Let’s get real here. Outside of movie buffs, who’s ever heard of this 1946 Warner Bros. film? Yet it boasts a remarkable pedigree: a screenplay by John Huston and Howard Koch (Casablanca); direction by the underrated Jean Neglesco; and a superb cast led by the studio's Laurel and Hardy of 1940s melodrama, Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre.
Geraldine Fitzgerald Steals Three Strangers
Significantly, beyond these two, who again expertly play off one another – they made nine films together –the third stranger of the title is played by Geraldine Fitzgerald. Her performance will be a revelation to those who only know Fitzgerald as Dudley Moore’s hilarious, sternly loving grandmother in 1981's Arthur.
Fitzgerald’s layered, intense performance in Three Strangers nearly distracts from the fact she’s also remarkably sexy as the instigator of the film’s complicated story:
On the nighttime streets of 1938 London, a woman entices two men, played by Greenstreet and Lorre, to follow her home. But it’s not what you think. In fact, her motives are far more unusual. Crystal Shakleford (Fitzgerald) reveals to her visitors an exotic bronze statue of Kwan Yin, the Chinese “goddess of fortune and destiny, of life and death.”
She claims that, according to legend, when the Chinese New year begins at the stroke of midnight, the goddess will literally open her eyes, and figuratively, her heart, to three strangers.
Translation: like the proverbial genie, the figurine will grant a wish to each of them.
That's the Ticket: Grand National Horse Race at Stake
The three agree to ask for success with a million-to-one Grand National sweepstakes ticket that petty thief John West (Peter Lorre) had recently purchased. They all sign the ticket so that, on the remote chance it wins, each can claim a one-third stake.
Crystal confides she would use her winnings to salvage her marriage. Jolly alcoholic West admits he'd use his share to buy his favorite pub so he could drink without care. The portly, crooked attorney Jerome Arbutny (Greenstreet) reveals he'd buy his way into the exclusive Barristers Club.
With this kind of setup, it seems obvious the ticket will certainly pay off big in the film’s third act. But the complex twists and turns leading to that final 25 minutes are what help make Three Strangers such a fun ride.
The Three Strangers Have Crosses to Bear
Along the way, the characters’ divergent lives and ongoing crises make Three Strangers a rollercoaster. Greenstreet’s disreputable lawyer is embezzling from a dotty old widow who believes she can communicate with her dead husband. Lorre’s lovable, tipsy thief is wrongly implicated in a botched robbery that ended in murder. Fitzgerald’s obsessive, scorned wife has the biggest story arc of all, moving from daffy to sinister as she schemes to win back a husband determined to leave her for a naïve young woman he met in Canada.
The machinations lead to a lightning-fast third act in which the disparate story threads converge and culminate with the Grand National race, the murder of one of the strangers and a sweepstakes ticket ostensibly worth a fortune, but very problematic.
Although Jean Negulesco directed, Huston’s imprint is everywhere, especially regarding the Chinese statue. Its presence is startlingly reminiscent of the statuary at the heart of Huston's 1941 acknowledged classic The Maltese Falcon, often considered the first genuine film noir. In fact, even the opening credits mimic those of Falcon.
John Huston Dreamed Up Tale in 1936
Curiously, the story for Three Strangers actually pre-dated the Huston classic by a half-decade. According to the director’s autobiography, An Open Book, Huston hit on the idea for Strangers in 1936 in London, where he was acting in a Koch play. Huston purchased a figure from an antique shop; later at a party, someone proposed signing a sheet of Irish sweepstakes tickets, which got Huston devising a story combining the two elements.
Three Strangers offers juicy dialogue and numerous nuggets of fun, including an uncharacteristically low-key, cheeky, romantic role for Lorre. That he gets a girl in the picture is refreshingly out of character for an actor best known for playing creepy little guys.
Fitzgerald, meanwhile, is nothing short of luminous as Crystal, whose pursuit of her husband eventually turns pathological. Early on, a preternatural self-confidence, combined with a lush, wraparound wardrobe, give Crystal a surprising sexiness. Throughout the picture, even as she veers toward madness, Geraldine Fitzgerald owns every scene she’s in.
Strong Supporting Cast in Three Strangers
The film also gives Greenstreet the chance to take his usual devious manipulator around the bend, especially in the final minutes when all hell breaks loose.
Among an excellent supporting cast is the dapper Alan Napier as Crystal’s husband, David. Napier achieved a dubious immortality two decades later as Alfred, the courtly silver-haired butler on TV’s Batman. Joan Lorring has a nice turn as Lorre’s tough but sweet love interest.
Romanian-born Jean Negulesco's (The Mask of Dimitrios, Humoresque, Johnny Belinda, Three Coins in the Fountain) fluid camera and feel for noir atmosphere make the film appropriately moody without smothering its light moments of comic relief.
Is Three Strangers a true film classic? Could be. The movie merits consideration because it's as engrossing, clever, and creative as any acknowledged noir classic.
Barry M. Grey - Barry M. Grey is a non-fiction TV writer-producer in Los Angeles whose love of classic film borders on the dangerously obsessive.
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