

...because it implies perhaps some war time comedy about people meeting and hastily marrying, but instead you get a noir/mystery spartanly done.

I didn't much care for this film made on the cheap at Monogram in 1944 and directed by William Castle. The acting is fine for sure starring Kim Hunter as a bride, Millie Baxter, who barely knows her husband, Paul Baxter, and now they are reuniting after being married in a whirlwind courtship several weeks before. The traveling salesman husband who seems to be harboring a great big secret is played by Dean Jagger. Robert Mitchum plays Fred Graham, Millie's torch carrying old boyfriend and would-have-liked-to-be husband. Neil Hamilton plays police lieutenant Blake looking for a murderer who may have fled from Philadelphia to New York. Yes, there are fine actors doing fine acting, but in service to what exactly? This is what is hard to figure out.

Lieutenant Blake makes some big leaps in logic to believe that one particular fellow - Paul Baxter - who has come from Philadelphia to New York is the murderer he is seeking. How many people travel between those cities every day? And he seems to go off on a tangent about a serial killer from two years ago that he caught that has nothing to do with this case, probably just to pad the running time. Millie and Paul go on the run but they don't seem to run very far, probably because that would require further set design and a bigger budget.

There are some interesting Dutch angles and the lighting veers into film noir lighting, yet the set design all seems so generic. You have street signs telling you where you are in New York, but the shots are close ups of buildings that really have no individuality and are obvious cheap sets. When Millie and Paul do the town when they first reunite the sights are shown as stock footage, and the music is too melodramatic.

The most interesting scene in the movie is when Millie and Paul duck into a bar that turns out to be a black establishment in Harlem. This really is a take it or leave it proposition, and probably only a must see for Robert Mitchum completists.

Castle the Black

[LobotomousMonk · 8/10 · 24 February 2013]

Only one year after The Chance, William Castle was developing his stylistic system with leaps and bounds. The opening scene of When Strangers Marry demonstrates creative blocking and staging. The mysterious big man at the bar has his back squared up to the camera but you will notice his shoulder slightly blocks out the front of the bartender's face. This is a nice touch in the directing to emphasize the physical size and thus ominous presence of the mystery man. This kind of technique greatly supports plot progression in focusing the line of questioning of the spectator immediately onto the identity of the unknown figure. Castle also explores the abilities and utility of mobile framing. The effect is not only solid construction of space but also formation of an energy and dynamism in directing that can translate to the mise-en-scene and diegetic world. Castle also defies other crutches of "B" status films through adhering to elements of continuity. Certain scenes involve hi-key lighting setups framing characters in closeup and in these shots, Castle is consistent in providing diegetic light sources that match up. A nice touch. Another nice touch is something out of the Jean Renoir book (high praise for Castle) when the depth of field and deep staging of certain scenes allows characters seen in the distance through apartment windows to contribute to the progression of the plot in a casual and realistic manner. Some Castle tropes get an early treatment in this film. The "Silk Stocking Murder" begs many questions, not the least being one about why the audiences were not provided with a gimmicky pair of stockings on their way into the theatre. Castle frames a clock which is a popular trope of his. He also makes an appearance in the film (through a framed photo) and becomes an integral part of the plot itself as opposed to holding mere decorative function. Castle's photo might be considered one of his early gimmicks and is certainly connected to my own thesis about his impresario directing playing on the enframing and "4th Wall" of screen-spectator identification. This interplay of interiority and exteriority runs throughout the film from the sequence at Coney Island (great montage) with the carny barker to the couple "taking in a movie". More Castle developments can be mentioned... the floating heads made a regular appearance in his famous gimmick horror films as well as the oblique framing of shadows. It is difficult to understand how Castle became stymied with primitive stylistic systems while he so crisply demonstrated a full understanding of who he was to become as a director in When Strangers Marry. And the film received high critical praise. This confounds me. The one Castle prerequisite element that I could do without however is the plot contrivances (shoot the scenarists and producers as well). Strangers has its fair share of contrivance from convenient gaps in the blasting of street music (just close the window!) to a missing persons report being filled with a homicide detective. The ending has a twist but is contrived and a little too cute for this reviewer. All in all, one of the superior directing efforts by Castle and an engaging film overall.

good early William Castle

[blanche-2 · 7/10 · 7 August 2017]

"When Strangers Marry" (not "When Cousins Marry" like the poster in the musical 'The Producers') is a good 1944 noir directed by William Castle starring Robert Mitchum, Kim Hunter, Dean Jagger, and Neil Hamilton.

