Poseidon-3 Review of The Strange One

The Strange One (1957)

"The Strange One" isn't the only strange one at The Southern Military Academy!

[15 June 2007]

Due to the censorial constraints of the time, Calder Willingham's source novel and play had to be rinsed off quite a bit before passing muster as a film. The result is a tense, mean, but veiled story of a sadistic military school cadet who runs roughshod over those around him, especially freshman who aren't in any position to complain. Gazzara is the title character, a needlessly cruel bully who uses other people to inflict pain on his enemies when he isn't busy doing it himself. The film's main concern is his scheme to oust Horne, a fellow cadet he dislikes, by setting a plan into motion that involves Gazzara's chief sidekick Hingle, tall bruiser Olson and new students Peppard and Storch. Following the incident, Gazzara attempts to keep everyone's mouth shut through intimidation, though he has one fly in the ointment which is clingy, nerdy Richards who worships Gazzara and has seen everything take place. Meanwhile, Horne's father, a Major at the school, is bent on getting to the bottom of the situation. Gazzara gives a charismatic performance, despite having certain aspects of his characterization hindered by the Production Code's cuts. He, and all of the actors (and technicians) on the film, were students of The Method school of acting from the Actors Studio in New York. Though most of the actors seem a bit old for their roles, this was standard procedure in the day. Many of them had done these roles on Broadway prior to filming. It's interesting to get a look at busy character actors like Hingle and Olson when they were young, not to mention Peppard who was at the beginning of his film career. Wilson doesn't have much to do besides pat her hair and was added to the story strictly to provide a female presence. Most of the performances are good, including those from James, as another authority figure, and Gates, as the frustrated and agitated father. Two performances stand out as poor. Richards as the sycophant admirer is way over-the-top in his creepiness and effeminate oddity. Storch, as a buck-toothed, bespectacled ninny is extraordinarily bad. He can barely speak behind his fake teeth and his expressions and body language are always, always insanely overstated and cartoonish. His ridiculous, embarrassing characterization tends to drain the film of the necessary grit and tension since he is so ludicrous. Still, those who enjoy unintentional humor may find him a treat. The original story contained heavy homosexual content and that had to be all but removed for the big screen in 1957. In it's place are some grotesque stereotypes disguised more as geeks or prudes rather than gays and a lot of phallic imagery involving swords. Also, the cadets all seem to take turns striking suggestive poses (i.e. - leaning over basins with their behinds to the camera, doing push-ups on the floor, sitting spread-eagled in a tree, etc...) in an effort to get a certain feeling across. It's a striking film, nonetheless, with some unsettling moments. Gazzara and Gates have a very strong showdown at one point and the ending is fairly memorable if a bit unrealistic. It's more of a curio now than a meaningful film, but it's worth a look to see its stars in their earliest years of performing.