Strangers When We Meet Review

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(More customer reviews)"Strangers When We Meet" (1960) is simply a magnificent movie. In this reviewer's opinion, the acting performances from every single member of this first-rate cast are brilliant -- from Kirk Douglas to Kim Novak to Ernie Kovacs to Walter Matthau. They are each just perfect here. Also keep an eye peeled for Sue Ane Langdon, who pops up in a brief cameo role.
And I certainly don't want to leave out Barbara Rush, who gives a knockout portrayal of Douglas' wife. Rush's final emotion-filled scenes in the film are literally worth a replay every time this movie is watched.
Walter Matthau's role in the film is fairly small, but powerful. Walter is thoroughly repulsive here as an aggressively-lecherous, scheming, and oversexed neighbor, who lives just a few doors down from Douglas.
Can you imagine that -- Walter Matthau being deemed "repulsive"? Hardly seems right, does it? But, in this flick, it applies. "Strangers" was made at a time when the then-39-year-old Matthau was playing more serious roles in the movies, and before all of his excellent comic parts. Four years after "Strangers", Matthau played another rather unlikable character, in 1964's "Fail-Safe", which was yet another fine performance by the versatile actor.
It's also kind of funny to note (in an "in-joke" fashion) that Matthau's character's name in "Strangers" is "Felix", which is a name that would be closely associated with Walter in the film "The Odd Couple" (1968), when Matthau's "Oscar" played opposite Jack Lemmon's "Felix".
Douglas and Novak are "strangers when they meet" in the supermarket one day, and they seem to have a genuine chemistry on screen here. I found Kim's "Maggie" in this movie very similar in "icy" and "moody" style to her role two years earlier in Alfred Hitchcock's classic tale, "Vertigo". Both of those Novak characters seem to be forever tormented by some inner demons that can never be fully exorcised. But by the end of "Strangers", Maggie has shed a great deal of her inner anguish, with the film ending in a bittersweet -- but in my opinion very fitting -- fashion.
"Strangers When We Meet", I think I'm safe in assuming, is one of Kirk Douglas' lesser-known efforts during the man's amazing screen career -- but its relative obscurity doesn't make the movie any less powerful. Douglas is 100% believable in his role here as "Larry Coe", an architect who's tired of the drab cookie-cutter assignments that have been served up to him. He wants to design a house that's different. And that's just what he does in the movie.
Throughout the film, we can actually see Larry's uniquely-designed, multi-level house take shape, bit by bit. By the film's final reel, the project is completed, and it's a truly stunning home, in my opinion.
Larry Coe also has a roving eye for his quite fetching and alluring neighbor (Maggie) -- and despite the fact that each of them is married with young children, Larry and Maggie find their mutual attraction to each other too much to resist, and they begin a love affair.
The screenplay for "Strangers" was written by Evan Hunter (based on his novel). The film was directed with great style and obvious "TLC" by Richard Quine (who also doubled as the movie's producer).
The setting is California, circa 1960, and Mr. Quine's excellent use of his beautiful "CinemaScope" widescreen (2.35:1) framing comes through with flying colors on this DVD version of the film. The movie was shot in color and the cinematography for both the outdoor and indoor scenes is rich in colorful details, which this DVD from Columbia/Sony exhibits very nicely.
There's a scene near the end of the movie that's just spectacular (from a photography and lighting standpoint), with a rainbow of colors on the screen at once -- this scene taking place in Larry's just-finished hilltop home, with the light shining through various tinted panes of window glass in a way that's just simply gorgeous.
This adult drama, which is replete with multiple cases of infidelity, could very easily (in my view) have been a real "snooze-fest" (aka: a boring 2-hour nightmare to have to sit through). But, instead, it's exactly the opposite -- it comes across as fresh and alive and interesting, all the way through its entire length of 1 hour and 57 minutes.
Director/Producer Quine and screenwriter Hunter have made these characters compelling and intriguing -- and just flat-out interesting to watch. Quine and Hunter make us care about these people on screen, from beginning to end. And I'm guessing that this wasn't an easy task, given the rather heavy and somber subject matter that the film deals with.
The "suburban" feel of the early 1960s comes across very strongly in the film as well. Each frame of the movie reflects the era in which it was made -- and I don't mean that in a negative way whatsoever; to the contrary in fact. That "feeling" for the era is something I like very much here. The film began playing in movie houses on Wednesday, June 29th, 1960.
I was flabbergasted when I discovered this movie was actually available on the DVD format. It had been on my "Buy When Available" list for many moons; but slipped under my radar of new releases when Columbia/Sony streeted this little gem on February 22, 2005. To say the least, I was most pleased when I was finally able to cross this one off of the "To-Get" list.
This single-disc, single-sided DVD gives us the film in its intended and original 2.35:1 Widescreen video format, and it offers up a dandy-looking Anamorphic (16x9 enhanced) transfer to boot. It just looks great. .... The audio on the disc comes across fine via a 2.0 Dolby Digital Mono soundtrack. Subtitles can be accessed in either English or Japanese.
The DVD comes packaged in an Amaray-type plastic Keep Case. There's no Scene Selection paper insert included in the box; but there is the normal Scene Index included on the disc itself (the film is divided up into a modest number of chapters, totalling 12).
The DVD's Menus are silent and non-animated, with the Main Menu (and "Scene" Menu) sporting an odd, albeit very picturesque, view of the skyline of New York City. (That's "odd" only because the movie is not set in New York, and has nothing whatever to do with that city; the film is set entirely in California. And what makes the DVD Main Menu picture of NYC even more peculiar is the fact that it depicts the World Trade Center as part of the New York skyline; the WTC wasn't completed until more than a decade after "Strangers" was made. Oh, well, it's still a nice-looking Menu photo nonetheless. A portion of that same New York skyline picture is also used for the DVD's front cover; the packaging photo is cropped, however, and lacks the World Trade Center image.)
The only "Bonus" material on the DVD are three "Previews" (Trailers). But, unfortunately, the original theatrical trailer for "Strangers When We Meet" is not included.
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To Sum It Up.........
"Strangers When We Meet" is highly recommended -- both the film and this DVD. Anyone who is a fan of intelligently-written motion-picture dramas -- or a fan of Kirk Douglas or the always-lovely Kim Novak -- will have no choice but to admire "Strangers" (IMHO).
If you haven't done so already, take "Strangers" for a spin in your DVD Player as soon as you can. It's a 117-minute journey back to 1960 -- and it's worth the time spent making the trip.

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