Rachel and the Stranger (1948)

Actually the film is nothing as racy as my title would suggest. It is a story of a frontiersman recently widowed, and left with a 9 year old boy. No wife, no mother, no one to do the laundry or cook dinner (this was the frontier, remember). What to do? Well, you could go buy an indentured servant. But don't let your best friend and neighbor find out.There is a great deal of purity and scruples to be found in "Rachel And The Stranger", but not a lot you can get your teeth into. No nuance here, just a straightforward story propelled by the star power of its principals. Holden the farmer first marries the servant (Loretta Young, who must be the best-looking indentured servant ever to milk a cow) to keep up appearances. Then they sleep in separate rooms. Mitchum is the neighbor/vagabond who takes a keen interest in Holden, and especially his new servant.There are no emotional highs or lows or tense moments to be found, and the three stars must have had an easy payday with this one. By the same token, it is a very likable, crowd-pleasing family picture which might have gone over even better in color. Holden was just two years away from "Sunset Boulevard", Mitchum fresh from "Out Of The Past", one of Hollywood's best noirs, and Loretta Young had recently won an Oscar for "The Farmer's Daughter" - three stars in their prime.

RACHEL AND THE STRANGER has the kind of quiet charm that LORETTA YOUNG always possessed and benefits from the more rugged screen presence of its leading men--WILLIAM HOLDEN and ROBERT MITCHUM. Loretta is an indentured servant who becomes the wife of William Holden and must prove herself worthy of the affections of Holden and his young son.There really is very little in the story that is original and the outcome can be predicted from scene one. It's clear that Loretta, as Holden's second wife, will have a hard time replacing his winsome wife who was a woman of modest talents and dearly loved by husband and son (GARY GRAY). Not unexpectedly, they both warm to her and so does Holden's "stranger" friend, ROBERT MITCHUM, who does a nice job raising his voice in song accompanied by guitar. Mitchum gives his usual laid back performance, nicely understated. The story may be a little too slow moving for some tastes since it's more of a character study of a widower and his new wife than it is a western.There's no real excitement to the story until the Indian attack which comes late in the story, but the film depends on the central performances of Young, Holden and Mitchum to hold interest as the three of them have some amusing interactions throughout the story.Nicely photographed in outdoor settings photographed in crisp B&W, it's a film full of simple charm without anything pretentious about it.Only drawback: Overuse of the phrase "I reckon" to give the dialog a bucolic flavor. Its use is way overdone and actually becomes irritating when the script has the phrase repeated every few seconds by everyone in the cast.

In time of colonization of America, the widower David Harvey (William Holden) lives in an isolated farm in the woods with his son Davey (Gary Grey). Father and son miss their wife and mother Susan, who has recently died, and David concludes that he needs a woman to educate his son properly and to cook and clean the house. David decides to travel with Davey to the nearby fort to seek a woman and the reverend proposes the bond servant Rachel (Loretta Young) for him. David buys Rachel, and Davey overhears the negotiation; but the reverend demands that they should marry to each other to have a decent life in the same house. The trio travels back to the farm and David and Davey treat Rachel like a slave without any respect or affection. When David's drifter friend Jim Fairways (Robert Mitchum) visits them, he stays for a couple of days with the family and treats Rachel respectfully like a lady. Then Jim courts Rachel, and David feels jealous and realizes how important she is for him. "Rachel and the Stranger" is an adorable romance and I loved this western. I did not know the concept of indentured servant in America, and the humiliating situation of Rachel is heartbreaking, fruit of the unpaid debts of her father. Loretta Young has a fantastic performance and William Holden and Robert Mitchum have hilarious moments with their witty lines. My vote is nine.Title (Brazil): "Rachel e o Estranho" ("Rachel and the Stranger")

This film plays out as a sort of western Rebecca (1940. Rachel (Lorreta Young) lives in the shadow of Big Davy's (William Holden)first wife when she is 'bought' to keep house and educate the young son. The film essentially follows Rachel's efforts to gain acceptance and prove herself a worthy acquisition.Young is good in her role, adequately conveying Rachel's disappointment with married life and her relationships with two men, Holden and Mitchum. Holden and Mitchum in a sense both occupy the stranger tag of the title. Young marries Holden as a stranger, and he remains a stranger even in marriage. Mitchum is the stranger who appears and seems to offer Rachel a chance at salvation. Both men suit their roles. Holden, at first a grief-stricken widower, cold and unwelcoming, begins to open up to Rachel and appreciate her as a wife and companion, not a slave. Mitchum sings and provides a lighter presence. Gary Gray gives strong support as the child who learns to love Rachel as a mother figure after his initial mistreatment of her.There are some interesting themes here, particularly the idea of female servitude. 'Rachel And The Stranger' poignantly questions the role of women in society and also the portrayal of women in western films. It looks at the gun myth in western films- guns allow Rachel to assert herself in a 'male' aspect. It hints at Rachel's dissatisfaction with the lack of sexual relations in her marriage. the Both central male figures are worth close analysis- Mitchum claims to love and appreciate Rachel more than Holden's character, yet he too only thinks of Rachel in monetary terms when he offers to 'buy' Rachel from Holden.'Rachel And The Stranger', in haunting black-and-white cinematography, is a real little gem of a film. It's simple, yet powerful themes and efficient running length mean that the film does not stray into long-winded sequences that detract from the original premise of Rachel's struggle as a 'replacement bride'.