Hunter plays Mildred, who could have had Robert Mitchum but instead marries Dean Jagger after knowing him for four months and seeing him three times. Jagger was attractive, but I know whom I would have chosen. Millie's new husband, Paul, is supposed to meet her in New York City after their wedding, but when he doesn't show, she panics. An ex-beau, Fred (Mitchum) is also at the hotel and takes her to the police so that she can report him. Seems he left Philadelphia on the same date as the Silk Stocking Murder, so the police want to know more about him.

When Paul does show, he acts mysteriously. Millie becomes frightened, but she's torn by her love for him.

Though it's from poverty row Monogram Studios, Castle gives us an atmospheric movie with neat images. I know people have compared it to "Seventh Victim," a Val Lewton film, but some of it reminded me of the Jacques Tourneur "Cat People," particularly the photo used for the poster. The second-last scene is fantastic.

The film's New York City references are a little off. It's not Bleeker Street and 7th Street, it's Bleecker Street and 7th Avenue; and why the car taking passengers to Louisville KY goes through Harlem instead of the other way is anyone's guess. But it gives us a great scene.

Tense, exciting, with good performances and surprisingly short "When Strangers Marry" is highly recommended.

Talents in bud

[FilmFlaneur · 16 September 2002]

Castle's third feature is an interesting case of talents in the bud. Previously he had been responsible for a bright Boston Blackie series entry with Chester Morris, and the less successful Klondike Kate (1943) with Tom Neal. When Strangers Marry (also known by the less accurate title of Betrayed) shows the director's increasing confidence as he ventures into the territory of the new film noir genre. He was also lucky in securing the services of a good cast: Kim Hunter, Dean Jagger and, in his first co-starring role, a young Robert Mitchum. One of the greatest noir stars, Mitchum is slimmer and perhaps more tentative here than he would be in later films, but still has enough presence and skill to make an impact, especially in the sweaty closing scenes. Already an experienced hand, Dimitri Tiomkin provided the music, and the result was an above average production from Monogram.

Having said that, there's a certain peremptoriness to the film, making it not entirely satisfactory. The noir style, which thrived on inexpensive sets and the economic use of shadow, cheap location shooting and the like, is evoked by Castle rather than expressed in any thorough fashion. Castle's next film The Whistler (1944), on yet another miniscule budget, was much more effective in evoking a continuous mood of paranoia and doom from the haunted Richard Dix. Some successful scenes apart, (Millie's first night in the hotel, her Lewtonish night walk, her innocent suspicions in Paul's apartment), the present film rather clumsily bolts noir elements on to a standard suspense plot - one vaguely reminiscent of Hitchcock's Suspicion of three years before - rather than to let them arise naturally from situation and character. An example is Millie's night of disturbed rest in the hotel. Husbandless in her neon sign-lit room, drowned in shadows and fear, she is distracted by the repeated blaring of nearby dancehall before taking a fraught phone call from Fred (Mitchum). This scene has no real plot purpose except to show her loneliness and distress, and the expressionist images seem over emphatic. On its own it is startling and dramatic, but nothing more, a pool of hard noir in a more naturalistic film. Even less convincingly, as if it had never happened Millie then makes no move to change her room later the next day, and the music never occurs again (it would have made an excellent punctuation for any later confrontation with Fred, for instance). As an actress, Kim Hunter makes an effective noir victim, even if her trusting fragility needs a willing suspension of disbelief. Powell and Pressburger obviously recognised such sensitivity even in a poverty row product like this, for they shortly cast her in such films as A Canterbury Tale, of the same year, and then in A Matter of Life and Death (1946).

A more serious plot flaw resides in the character of her husband Paul (Jagger). His personality and motives are shrouded in mystery throughout the film and, sadly, are not much clearer by the end. For a while this enigmatic man provides the narrative with a lot of useful suspense. The lack of resolution to his drama, while supplying the necessary twist as the truth is revealed, leaves the viewer with just too many questions to be comfortable. One misses even the rudimentary psycho-analysis which appeared in some noirs from this time, supposedly explaining the aberrant personality. Either elements of helpful exposition were jettisoned in the course of filming on a tight budget, or the writers (who included the excellent Philip Jordan, of Dillinger, Detective Story, Big Combo fame) thought they could get away with such a lacuna. The result is to reduce a happy ending to one where a married couple must still live on unresolved tensions, their determined contentment notwithstanding.

