KnotMissPriceless Why so much hype?

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

dbdumonteil I like Joseph Cotten and Alida Valli ,but you cannot always win ,that is to say you cannot expect another "third man" every time ;their parts are unworthy of their talent ;the screenplay is desultory -for instance ,Cotten is to work in Valli's father's factory ,but he is so busy gambling and cheating you do not see him work at all-;Valli spends the whole movie in her wheelchair.The best scenes are to be found in Cotten's landlady's house ,particularly when another man shows up.Cotten was ideally cast for he is par excellence the ambiguous man,not quite the good guy but not the villain either ;even when he's a criminal ("shadow of a doubt") we feel for him;the movie avoids the traditional "happy end" or at least postponed it for years.

dougdoepke The trouble with this Stranger is that it walks too softly. I agree with others: the movie is too low-key for its own good. Unfortunately, the narrative straddles a number of movie genres— romance, crime, regeneration, noir— without blending them into a compelling whole. At the same time, the parts are stretched out at such a leisurely pace, it's sometimes hard to stay involved. Then too, Cotten is a master of subtlety and can play a nuanced psycho as in Shadow of a Doubt (1943) to perfection. Here, however, he doesn't supply the kind of tough- guy edge of a petty criminal and stick-up man at those moments when they should surface. As a result, we never see the side of his personality that's in conflict with his charming, sociable side. Cotten's performance is perfect for the romantic side, but not for the tough- guy criminal side. Thus, the reform that comes at the end lacks the contrast and dramatic impact it needs. All in all, I think the film works best as a romantic tale of moral regeneration. The screenplay could have deepened this approach by making Hale (Cotten) a con-man gigolo instead of a violent criminal, that is, a man who is reformed by coming home to his first and one true love, Elaine (Valli). For one, that would have eliminated the ridiculous sequence where, as reviewer cutterccbaxter notes, Hale takes three slugs in the back while in a rolling car, yet emerges in the next scene with his arm in a sling! My guess is that the film was rushed into production to cash in on the success of the Valli-Cotten teaming in The Third Man. The result, however, is a Luke-warm mix at best.

Roger Burke This forgotten gem was of interest for a number of reasons.First, it's directed by Robert Stevenson, the man responsible for a superb thriller, To the Ends of the Earth (1948) with Dick Powell in the lead. Steveson, however, has a long list of fine films to his credit, beginning (for me) with Tom Brown's Schooldays (1940), all the way to The Love Bug (1968) and Herbie Rides Again (1974) – if you like fantasy comedy...But second, this film echoes the matching of Cotton and Valli in The Third Man (1949), arguably one of the best film-noir made (directed by Carol Reed, of course). Reading the additional information about this film, however, I learnt that it was actually made before The Third Man but keep on ice for two years.In this narrative, however, Cotton as Chris Hale breaks the mold of the bashful, loyal and trustworthy good guy he was known for in so many previous movies. That is, while this is certainly another of the film-noir genre, it doesn't have a femme fatale: Chris Hale is the homme fatale – the man with the fatal flaw in his past, and the one that catches up with him.In contrast, Valli as Elaine Corelli is the broken rose: a woman of substance and great beauty but, because of a tragic accident, unwilling to expose herself to potential failure again, especially in matters of the heart. When Hale turns up, however, she is drawn to him, despite her misgivings at first.Arguably, she should have listened to her head because Hale has a hidden agenda – in fact, that's why he's in Elaine's town where her father practically owns it: Hale wants to stay hiding in plain sight, as a model citizen, because he thinks the guys he robbed a while back – gangsters who ran a casino in another state - will never find him... More fool he, because his ex-buddy turns up to ask for a handout – and so, Hale's cover is blown and it's only a matter of time before the killers follow.What follows then are Hale's attempts to get clear of the bad guys and redeem himself with Elaine; so, I'll leave you to enjoy that denouement. When you do, watch for the great sight gag that includes the words: "Next time, go by air", a moment of levity that foreshadows an ending that is, if not entirely happy, at least shows promise of hope.Cotton does an excellent job as a calculating, unflappable and competent con man who gradually sees the need, within himself, to change his ways; Valli once again exudes troubled emotions and repressed sexuality with great finesse; that great character actor, Paul Stewart shines as the craven Whitey Lake, Hale's buddy; and John McIntire appears, for once, as not a cop – as In Psycho (1960) - but as an office manager, Morgan. And, let's not forget Spring Byington who plays...well, Mrs Brentman/Spring Byington, the landlady.Recommended for all, especially for film-noir fans.

Gilly-13 I watched this shortly after seeing a print of The Blue Angel. It was hard to imagine how the same man who wrote "Falling in Love Again" managed to write the neo-pretentious, pseudo-classical background music for this movie later that same lifetime. But then, Alida Valli's beauty would make anyone wax rhapsodic.