Three Strangers (1946)

This film noir directed by the highly talented Jean Negulesco manages to convey a great deal of menacing and sinister atmosphere in an indirect manner. Such subtlety is often lacking in such films. Much of this is due to the inspired casting. Anything with Sydney Greenstreet in it is always bound to be good, and here he is even more effective than usual. He 'acts up a storm', as the saying goes. His anxiety level is so high that he even seems to be able to make himself sweat, and one wonders if he really did that without the aid of the makeup people. Stranger things are possible. But the central piece of casting that makes this film work so well is Geraldine Fitzgerald as the female lead. She is absolutely brilliant at portraying a brazenly narcissistic and ruthless 'grabber', who simply has to have it all, whatever the cost to others. The scenes where Greenstreet begs her to help him are so powerful and tense that one's nerves are nearly shattered just watching it. The third lead is Peter Lorre, who is as effective as always. Those three make up the 'three strangers' of the title, who join in a pact together despite the fact that they have never before met. John Huston and Howard Koch were the two authors of the original screenplay. Koch had written the screenplay for CASABLANCA (1942) and two years later would do the screenplay for the brilliant Max Ophuls film LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN (1948), which was adopted from a story by Stefan Zweig. He was therefore one of the best screenwriters around. Also excellent in this film is the actress Joan Lorring, then aged 20, who plays a girl who is in love with Peter Lorre, and will do anything for him. The strange story concerns a bronze statue of the Chinese goddess Guanyin (spelled in the film Kwan Yin), the Goddess of Mercy, which Geraldine Fitzgerald has in her apartment. (The small statue used in the film is very inferior, but never mind.) As I also have a Guanyin, this was of particular interest to me. Fitzgerald mistakenly says she is the Goddess of Fate, but then mercy was nothing anything that a character like Fitzgerald's would be interested in. She claims there is an old legend that says that if three strangers gather before the statue of Guanyin on the night of the Spring Festival (i.e., Chinese New Year) and make a joint wish, the wish will be granted. Fitzgerald goes out in the street and picks up the two men and brings them back to her apartment. They all wish for money, in the form of a sweepstakes ticket connected with horse racing, concerning which they all sign a binding legal agreement that they each own one third of it. The two men then go away, believing this to be a kind of a joke. But some time later the ticket wins. And then the complications begin. Insane greed, utter desperation, and competition between the three people all raise their ugly heads. The situation becomes very extreme. This is when Greenstreet sweats, because he has become compromised as a lawyer in the maladministration of some trust funds. But to tell more might ruin the viewer's suspense. This is an excellent film, one of the best of its kind.

Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet - the Laurel and Hardy of crime as they were once described - made nine movies together and this is one of the best. It has a clever plot not unlike those that came along a decade later in shows like "The Twilight Zone" and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents".Beautiful Crystal Shackleford (Geraldine Fitzgerald) entices two men to her flat on a London night in 1938. She believes that if three strangers make the same wish to her idol, Kwan Yin, at precisely midnight on Chinese New Year, their wish will be granted.The two men turn out to be solicitor Jerome K. Arbutny (Sydney Greenstreet) and the philosophical, alcoholic Johnny West (Peter Lorre).They wish for success on a sweepstakes ticket that Johnny has in his pocket. The story then follows each of their lives, all of which are deeply troubled. Eventually they meet again as Kwan Yin affects their fate in unexpected ways.Peter Lorre championed the original story by John Huston and according to "The Lost One": A Life of Peter Lorre" by Stephen D. Youngkin, was instrumental in getting it made. He wanted to break away from his typecasting as the duplicitous and often creepy foreigner from roles in films such as "M", "Crime and Punishment" and "Mad Love".He was given a fairly free reign by director Jean Negulesco, allowing him to create the warm character of Johnny West who although alcoholic, is thoughtful and understanding of human weakness. As Negulesco said, "He brought to the role his own melancholy whimsy, the calm of a poet".Lorre's character is the perfect contrast to the neurotic and scheming Crystal Shackleford and the equally scheming Jerome K. Arbutny. Life magazine summed up Greenstreet's performance as a villain "whose cold machinations lurk beneath the apparent dignity and wisdom of old age". For a man who was only 5'9", Greenstreet's bulk is filmed in a menacing manner. Often shot from waist-height he looms over the other actors like a well-dressed King Kong.The film has the sense of claustrophobia that went with those old Warner Bros. movies shot on the sound stage, but has ambiance to spare. The film used to turn up regularly on TV in the 1960's, but over the decades has become harder to find, especially as we don't receive Turner Classic Movies in Australia any more - thank you Foxtel.

Ridiculous writing and even with Geraldine Fitzgerald, Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstart starring, basically nothing can really help this film.Fitzgerald draws the other two guys and they wish before some Chinese idol to have a sweepstakes ticket. The problem with them and this film is that they have far too many personal problems between them.Joan Lorring comes off after playing Bessie in her Oscar nominated "The Corn is Green," the year before to portray Lorre's girlfriend. At the beginning, she is still quite a shrew as in 'Corn,' but she suddenly comes to light and shows a compassionate side about her.Lorre can't even be his usual devilish way here thanks to the inane writing. Greenstreet has his moments such as his crack-up scene, but he too goes over-the-top in quite a campy performance.Fitzgerald here really steals the show as a woman who tells the ultimate lie to her husband's mistress so that she can get him back. She is the real shrew here. Unfortunately, the writing does her in as well.

"It has always been man's desire to invent idols on whom he can place the responsibility for his own actions. Perhaps these three strangers in this story, whose lives have really nothing to do with each other, would never have met except for a very ancient idol: the Chinese goddess, Kwan Yin. And perhaps their separate stories might have been different except for what happened that night. And then again, perhaps not." (OPENING TITLE SCREEN)And so begins THREE STRANGERS. It sounded interesting enough.But in the end, I didn't particularly care for this film. That mostly stems from the fact that it's based on the lives of selfish, self-absorbed people looking to change their fortunes.It looks rather low budget as nothing really impressed me with the sets or the cinematography. The acting was adequate, but ultimately couldn't overcome the problem for me with the characters in general.Mostly, it was a film full of unlikeable people - with the exception of Peter Lorre's character. He was the least offensive of the three main characters although still a drunken crook - but he seemed less harmful.In the end, I couldn't have cared less what happened with any of the people in this film. I think the premise could have been interesting - the idea of 3 people's lives intertwined because of a winning lottery ticket. But ultimately, it failed to deliver.