Talk About a Stranger (1952)

For one horrible moment it looks as if Mason is going to play the whole film in an ill-becoming naval beard. Fortunately he gets the sack early on and is able to shave it off. As you know I operate on the principle that any film with Herbert Lomas is an entertaining one. Good old Lomas has a typically spooky informative role here, even if but a brief one. And as for finding my favorite comic detective/spy chaser Tom Walls on the wrong side of the law for once, it's a pleasure... If this comedy-thriller is a bit shy in the laughs department — despite (or maybe because of) its hard-working heroine — it certainly delivers the thrills. Three or four scenes (a rendezvous with a corpse in a spooky house; attempted murder on a speeding train; Chesney playing the secret code) are staged with all the flair and panache of the master himself. In fact, when you come right down to it, the script has quite a few echoes of The 39 Steps, The Lady Vanishes, Number 17, and Young and Innocent.The Director: A refugee from Hitler's Germany who served in the Royal Air Force during the war, Lamac has an extraordinarily large number of distinguished European films to his credit including The Bat, Little Dorrit, White Horse Inn, Hound of the Baskervilles and The Ghost Train.

Totally miserable film dealing with a young boy's suspicion when his dog is found poisoned. The next door neighbor, a disagreeable, nasty and mysterious man is thought to be the killer and the boy goes out of control whenever he sees the man.Nancy Davis, Mrs. Ronald Reagan, played his mother. Her character is outrageously benign here. Even the way she calls out to her son in the film, a mother would be so much more assertive here. As the father, George Murphy is given a poor script to work with. Owner of a fruit orchard, a sidebar theme in this dismal film regards the dropping of temperatures and its affects upon what is being grown.Our mysterious neighbor's transition is sudden and while he becomes a sympathetic figure in the end, it's too much to digest and believe.

"Talk About a Stranger" is a much, much better film that you might expect. Despite the credits order, it stars Billy Gray (as Robert "Bud" Fontaine Jr.). Mr. Gray would, later, become best known as another "Bud", on the TV series "Father Knows Best". In this film, he plays a boy who adopts a stray dog, which he names "Boy"; then, he finds the dog has been poisoned. Gray suspects a mysterious new arrival in town, Kurt Kasznar (as Matlock). Mr. Kasznar acts, and looks, very much like an outsider; and, he seems to dislike "Boy", and children… Gray does a fine job in a difficult role; he has to play the boy as both unlikeable, and likable. The character "Bud" is redeemed (or, made sympathetic) by his caring for his dead "Dog"; and, the film effectively captivates, with its plot developments. Kasznar is great, as usual; he keeps the performance from going in a direction not in tune with the film's ending. Top billed George Murphy and Nancy Davis (as parents Robert and Marge Fontaine) are ordinary; undoubtedly, they are better appreciated in other films. Later, Ms. Davis was, of course, wonderfully cast as the second Mrs. Ronald Reagan. The film's weaknesses might have been arrested by strengthening the "Fontaine" family.The other players in "Talk About a Stranger" are terrific. Lewis Stone is at least as "fatherly" as Mr. Murphy; he plays the newspaperman (William J. Wardlaw) Gray runs to for help. Teddy Infuhr has a great little part as a boy who lives near a "Haunted House" Gray visits; watch for their scene in the "San Sala" house. The film is full of weird scenes; and, Gray's trip to "San Sala" is one. Note, also, that Gray is picked up hitchhiking by motorcycling sailor Alvy Moore, who immediately asks Gray if he has a sister! Mr. Moore will, later, become best known as "Hank Kimball" on the TV series "Green Acres". You also get to see Kathleen Freeman, Burt Mustin, and some others…Cinematographer John Alton is the film's most valuable player. Mr. Alton, David Bradley (director), Cedric Gibbons (art director), and Eddie Imazu (art director) make "Talk About a Stranger" a great looking film. For this, and its cast, "Talk About a Stranger" is well worth watching. ******** Talk About a Stranger (1952) David Bradley ~ Billy Gray, Kurt Kasznar, Lewis Stone

A child's pet dog dies of poisoning and young Robert(Billy Gray)points the finger at a mysterious neighbor named "Matlock"(Kurt Kasznar)who lives near where the mutt was found dead. Robert pursues the truth with passion and without restraint no matter the consequences his doggedness brings..but is he correct on his presumption that Matlock committed the deed to start with? Robert didn't see Matlock actually poison the dog, but a few near run-ins with the strange, quiet man who keeps to himself, separated from the little town merely only to drop in for supplies every now and then, motivates his blinded rage for finding the truth against him making up most of this little film. Robert's father(George Murphy) is an orange farmer and when Daddy doesn't charge Matlock for supposedly killing the dog, their relationship is strained. We watch as Robert, Jr. forces his hand around town asking local newspaper publisher William Wardlaw(Lewis Stone)to print the story of Matlock's poisoning the dog. While Wardlaw won't just publish a story based on theory, he does encourage Robert the truth by asking around and fishing for clues. So Robert does, but his anger for the loss of his pet pooch might cause the young lad to make rash decisions he might soon regret.Little film barely runs over an hour and has a simple story regarding the reasons for not storming blindly against someone without knowing all the facts just because the accused seems guilty of the crime presented. The boy is the perfect protagonist for his dangerous mission might not yield the results he built up in his little mind..yet his pursuit often causes him to make irrational decisions which could cause multiple harm to others. And, I'm pretty sure many will point out that this whole dangerous mission is over "just a mutt", but I think to a kid who grown to love it with all his heart, that this film is able to capture that. Still, when the result is shown, the child makes a decision out of hatred, and it could possibly affect the farmers trying to make a living with the frost threatening their crops, that the film comes full circle speaking it's peace(the moral lesson this story had been planning to unleash) about finger-pointing without knowing for sure if the one whose getting singled out is actually the culprit. I think this flick is much ado about nothing, but it does build up some tension considering the child's journey into possible(this is the word I'm trying to emphasize) shark-infested waters. Some fabulous photographic work by John Alton bringing a noirish look that actually heightens the suspense which might dazzle some viewers(there is a cool sequence where little Robert is returning home from a California estate that might've pointed out Matlock as a murderer and appears on the verge of being run over just to watch the headlights split under the fog pointing out a young man on a motorcycle, or the scene where it, at first appears, that Robert is being pursued by Matlock in the orange grove), but the film, in my opinion, isn't that lasting..you'll probably forget it shortly after you've watched it.