Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

lasttimeisaw In 1949, the soon-to-be Hollywood dignitary Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who would win 4 Oscars within two consecutive years (2 for directing and 2 for writing), knocks out two features, while A LETTER TO THREE WIVES takes all the spotlight in January (and the paycheck is Mr. Mankiewicz's first two Oscars, a full-year after), HOUSE OF STRANGERS, released five months later after its debut in Cannes, is ill-fatedly pigeonholed and regarded as a trou normand before the advent of his unqualified pièce de résistance ALL ABOUT EVE (1950), garnering another 2 naked golden statuettes for the champ. Based on Phillip Yordan's novel I'LL NEVER GO THERE ANY MORE, the film is a studio-bound feud within the Monetti family, the patriarch Gino (Robinson) is an Italian banker in the East Side of New York, who starts his enterprise from scratch, begets four sons and his druthers is the second-born Max (Conte), who is a lawyer by vocation, whereas the other three work for the family bank. The film starts on the day Max is released from prison after a 7-year stint, bays for blood after an altercation with his brothers and rebuffs the proposition to start anew in San Francisco with his old flame Irene Bennett (Hayward), at that point Gino has already been pushing up daisies. Then the flashback prompts to dwell on the familial tension from its initial stage, how Gino's preferential disposition detrimentally splinters his family into the titular "house of strangers" and causes deep rift when the family bank clashes with government investigation, and the story cogently flags up the capitalistic avarice, posits Gino as an usurious tyrant squeezing pecuniary gain out of the have-nots. Max is the only son who is spoiling for extricating Gino from the legal mire, but he is hoisted by his own petard when he tries to bribe a juror while his eldest brother Joe (Adler) has already secretly shopped him, that costs him a good 7-year and now he is back for vendetta, implanted by a vengeful Gino before his demise, can the ominous fratricide be averted in the eleventh hour? Edward G. Robinson meritoriously won the BEST ACTOR trophy in Cannes and here his pompous mien writs large through the most compelling register, his Gino is an unrepentant egoist, a terrible father, paternalistic and uncouth, sticks to the value of family and tradition but has no clue that poison has already been interjecting into his progeny through their upbringing: the wicked, the spoiled, the dumb and the craven, here is the Monetti Quartet. Max, played by a shifty-looking Richard Conte, is at first, nothing less repugnant than his magisterial father (both have the dastardly proclivity for laying their hands on women when confronted, can Mr. Robinson vanquishes a towering Hope Emerson in real life? The odds are not good on him!), but he is bestowed with a redeeming factor that he is the most upstanding one among the offspring to deserve a brighter future, but bemusing still, Max's final change-of-mind is cavalierly oversimplified. Susan Hayward, whose star was rising at then, channels a femme-fatale mystique on top of Irene's lonesome dame cliché, and Luther Adler, nearly upstages the rest with his fiendishly self-seeking turn as the nefarious Joe.Honestly, HOUSE OF STRANGERS is a gripping tale at large under Mr. Mankiewicz's proficient supervision, on the technical level, it is as good as any top-drawer monochromatic studio fare of that time, only the shady nuts-and-bolts of the doctrinaire story take the shine off the outstanding teamwork.

