Strangers When We Meet
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Movie Reviews of Strangers When We Meet
Movie Review: Husbands, Wives, and Lovers
Summary: 5 Stars
After World War II movies became more frank in subject matter. This was in part due to the changing mores of the returning vets and the women they came home to. After the horrors of war things would never be the same for them or for Hollywood. The other factor was the slow demise over the 50's of the studio system and the rise of television as a threat to the box office. The censors began to relax and allowed more adult themes to be presented on the big screen. By the early 1960's movies were well on there way to growing up. Taboo subjects such as prostitution, homosexuality and adultery were now subjects Hollywood was now eagerly taking on.
One of the more interesting and surprisingly un-judgmental of these films was the 1960 Colombia release, `Strangers When We Meet'. Produced by Kirk Douglas' company Bryna Productions and Richard Quinn Productions and taken from the novel by Evan Hunter the film is a fascinating look into the suburban lives of a Los Angeles architect, his wife and the other woman in his life.
Kirk Douglas gives a fine, understated performance as the architect Larry Coe. It is a stark contrast to his epic Spartacus of the same year. At a cross roads in his life he is given the chance to build the kind of house he always wanted to for upcoming novelist Ernie Kovaks while his company wants him to go on doing the same dull work they expect. He fights for his chance to take the chance of a life time with the skill of a fine screen actor.
As his wife, Barbara Rush is outstanding in one of her finest moments on screen. She is cold and withholding yet needy of her husbands love. Her finest moments come in her scenes with Douglas where they argue over their future and in her chilling confrontation with the lecherous Walter Matthau on a dark rainy afternoon.
As Maggie Gault actress Kim Novak turns in a nuanced and deeply felt performance. She is a woman that men have been hunting down all her life. Her beauty is something that brings her only sorrow and despair though a string of meaningless affairs. Her husband seems to be the only man who has no interest in sleeping with her and though she does love him he drives her away embarrassed by her open and honest desire for him. When Douglas says to her on their first meeting, "You're not so pretty." it throws her and intrigues her. Throughout the affair she embarks on with Douglas she is smart enough to know that this like all the others will ultimately lead nowhere. In the final frames of the film she is shown this very fact when faced with another leering man.
Kim Novak is so cool and remote at times that it seems the perfect fit for her, the role of Maggie. She is the kind of natural actress that when left alone with her instincts and the eye of the camera she surprises the viewer with the dark emotions that live just beneath her lovely features. One scene among many where she shines is when she is confronted with her past and has to tell the truth to Douglas about it.
The cinematography is wonderful to see in the widescreen aspect of this DVD and shows the great talent of cinematographer, Charles Lang who also shot such classics as `Charade' and "Some Like It Hot' and the stunning "One-Eyed Jacks".
The score by George Dunning is the perfect meeting of the romantic and dramatic. It stands along side his classic scores for "Bell, Book, and Candle", "The World of Suzy Wong" and "Picnic."
Jean Louis one of the top designers of costumes for actresses of the period turns in just enough suburban glamour to keep the ladies in the cast looking wonderful.
Director Richard Quinn pulls it all together with his usual style. He presents us with not only a good drama but also an interesting look at the suburban life of Los Angeles in 1960. The locations are memorable, the glamorous old Romanoff's restaurant, the stunning house that is built through the course of the film, and the beautiful beach at Malibu where the lovers rendezvous. This film stands along with "Suzy Wong," "Bell Book and Candle", and "How to Murder Your Wife" as some of his best work. The film holds up after forty-five years as a fresh and timely look at the relationships between husbands and wives and lovers who are always "Strangers When We Meet."
Movie Review: Dancing about architecture
Summary: 5 Stars
A soap opera, sure, but one that's perfectly extravagant and surprisingly grown up, with unexpected moments of surprise and tension -- "Strangers," it's worth noting, has the best, most nerve-wracking unanswered phone call this side of "Once Upon a Time in America," and that's by no means faint praise.
Kirk Douglas plays a driven, artistically-inclined, vaguely-Zen-without-saying-Zen architect who builds high-dollar homes around Los Angeles. He's contentedly married but you couldn't call it "happily" -- to turn the old phrase, "his wife just doesn't understand him." Seriously.
Kim Novak is a troubled neighbor Douglas' character meets, befriends and then falls into an affair with. No way around it -- she's beautiful but she is seriously damaged goods and while an expensive big studio film from 1960 can't lay out everything we'd like to know about her past, it's still surprisingly frank: Her husband seems to have gone cold toward her following a rape she may or may not have allowed to happen.
We follow the couple through their rendezvous, awkward meetings and changes of favor, and the movie really takes its time establishing their environment and telling their story. It should be boring but it isn't. Part of that is due to the overall backdrop -- with its moneyed flavors, stitch-perfect clothes, painstakingly appointed sets and barely covered subtext, "Strangers" feels right in line with Douglas Sirk from the same period. But director Richard Quine and screenwriter Evan Hunter eschew Sirk's overt melodrama and lace the story with some unexpected maturity.
Novak, her blonde hair tinted vaguely violet, plays the whole movie on edge, phrasing her lines with tense whispers that shouldn't work but mostly kind of do.
Walter Matthau is also good as a sleepy-eyed suburban shark who makes big trouble for nice people, and the character could've supplied the basis for a fascinating film all on his own. As he and his son stroll the neighborhood, Matthau spies a beautiful housewife and says to his boy, who is about ten years old, "Love 'em all." Funny for a second, but hearing the leer in that friendly, familiar voice made my skin crawl.