For those interested in trivia there are some private jokes in the film. A 'Mr King' is paged at the hotel (the film was produced by the King brothers). More amusingly, Millie hands over a deliberately misleading picture to the investigating detectives, saying 'This is the man you want'. It is director Castle. Such gallows humour, and self-publicity, would manifest itself in a series of gimmick films for which he is better known, starting in the 50's...

A stranger's betrayal

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 21 September 2018]

Absolutely loved the idea of the story and the comparisons to Alfred Hitchcock (one of my all-time favourite directors, my personal favourite actually) and Val Lewton further sparked my interest. Then there is William Castle as director and then a cast that includes Kim Hunter and Robert Mitchum in an early role.

While 'Betrayed' (aka 'When Strangers Marry') didn't strike me as a great film after seeing it, it is still a good film that does the idea, Castle and the cast justice rather than wasting it. Having seen a fair amount of wastes of potential recently in film, that 'Betrayed' was not one of those was a relief and somewhat refreshing. It is every bit as interesting and fun as it sounded while executing most of its crucial components very well, albeit with a few issues here and there.

'Betrayed' is not perfect. It is too short, just over an hour did not feel long length for a story of its nature, and it does feel at times like it was trying to do too much, towards the end particularly it did a little over-stuffed and hectic.

Low budget does show in the sets which are more cardboard than evocative.

However, they are compensated by some clever photography that is far more ambitious than one would think and suitably moody lighting that matches the atmosphere brilliantly. Dmitri Tiomkin's music score is haunting and also effective in enhancing the atmosphere rather than being inappropriate. Castle directs tautly and the script is tight and thought-provoking with its fair share of tension and emotional impact.

The story is never dull and, while it is not perfectly executed, the tension and suspense is all over and the numerous twists and turns (none of them obvious and the best leaving one floored) show an increasing amount of unpredictability. The ending is a delight and cannot fault the cast either. While he did go on to better things, Mitchum is a suitably laconic presence and Dean Jagger excels in an atypical and fairly difficult role. Was most impressed by Hunter though, who shows a confidence and vulnerability as the character that grows the most.

Summing up, didn't blow me away but a good film with a lot of great elements. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Not suspenseful as I expected

[hollywoodshack · 7/10 · 6 January 2016]

There is a ridiculous amount of mood and tension over opening envelopes, finding notes slipped under a door, montages, shadowy doorways and streets, phones and doorbells ringing, et cetera. Mitchum and Hunter do well in spite of their material where Hunter marries a man she only met three times (Jagger) and Michum is the man she turned down, which makes it kind of senseless that Hunter and Mitchum are always such close friends where he even wants to volunteer to find the missing husband (being turned down, wouldn't he hope a divorce results if the husband doesn't come back?) and help locate the silk stocking strangler. Of course toward the end you might guess who the strangler really is before you find out. This premise is interesting, but suspense is built too often in montages, fantasies, and moody music instead of through the story and characters.

Mail-chute tension

[AAdaSC · 6/10 · 4 February 2011]

Millie (Kim Hunter) travels to New York to meet with her husband Paul (Dean Jagger). However, he does not show up for a while and when he eventually does, he seems to mysteriously keep disappearing again. Millie's ex-lover, Fred (Robert Mitchum) is also in town and he keeps a look-out over Millie as she tries to discover who the man is that she has married. She had only met Paul 3 times before they tied the knot. Fools! Playing alongside this mystery is the police investigation of the "silk stocking murder" in which a very annoying Sam Prescott (Dick Elliott) had been rightfully murdered in his hotel room. Can the police get their man and can Millie find happiness?

The film moves at a swift pace and contains some nice shots and good atmosphere, eg, the Harlem club that Paul and Millie slip into while on the run together. There are a few liberties that are taken with the plot, eg, the cab driver who suspects Paul of being the "silk stocking murderer". Why would he think that when there is such a vague description of the killer that is released to the public (he's a tall man)? We watch to discover the identity of the killer and we are sold a couple of red herrings along the way.