kapelusznik18 ***SPOILERS*** By far the most interesting character in the movie about a dysfunctional New York Italian family is older brother Joe Monetti played by Luther Adler who's role was later resurrected some 20 years later in the "Godfather" movies one & two as dark sheep of the Corleone family Fredo Corleone. It's Fredo as the older brother who didn't get respect and was treated like a dummy more or less like Joe was treated by his dad neighbor banker father Gino Monetti, Edward G. "Eddy" Robinson. Then there's also Richard Conte, who was also in the "Godfather", as the smart and pragmatic Max Monetti who like Al Pacino in the "Godfather" movies was the smartest of the Monetti brothers as well had an non Italian girlfriend- Like Al Pacino's Kay Adams in the "Godfather" movies- the Waspy all American girl Irene Bennett, Susan Hayworth, that he threw his Italian hand picked by the family fiancée the much younger and far more prettier Maria Domenico, Debra Paget, under the bus for.It's when Papa Monetti is indited for a number of criminal counts of illegals bank practices it' s Max who sticks his neck out to get him to beat the rap by trying to bribe a number of jurors that, by reporting him to the D.A';s office, backfires on him. Ending up saving a seven year sentence behind bars when during that time his father Gino passed away Max who swore revenge against Joe, for setting him up, is out and ready to bury the hatched with him; As well as check out to San Francisco with his girlfriend Irene. It's now Joe the former lowly $65.00 a week bank teller now bank president who's the big man of the family who still has it in for brother Max and plans to have him murdered to make sure he won't cause him any more trouble in the future.***SPOILERS****Joe uses his two other brothers pretty boy Tony, Efrem Zimbalist Jr, who while Max was behind bars married his ex fiancée Maria as well the brain damaged from taking too may shots in the head in the boxing ring Pietro, Paul Valentine, to do Max in. The final showdown has Pietro beat, under orders from Joe, the living hell out of Max but soon come to his senses. That's when he realizes that what he's doing will not only put him behind bars for life if not in the electric chair but is disrespecting his dead father Gino whom Max took the rap for! Now turning against Joe and about to drop him off a 4th floor baloney Pietro finally realizes just how wrong as well as stupid he is and forgets the whole thing! In the end a battered but still alive and breathing Max rides off into the sunrise with Irene to start a new life with her in far off San Francisco and drop out of the crazy Monetti business ventures altogether!

MartinHafer Joseph L. Mankiewicz had an amazing fun in Hollywood during the late 1940s and into the 50s. Aside from his HUGE misfire later in life ("Cleopatra"), he had an incredible string of successes--one brilliant film after another. Just think about it--he directed "A Letter to Three Wives", "House of Strangers", "No Way Out", "All About Eve" and "People Will Talk" all one after the other! Any one of these films would make a director proud--and yet Mank also wrote these films! Wow."House of Strangers" is unusual for me because I rarely watch a movie more than once (this could explain part of how I've reviewed so many movies). But, because I loved it so much the first time, I thought I'd watch it again. The film was remade only a few years later as "Broken Lance"--also a good film but not in the same league as "House of Strangers". It was also remade only a few years after that as "The Big Show". Obviously, it was an awfully good script.The film begins with one son (Richard Conte) arriving at his huge family home. It seems he'd just completed a stretch in prison. Why he went to prison and what's happened in this family unfolds slowly through the course of the film. I really like this style. Instead of telling a straight sequential narrative, this approach increases the suspense greatly.As for the rest of the cast, the film is filled with some great talents. Edward G. Robinson is at his best as a manipulative and dictatorial family patriarch--and proves he was much more than a one-note actor who played gangsters. Luther Adler, Susan Hayward and even a young Efrem Zimbalist Jr. are on hand to round out the cast. And, although I mentioned him earlier, Conte is great--and it's one of his best roles (along with the highly underrated "Thieves' Highway").The bottom line is like the best of Mankiewicz's films, it's all about PEOPLE and ACTING. You don't watch a Mankiewicz film for spectacle or action (thus the failure of "Cleopatra") but for dynamite acting, great characters and dialog--fantastic, fantastic dialog. For example, watch the scene where Hayward and Conte first meet--it's brilliant and memorable. Also, the ending is just great--very tense and very brutal--sort of like a 'family noir' picture!

Richie-67-485852 Be prepared to become a fan of Edward G. Robinson as you watch him just glide with ease playing the part of a self-made man who lives up to the old cliché...if you want to see or know who a person really is, give him either power or money. In this case, he has both and depending where you are in his life and what he thinks of you personally. Take notice that when they eat spaghetti in this movie, you will want your own plate. Another eating scene that will have your mouth watering is a nice plate of franks & beans with sauerkraut washed down by draft beer as two men are talking. On the acting, you got some focused and committed players that all help to make this movie stand up and walk around. I like the fact that it is hard to choose a side with the characters as each one has a good point as to what is going on with them in the movie...One thing we are not deprived of is the entire story and then we are left to choose the ending using what we saw as a guide. Everyone has a good point of view to share. There is a little of the American dream in this movie proving that rags to riches and hard work...works in America just fine. Highly recommend something to eat during the movie, snacks and a tasty drink