Talk About a Stranger *** (1952, George Murphy, Nancy Davis, Billy Gray, Lewis Stone) – Classic Movie Review 12,184

‘It Sends Chills Down Your Spine!’

Director David Bradley’s 1952 film noir mystery drama Talk about a Stranger is based on American writer Charlotte Armstrong’s short story The Enemy, and stars George Murphy, Nancy Davis, Billy Gray and Lewis Stone.

Talk about a Stranger is a quite compelling, fairly persuasive minor drama about a California couple (George Murphy, Nancy Davis) with an apparently creepy new neighbour (Kurt Kasznar) who may have poisoned their inquisitive young son Bud (Billy Gray)’s dog is interesting for its atmosphere and themes, but perhaps most interesting for its stars. Murphy, who became US Senator from California, is partnered by the wife of another actor politician – Nancy Reagan (Nancy Davis). Both give mild but eager-to-please performances.

The family own a small orange orchard in California, where Bud has taken an instant dislike to the stranger and blames him for his dog’s death. The boy’s suspicions about the neighbour grow and he spreads vicious rumours about him to influence the locals, who begin to believe that the stranger may be a wanted killer. Then Bud endangers the crops in the valley by vandalising the neighbour’s oil tank.

It is nicely shot in black and white by noted cinematographer John Alton.

Also in the cast are Anna Glomb, Katherine Warren.

It is Murphy’s last film at MGM, aged 50, after 15 years at MGM, though he made a couple more movies. Murphy served from 1965 to 1971 as US Senator from California, the first notable American actor to be elected to statewide office in California, before Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger. He died in 1992 aged 89, from leukaemia.

Low cost though it was, the film lost $276,000 for MGM. It cost $481,000 and earned just $375,000.

Talk about a Stranger is directed by David Bradley, runs 65 minutes, is made and released by MGM, is written by Margaret Fitts, is shot in black and white by John Alton, is produced by Richard Goldstone, and is scored by David Buttolph.

Charlotte Armstrong wrote 29 novels, as well as short stories, plays and screenplays, which include Incident at a Corner, episode of Startime, dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1959, plus three episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Sybilla (dir. Ida Lupino); The Five-Forty-Eight (adapted from the John Cheever short story) and Across the Threshold, 1960.

Four well-known films were also made from her work: Talk About a Stranger, 1952 (from the short story The Enemy), Don’t Bother to Knock, 1952 (from the novel Mischief) (dir. Roy Baker), The Three Weird Sisters, 1948 (from the novel The Case of the Weird Sisters) (dir. Daniel Birt), and The Unsuspected, 1947 (dir. Michael Curtiz).

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,184

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