Strangers When We Meet *** (1960, Kirk Douglas, Kim Novak, Ernie Kovacs, Walter Matthau, Barbara Rush, Kent Smith) – Classic Movie Review 12,425

Richard Quine’s 1960 romantic drama film Strangers When We Meet is a tale of unhappy families in LA suburbia with Larry (Kirk Douglas), married to Eve (Barbara Rush), having a fling with Margaret (Kim Novak), married to Ken (John Bryant).

‘I LOVE YOU BABY, BUT MY WIFE JUST REFUSES TO UNDERSTAND!’

Producer/ director Richard Quine’s 1960 romantic drama film Strangers When We Meet is based on the novel by Evan Hunter about two married neighbours who have an affair, and stars Kirk Douglas, Kim Novak, Ernie Kovacs, Walter Matthau, Barbara Rush, Kent Smith, and Virginia Bruce. It is shot in widescreen and Eastmancolor.

It is a tale of unhappy families in LA suburbia with Larry Coe (Douglas), married to Eve Coe (Rush), having a fling with Margaret Gault (Novak), who is married to Ken Gault (John Bryant). Then there is Kovacs as Roger Altar, who gets Douglas to build him a dream home, and Matthau show-stealing as the neighbour Felix Anders, who charges in to comfort Rush.

It all adds up to a smooth, upmarket soap, then much in vogue in the movies, crisply written by Evan Hunter from his bestseller. The polished acting by a very good, engaged cast cast gives it more than it is really worth, and it remains essentially trashy, but entertainingly so. Quine directs as if he believes in it all too.

A film with Novak, Kovacs and Kovack!

John Bryant and Kim Novak.

Also in the cast are Helen Gallagher, John Bryant, Sue Ane Langdon, Roberta Shore, Nancy Kovack, Carol Douglas, and Paul Picerni.

It was released on June 30, 1960 and had what’s known kindly as mixed reviews (‘pure tripe’) but was a financial success, taking $3,400,000 in the US and Canada.

It was filmed in Los Angeles, in Beverly Hills, Brentwood, Bel Air, Santa Monica, and Malibu.

They decided to have a real house built for the one Larry Coe is designing for Roger Altar. Art director Ross Bellah and architect Carl Anderson designed an all-wood 3,800-square-foot house to be built on a hillside lot in Bel Air. Filming had to be aligned with the house’s construction, as scenes had to be filmed at various stages of construction. The house, at 930 Chantilly Road, Los Angeles, still stands today.

But a house is not a home, at least for Kim Novak, though it could have been. Director Richard Quine was Novak’s fiancé and their Columbia Pictures studio planned to give them the house built for the filming as a wedding gift, but they did not marry. While making their last film together, The Notorious Landlady (1962), Novak bought her own home by the sea near Big Sur in central California. She moved to Big Sur after her Hollywood house was swept away with most of her belongings in a mudslide in 1966.

Allegedly Novak used her relationship with Quine to be able to make unsolicited suggestions to crew members. And allegedly, Kirk Douglas took offence when Novak tried to make suggestions to him on his acting, and they had a chilly relationship off-set.

Kim Novak turned 90 on 13 February 2023. She was born Marilyn Pauline Novak in Chicago, Illinois, on 13 February 1933. She is most widely known for her performances as Madeleine Elster and Judy Barton in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 thriller film Vertigo, with James Stewart.

After signing a contract with Columbia Pictures, she became one of Hollywood’s top box office stars, appearing in Picnic (1955), The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) and Pal Joey (1957). She is widely known for Vertigo (1958), Bell, Book and Candle (1958), Strangers When We Meet (1960), Of Human Bondage (1964) and The Mirror Crack’d (1980). She retired after a disappointing experience on Liebestraum (1991).

Strangers When We Meet is directed by Richard Quine, runs 117 minutes, is made by Quine Productions and Bryna Productions, is released by Columbia, is written by Evan Hunter, based on the novel by Evan Hunter, is shot in Panavision widescreen (anamorphic, as CinemaScope) and Eastmancolor by Charles Lang, is produced by Richard Quine, is scored by George Duning and Morris Stoloff.

The cast are Kirk Douglas as Larry Coe, Kim Novak as Margaret Gault, Ernie Kovacs as Roger Altar, Barbara Rush as Eve Coe, Walter Matthau as Felix Anders, Virginia Bruce as Mrs Wagner, Kent Smith as Stanley Baxter, Helen Gallagher as Betty Anders, John Bryant as Ken Gault, Sue Ane Langdon as Daphne, Nancy Kovack as Marcia, Roberta Shore, Carol Douglas, and Paul Picerni.

Sue Ane Langdon starred in two in Gene Kelly-directed films – A Guide for the Married Man and The Cheyenne Social Club – and two Elvis Presley movies, Roustabout and Frankie and Johnny.

Strangers When We Meet is also a song by David Bowie, recorded for his 1993 album The Buddha of Suburbia.

© Derek Winnert 2023 – Classic Movie Review 12,425

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com