The acting is alright, nothing great but Mitchum's acting loses it completely in the scene by the mail-chute. Watch out for an appearance by Rhonda Fleming at the film's ending where the cycle seems to be starting all over again.

Spooky and romantic

[HotToastyRag · 6/10 · 21 August 2018]

I know The Story of G.I. Joe was Robert Mitchum's breakthrough role, earning him his only Academy Award nomination, but he received first billing the year before in the psychological thriller When Strangers Marry. Not bad for having bit parts in 1943!

Kim Hunter is a naïve young lady who married a man she only met three times. She's meeting him in New York in between his business trips, and she accidentally bumps into her old flame, Robert Mitchum. He clearly still has feelings for her, and it's no mystery why she continues to see him socially even after telling him she's married-he's gorgeous! There's clearly a lot Kim doesn't know about her husband, Dean Jagger, and the more she does find out, the less she likes. He doesn't want her to tell anyone where they live, he doesn't approve of her friends coming over, and he's lied about his whereabouts. . .

A little spooky, a little romantic, but not quite as fantastic as regular noir classics, this is a great movie to rent if you want to see Robert Mitchum early in his career. You don't have to watch all nineteen movies he made in 1943; he probably has more screen time in this movie than he did in all those others combined. He's one of my favorite celebrity boyfriends, so I'll always watch one of his movies, but if you're not already in love with him, rent Rachel and the Stranger first.

Hey Lets Get Married

[Richie-67-485852 · 8/10 · 6 August 2017]

Back in the forties, it happened more often than not. People were quick to make their wants and themselves known and didn't mince words. Marriage was one of those subjects and comes up in the older movies. It was easier to go through life married making things more affordable if both continued to work and of course eliminate being lonely instantly. Meeting someone was no problem as eligible were all over the place. Using that as the story line, we got a nice clever who done what to whom and why movie going here. Nice to see the actors making their trade and this movie does a good job of capturing the viewer right to the end. The ending is delightful and caused me to laugh out loud in a most pleasing way for its originality and of course upbeat ending. Its a nice quick to the point little drama mystery. Settle in with your favorite candy and a tasty drink as we glimpse what life was like in the forties. Worth mentioning is a slice of the black culture back then as the actors visit a part of town and bar that caters to the black community. Little bit of history captured there as movies usually didn't do this but this one did. BTW...People were naive, simpler and easier going believing what they were told until they had reason to doubt otherwise. If you were burned back then, you became hard and stayed that way which is depicted in the movie in one of the scenes involving renting a room. Today, people doubt first and hesitate making for trust a hard thing to come by...

Promising thriller!

[JohnHowardReid · 7/10 · 9 June 2018]

A King Brothers Production. Copyright 19 August 1944 by Monogram Pictures Corp. New York opening in November 1944 at the Brooklyn Strand (which meant no New York opening so far as most critics were concerned). U.S. release: 21 August 1944. U.K. release through Pathé: 9 April 1945. Australian release through British Empire Films: 6 May 1945. 6,169 feet. 68 minutes. Re-issue title (with Mitchum top-billed): BETRAYED.

SYNOPSIS: Worried when her new husband, Paul, forces her to go into hiding with him, Millie Baxter is further frightened when her loyalty makes her flee with him from the law. Police Detective Blake (Neil Hamilton), involved in the case, becomes suspicious of Millie's ex-boyfriend, Fred, and decides that he knows more of the crime than he has divulged. Discovered and arrested, Paul admits that he was at a bar in Philadelphia where the murdered man was last seen alive.

COMMENT: A classic B-grade thriller, William Castle's second film as a full director (he was previously a dialogue director) shows a great deal of promise, which, alas, was never exceeded in his later films. Though already, he shows his predilection for a "gimmick" in this case the casting of inexperienced Robert Mitchum in a key role.

Castle's tendency to imitate the successes of other directors is also on display, in this case Hitchcock's screaming cleaning woman over the whistle of a train.

Ira Morgan's superb photography contributes a great deal to the mood and the art direction is suitably drab.

Grade A, B.

[st-shot · 8/10 · 29 February 2024]

Made during schlockmeister William Castle's (Whistler films, The Tingler) early career When Stangers Marry is a well paced thriller featuring major players in their early years. Filled with quirky moments (one outstanding Harlem nightclub scene in particular) it is a tight to its vest mystery that does not disappoint.

