Strangers in the Night Reviews

Terry is a Marine sergeant stationed in the South Pacific who passes the day by sending love letters to a girl named Rosemary Blake. When he returns stateside, he tries to track her down but learns from her mother, Thimig, that she has gone away. Barrett, a friend of Thimig's, tells Terry that there is no Rosemary Blake--that Thimig created a daughter for herself because she didn't have a real one. Thimig kills Barrett for revealing the truth, and then tries to do the same to Terry. The fanatical mother is killed, however, when a giant painting of her "daughter" falls from the wall and kills her. An early picture from Anthony Mann, who is best known for his nine pictures with Jimmy Stewart, including WINCHESTER '73 (1950) and THE GLENN MILLER STORY (1954). In STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT one can already see his interest in intensely emotional characters who teeter on the edge of sanity. A fine film and a must for Anthony Mann fans.