Ernie Kovacs is also on-hand as one of Douglas' clients, a best-selling author. Kovacs doesn't appear to have a literary bone in his body (jet pilot, clothing magnate, casino owner and lottery winner all would've been more suitable-seeming careers for this character) but he sells their friendship far better than he sells the character. Plus, it's Ernie Kovacs, which is cool period casting you can't argue with.
I'm still working out the ending -- maybe it's a cop-out, but it's also devastating. Throughout the film, Douglas and Novak are constantly putting their fling on hold, then rushing back to each other, apologizing and basically asking to never fight again. Onscreen, it seems wildly indecisive and chain-yanking, but it also carries truth. That's how passion frequently operates. So at the end (SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT) when Douglas tells Novak he's going off to Hawaii to "build a city" and he's taking his wife and kids instead of her ... we have to wonder if that's really his final answer. Or an answer dictated by the studio. On top of which, hours earlier Douglas' wife banished him from her life with blunt economy, only to return almost immediately and successfully take it all back.
These questions and concerns, however, pale in harsh light of the final shot in which Novak, freshly dumped and taking it well, almost immediately encounters another smiling man (the same way she met Douglas, the same way she met the man who raped her) and drives away, crying, screwed again. It looks like a gimmick ending, it feels like a gimmick ending, but as it extends to show us her long drive away from something that really should've work out, it asks a particularly bleak question: What the hell is she going to do now?
Movie Review: A gem over and over again
Summary: 5 Stars
The theme music and opening scenes grab me right from the start. I always give the opening scenes my full attention. The bus stop, the moms well dressed they don't have to worry about running into someone they know and looking like they just finished cleaning out the garage, painting the entire house and bathed an English sheepdog. And it's not just because it's a movie. People were a bit more attractive then. I don't really see the chemistry between Larry and Maggie. He's seems to feel more for her. I didn't really see him leaving his family for her until the scene when he's handing over the housekeys to Roger Altar. I was surprised to find Maggie wanting things to stay the way they are.
One reviewer suggested Maggie's husband may be impotent or turned off because of the encounter she had with the young truck driver. I don't think her husband knew. I will add my thoughts on why her husband may have been such a reluctant lover. The bedroom scene where Maggie tries to entice her husband. His final reply is "Margaret we can't just..." Believe it or not, he may have been raised to believe that sex without procreation was wrong. Maybe they had decided not to have more than one child, therefore, sex was unnecessary. It wouldn't play to today's audience but I think it works well although a bit puzzling, in this movie. After all, Maggie did marry the "first nice boy who came along" according to her mother.
I love the snappy dialogue, the set decoration at the Coe house and Altar's apartment.
Barbara Rush is particularly well cast as is Helen Gallagher although she has a smaller part. The friendship between Altar and Coe is very touching and feels real to me. And I believe Altar as a writer. The whole movie evokes a time gone by. When cheating spouses were a bit more aware of their standing not only in the eyes of their families but in the community as well.
As for Felix, wow, where do I start? He tells his young son Brucie to "love 'em all" but really I think he regards all women as just a piece of meat and Eve is just another piece. She gives no indication she's an "easy mark". Every time I hear Feliz say "tell me architect, how am I any different from you"? I always answer back to the TV that "Maggie wanted what she got". He's actually a woman hater and love has nothing to do with the act.
Like I said, a gem over and over. I feel a bit of a voyeur watching the characters interact. I feel like I know these people. That their lives are playing out around me. And my sensibilities say for Larry to stay with his family. Maggie I believe will go on and on as she has been. She'll find another Larry and another and another. Never wanting to leave her husband but not being fulfilled either. Which is worse than Larry's decision.
Movie Review: "Passion is NOT a dirty word!"
Summary: 5 Stars
Larry (Kirk Douglas) meets Maggie (Kim Novak) and sparks start flying as soon as their eyes meet (during the opening credits!). They both have spouses, but are bored and, of course, unappreciated at home. Soon they're lying to their mates and meeting regularly for romantic trysts. Eventually, the truth comes out and Larry must choose between Maggie and his family.
The romantic drama is set in an affluent suburb in 1960, with beautiful clothes, bright orange furniture, and copper-colored kitchen appliances. Douglas's Larry is real, sensitive, and undeniably sexy; I really enjoyed his performance. Novak's sultry-voice and sleepwalker-style are overdone, but she's still believable as the housewife who wants to be good, but always ends up in trouble because she's just so gosh-darned pretty. Barbara Rush is lovely and charming as Larry's long-suffering wife. Walter Matthau plays a mild-mannered neighbor who turns out to be a rat.
There's a lush, romantic musical score and beautiful photography, and the seasoned actors make it seem real. "Strangers" ranks as a satisfying soaper and memorable chick flick. The DVD has no extras, but the story is worth watching again and again.
Movie Review: Kirk Douglas like you've never seen him!
Summary: 5 Stars
Wow! this movie was wonderful. Set in 1960 and brought back wonderful memories of the way we dressed, the houses, the cocktail parties at home as I watched my parents entertain. Kirk Douglas was fit (Spartacus was being filmed at this time) so he was in great shape, very handsome. The affair had a surprise ending but the setting in Hollywood? all I could think of was that era and what was going on at the time. Marilyn Monroe, the Kennedy family and Elvis. Interesting part was the Hollywood writer having breakfast with Kirk Douglas and eating eggs and bacon with a cigarette at the same time...can't believe they really did that back then. Great movie, watched it again and again.