Millie Baxter ( Kim Hunter) impulsively marries traveling salesman, Paul Baxter (Dean Jagger) after a three day courtship. When a woman in Philly is strangled, coincidence points the finger at Baxter, that the gullible Millie has hard time believing. Fred Graham a former boyfriend, (Robert Mitchum) and detectives try to bring her up to speed about the danger but she remains resolute in her trust.

Admittedly, outside forces are in play when taking into account the trajectory of the careers in the years to come for the three leads here who acquit themselves well and convincingly enough to keep the plot nebulous. Castle for his part streamlines the tension, barely allowing the audience to catch its breath watching Millie putting herself in harm's way. A short and sweet, solid mystery.

A valuable minor Noir directed by the prolific William Castle!!!

[elo-equipamentos · 7/10 · 17 August 2020]

When I saw on opening credits William Castle directing this minor Noir I had really stayed worried about that, however he proves to be a prolific director as displayed in this one, the movie suffers of a lack of veracity when a young girl Mildred Baxter (Kim Hunter) marries an older man Paul Baxter (Dean Jagger) in few days, around twice of her age, it sounds to me implausible, Mildred already has been courted by the personable Fred Graham (Robert Mitchum) around 27 years typified as better choice for her naturally, well saying that, the plot stays is lame to start, when a murder is committed at Hotel Philadelphia which was stolen 10.000 cash, seemingly Paul Baxter is the murder, when his wife is invites by Baxter for a meeting at New York's hotel, strangely he didn't appears, raising unequivocal suspects by such unusual behavior, the screenplay driven forces to the audience reach in this unasked conclusion, as said an oldest saying "In this bush had a rabbit", the veteran actor Neil Hamilton plays a Police Lieutenant Blake in arobust acting, for a low budge movie shot in a week or so by the multi-skilled and cherished William Castle!!

Resume:

First watch: 2020 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7.25

A good launch film for Robert Mitchum

[donzilla · 27 February 2001]

This is a Hitchcockian film that reflects well the Film Noir period of Hollywood. Suspense is high, and the audience is kept guessing right to the end about who might be the killer of the drunk good-time Charlie, who innocently invited a stranger in a bar in New York to stay in his apartment for the evening. Don't be fooled by the original name, though.

It is being aired on the premium classics channels under the a.k.a. name "Betrayed".

Entertaining, but a little soft

[gbill-74877 · 6/10 · 21 April 2024]

Coincidentally, three years before this film was made, my grandparents married after having met only three times, with her still a teenager. As far as the family knows there were no murders, and they remained happily married until his death many decades later.

When Strangers Marry is a bare bones, B-noir, livened up by its cast, which includes Robert Mitchum in one of his earliest starring roles, Kim Hunter, and Neil Hamilton. Unlike a lot of noir entries whose plots are convoluted beyond belief, this one has a very simple story, probably too simple. The fact that the wife doesn't ask a lot of questions before marrying or afterwards either, when she starts to realize her new husband might be a murderer, is a little disappointing. There is a twist but it contradicts earlier character actions, and overall the film felt too tame, needing more of a malevolent edge. The actors are all fine, but the characters they play are too soft, too flat.

I liked this film more for its smaller moments, like the wonderful scene in the lively Harlem nightclub, Mitchum and Hamilton dousing themselves with buckets of water in the sauna, or the little girl in the hotel spying solemnly through her cracked door. This is one that never offended the sensibilities, but just needed a few bigger moments to go with those kinds of things and its solid foundation. At least it didn't overstay its welcome, moving along well and finishing in a brisk 67 minutes.

It is, yet again Castle's unique version of Hitchcock films

[jordondave-28085 · 6/10 · 15 April 2023]

(1944) Betrayed/ When Strangers Marry CRIME DRAMA

Mildred Baxter (Kim Hunter) has just became a newlywed while traveling to NYC without hardly knowing anything about him, other than his name, that his name is Paul. And that he happens to be a salesman like her old childhood school chum, Fred Graham (Robert Mitchum), who eventually comes to her aid, after a murder incident from Philadelphia.

Directed by William Castle who is synonymous for making his own unique versions of Hitchcock movies, this was no different where it is reminiscent of Hitchcock-like movies from the set up of "Shadow of the Doubt" to "Suspicion".