Murphy Howard
I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.
Kien Navarro
Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
Kimball
Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.
bkoganbing
Frank Morgan who since The Great Cellini played mostly bumbling fools in film took a somewhat serious turn in his career with this B film from his studio MGM. A Stranger In Town casts Morgan as a Supreme Court Justice who comes to a small town for a hunting vacation. When he gets shaken down for a local hunting license Morgan takes a hand in the local reform movement to get the gang of crooks led by Mayor Robert Barrat.The reform candidate for mayor against Barrat is Richard Carlson an eager young lawyer with more passion than courtroom smarts. But getting tutelage from a Supreme Court Justice albeit incognito certainly stood him in good stead. That and a little romance from Justice Morgan's law clerk Jean Rogers.Some of the other members of the cast are such familiar character players as Irving Bacon, Andrew Toombes, Donald MacBride, Olin Howland, and Chill Wills that cast is guaranteed entertainment. Of particular note is Porter Hall playing a corrupt judge who gets an opportunity to get out from under and takes it gratefully. John Hodiak made his feature film debut in A Stranger In Town.A Stranger In Town is a Capra-lite like comedy which holds up well even in these more sophisticated times.
Kittyman
In "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (1939), fly-over wisdom solves Washington corruption. In "A Stranger in Town" (1943), Washington wisdom solves fly-over corruption.Frank Morgan portrays an incognito Supreme Court justice, who during his duck-hunting vacation, is reluctantly drawn into a small town fight against corruption. It is a dramatic change from his usual flamboyant-befuddled performance, and he does pretty well. One discordant note, however, occurs early in the picture. Morgan, while cradling a shotgun, meanders throughout town, into a barbershop, and even a courtroom. Nowadays, he'd have been pounced on, and probably branded a lunatic.The film's pace is snappy, the romantic leads (Richard Carlson and Jean Rogers) have excellent chemistry, and the supporting cast is fabulous. It includes Robert Barrat, Porter Hall, John Hodiak (in his debut), Donald MacBride, Andrew Tombes, and Chill Wills (later Francis-the-Talking-Mule's voice). Ironically, however, Robert Barrat, who does a fine job playing the oleaginous mayor, had, about a decade earlier, been cast in an opposing role as a bucolic reformer fighting corruption. (His part was in "The St. Louis Kid" [1934], a charming James Cagney vehicle.) Yet, "A Stranger" has two sloppy errors, both of which occur in the same scene. (They should have been caught and corrected.) First, Carlson enters the local hotel and orders a "single room" for the night, but walks away leaving his key behind. Then, the following morning in court, he testifies that the hotel had violated the law by having the twin beds in his room placed less than two feet apart. If his room was a single, however, it wouldn't have had twin beds.Finally, you might try following-up this film with "The Magnificent Yankee" (1950) if you're into related double features. It is a heartwarming story about Oliver Wendell Holmes, an actual Supreme Court justice, whose tenure would have ended at about the same time Morgan's fictitious one had started.
sol1218
***SPOILERS*** Taking a long needed vacation from his duties as a United States Supreme Court Justice the Honorable Judge John Josephus Grant, Frank Morgan, goes to the little sleepy town of Crownport to among other things go duck hunting. What the judge doesn't realize is what a den of corruption and thievery that town is.As soon as the judge went out hunting he was a victim of a shake-down by the towns game warden Warren Todd, Olin Howlin. Todd with the help of Crownport Judge Austin Harkley, Porter Hall, fleeced the startled judge of $100.00 in fines for not having a Crownport hunting license even though he had a state hunting license. The judge didn't even have a chance to get off one shot before he was stopped by Game Warden Todd. Judge Grant decides to remain undercover and clean up the town of Crownport and finds help in a honest but bumbling politician running for mayor Bill Adams, Richard Carlson. The judge also calls his private secretary Lucy Gilbert, Jean Rogers, to come over to lend him and Bill a hand. That Lucy can really swing a mean and heavy law book when things get out of hand in the film. The mayor of the town of Crownport James Connison, Robert Barrat, is a sleazy shyster who uses all the power of his office as well as a gang of head breaking goons to keep everyone in order. Now he's having trouble with Bill running against him for mayor and does everything he can to sabotage his campaign. First he has Bill evicted from his offices because of a health hazard which was that Bill had some wood there and it was determined by Connison's health inspectors that the lumber would attract termites. Next the mayor has his goons assault Bill and when he fights back, very badly, he's arrested for disturbing the peace and thrown in jail.Lucy is also arrested with Bill on trumped up charges as she defended herself as well as Bill with a heavy law book that she broke a couple of Connison's goons heads with. Meanwhile judge Grant slowly works his magic or better yet knowledge of the law, behind the scenes, to build an air-tight case against the Connison mob. The goons working for him begin to chicken out as they realize that their slowly getting their necks in a ringer by the skillful and wily Judge Grant. There's also a romance developed in the movie between Bill and Lucy and at the end of the film they get married and guess just who's the justice of the peace at their wedding? With the noose tightening around Mayor Connison's neck his goons and even his hand picked stooge of a judge Judge Harkley desert him. Connison, being the arrogant and power hungry jerk that he is, is the last one to realize that he's been set up and shot down. At a town hall meeting where Connison thinks that he's about to be anointed mayor he's exposed as a crooked politician and a man who betrayed the trust that the good people of Crownport gave to him. It's there when Judge Grant finally reveals who he is, not just a stranger in town but the United States Supreme Court Justice John Josephus Grant. Mayor Connison who thought all this time that he was running the show is practically run out of town and ends up, together with his goon squad, behind bars. "A Stranger in Town" gives the audience a fine civic lesson about the responsibilities of being a good American citizen which Judge Grant brings out at the end of the movie with a stirring speech about what America really stands for and what the saying "The Land of the Free and The Home of the Brave" really means. Worth watching now as it was back then in 1943 about an America that was meant to be in the nation that our founding fathers fought and died for back during the American Revolutionary War.
Sgt. Schultz
"A Stranger in Town" turns out to be a pleasant surprise. I originally viewed it to see Frank (The Wizard of Oz) Morgan in a starring role, and did not have any grand expectations. But it turned out to be a droll little film, quite entertaining.The whole plot is predicated on the general anonymity of Supreme Court justices. Does anyone know what they look like? Can anyone even name all 9? Along the way, we get a look and some commentary on small town American life in the 1940s, as well as a Capra-esque speech by Morgan near the end of the film.Their is also some requisite romantic interest thrown in, which is quite incidental and was probably just added to stretch out the running time. The film also has Porter Hall, who played the heel in "Miracle on 34th St." and the heel in "The Thin Man", playing, you guessed it, a heel.Overall, a very pleasant way to spend 70 minutes. Give it a view when you get the chance.
