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

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

TheLittleSongbird That is saying a fair bit actually because the Sylvia Sidney version was dramatically underwhelming and not easy to get into. This film does take its time to get going, with the beginning moving rather slowly, and Bruce Seton is wooden. But there is so much to like about Love from a Stranger. The production values, from the period detail to the photography, is very pleasing to look at, and Benjamin Britten's(only 23/24 at the time) score has a haunting undercurrent as well as stylistically distinctive. The dialogue is snappy and adds intensity rather than falling too much into stodgy melodrama. And the storytelling is far more convincing, the middle is suspenseful, helped by a far more convincing exploration of the psychological and psychopathic aspects of the characters and story, and the somewhat ironic ending is very tense. In the later version, the ending was ridiculously done and what was suspenseful here was undermined by overwrought melodrama and real stodginess. Director Ronald V. Lee sets things up with a smooth and neat approach, and the cast are top notch, Joan Hickson and Binnie Hale stand out in support. But it's the leads who carry with a classy and dignified Ann Harding and a genuinely menacing Basil Rathbone. Overall, a very good film that starts slowly but rewarding once you stay with it. Comparing this with the later version with Sylvia Sidney and John Hodiak, there is no doubt that it's this one that is the far superior film version. 8/10 Bethany

writers_reign The most interesting thing about this trifle from a modern perspective is that if features Joan Hickson in the role of a maid. The interest rests on the fact that this is an adaptation of a story by Agatha Christie and Hickson went on to play Christie's Miss Marple on television. It's hoary to say the least, Ann Harding wins a fortune on the lottery and within minutes Basil Rathbone appears to begin charming her out of it and, for an encore, killing her. Of course, as we know, the best laid plans ... so it's just a matter of sitting it out until the last reel when he finally gets his. It's reasonably well done but light years short of what Hollywood was doing with the same genre at the same time. Novelty appeal mostly.

kidboots Beautiful Ann Harding was noted for her long silvery blonde hair and her melodious throbbing voice. Her looks and bearing meant she was only to play ladies and she played them to perfection but by the mid 1930s she was being ousted by stars who could play more down to earth heroines. Like many other stars whose box office power had dimmed she tried her luck in England and made "Love From a Stranger" in 1937. It was taken from an Agatha Christie short story and had a ripping, over the top performance by Basil Rathbone. Some of the critics of the day compared the shocking ending to James Cagney's ending in "The Public Enemy" (1931) - not quite!!Ann Harding at her most dignified was completely believable as English working girl Carol who finds she has won the lottery. She goes on a "wild" spending spree (she buys a hat she has had her eye on) and eagerly awaits the return of Ronnie (Bruce Seton), her fiancé, old "Mr. Reliable", who she hasn't seen for a few years (he has been working in the Sudan, saving for their marriage). Before he arrives she meets Gerald Lovell (Basil Rathbone) who has come to view her flat which she is going to let. Once Ronnie arrives and realises she has won the lottery - suddenly the thought of marriage turns him cold. He wants to be the man of the house, support them both on his salary etc, but Carol wants them both to travel to exotic lands, to places new and interesting. They quarrel and suddenly Gerald is back on the scene and Carol finds it hard to resist him. He follows her to Paris - where she has to pick up her winnings - and proceeds to show her the Paris he knows - all the out of the way places. Ronnie then turns up, he is sorry for the way he has behaved, but she has news for him - she is already married.Things, at first, seem wonderful but then a house deal falls through and Gerald's South American bank funds are late - he is more than happy for Carol to sign some papers. He has an evil glint in his eye - is she signing away her fortune??? They move into a beautiful country house but as in all these movies - the cellar is the master's domain and no one is to go down there but him!!! He gives Carol a beautiful scarf - and it starts to affect his mind. His behaviour becomes more and more erratic - he literally screams when he finds her near his "dark room", when the doctor examines him and when Carol's old friends come to visit. The screams are really bloodcurdling!!! He is particularly interested in "Fletcher", a master criminal who has murdered three women and successfully evaded the police. When he sees Carol looking at Fletcher's picture again - she realises not only is he mad but he is also Fletcher. The ending is tension filled but with a few holes. Lovell is supposed to have a heart condition - but can no one see he is stark raving mad!! There is a fine line between Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes and the madness of Gerald Lovell. Ann Harding gives a gripping performance as the lovely Carol who, in a huge surprise twist, turns the tables on Gerald - and wins. This could be Ann's best performance.Highly Recommended.

theowinthrop Agatha Christie had a hard time with the movie adaptations of her works. Prior to the astounding success of MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS in the 1970s, only two film adaptations of her works had been done well: the 1944 version of AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, and (beyond that) the 1957 version of WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION. The former was done by the French film director Rene Clair, and the latter by Billy Wilder, and both were well cast. But those were like exceptions to the general rule. WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION had a memorable performance of Charles Laughton as the cagey old barrister Sir Wilfred Robarts (ably assisted by his nurse, played by Laughton's wife Elsa Lanchester). But in the early 1930s an early English talkie was made of ALIBI, a play based on THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD. Laughton had made a name for himself on stage as Hercule Poirot in that play, and was repeating the role for film. Christie saw the finished result and wondered if she should allow her other stories to be made into movies! In 1937 Christie allowed a play she wrote, "Philomel Cottage" to be made into a film. The film was retitled LOVE FROM A STRANGER, and starred Ann Harding as a lonely young woman who wins a fortune in a lottery. Soon she meets a fascinating, sophisticated gentleman played by Basil Rathbone, who sweeps her off her feet and marries her. But his charms begin to frazzle after marriage - he insists on them moving to the cottage (of the play's title) which is in an out-of-the-way location, and he slowly drives away all her friends. As she realizes how isolated she is, she begins to wonder what is the real personality of the man she has married: is he moody or is he actually planning to murder her for her money.Although not handled by a director of the caliber of Clair or Wilder (or of ORIENT EXPRESS' Sidney Lumet), LOVE FROM A STRANGER benefited from the hand of Rowland Lee, an expert director of melodrama and detective films. Lee wisely kept to the story, and allowed Rathbone to play one of his best villains. Basil is a fortune hunter and "Bluebeard" like Henri Landru or George Joseph Smith. He has more polish than the average killer: witness his abilities to order a first rate dinner early in the film for Harding and himself, including choosing the fine wine involved. He also is quite in love with his accomplishments. When the neighborhood doctor and he are discussing murder cases the former mentions one in South America where the killer defended himself and got off, and left the jurisdiction just before the evidence that would have convicted him turned up. Rathbone says that killer was brilliant, and was really something else. Of course, as it turns out, that killer was Rathbone.Harding balances him, trying to keep her suspicions under control and trying to counter all of Rathbone's various schemes so that she can stay alive. It becomes a literal battle to the death between the two of them.LOVE FROM A STRANGER lacks the production values of AND THEN THERE WERE NONE and WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION, but it has two sturdy performances and good directing behind it. It is the best of the pre-1944 Christie films. In 1947 it would be remade (with the same title) with John Hodiak and Sylvia Sidney and John Howard, although no longer treated as a modern story but set back in the 1890s.One final point. The supporting cast included David Calthrop (who frequently was in British movies in this period), and Jean Cadell. But one name in the cast is rather ironic. Joan Hickson had an early role in this film. In the 1980s the B.B.C. discovered in Ms Hickson the first woman to play the role of Miss Jane Marple (pace Margaret Rutherford and Angela Lansbury) as Christie had written the role. Hickson would appear in nearly a dozen small screen multi-episode productions in the 1980s and 1990s before her death in 1998. Her performances as Miss Marple remain a standard to match all others in that role.