AFFAIR WITH A STRANGER tells a familiar tale of a rags-to-riches playwright William Blakeley (Victor Mature), who falls in love with and marries Carolyn Parker (Jean Simmons). After a few years of blissfully happy marriage, their impending divorce is announce in the gossip- columns. Through a series of flashbacks we see how their affair started and blossomed, then find out more about the cause of the divorce rumors, as Blakeley has a stillborn love affair with manipulative starlet Janet Boothe (Monica Lewis). Roy Rowland's film unfolds at a brisk pace, with plenty of opportunity for comic moments from Mature himself (in a surprisingly witty role), supported by Mary Jo Tarola and Dabbs Greer as the Murrays, close friends of the Blakeleys. Simmons doesn't have to do much, but she does have one frenetically comic scene where she prepares for William's first visit, falls over a living-room rug, tears her dress and ends up nearly upsetting a freshly-prepared plate of chicken. It is only due to Ma Stanton's (Jane Darwell's) timely intervention that Carolyn eventually composes herself sufficiently to receive her would-be suitor. For anyone interested in film history, AFFAIR WITH A STRANGER offers a fascinating insight into early Fifties attitudes towards marriage, in which the woman is expected to remain faithful at all times, while men are inevitably accepted as being frail-natures; they are always liable to have extra-marital affairs. The wife must accept this, and upbraid her husband for his transgression, but never dangle the prospect of divorce in front of him. It seems as if males have the freedom to let their eyes wander, but women must remain loyal at all times, even when they are as attractive as Simmons in this film.
14 Reviews
The Rise And Fall Of A Marriage
bkoganbing16 June 2010
I'm not sure why RKO Pictures entitled this film Affair With A Stranger since what it is is the story of two married people played by Victor Mature and Jean Simmons. It's told from the point of view of their friends who read about it in the Broadway gossip column of Henny Backus and the influence of that other RKO classic Citizen Kane is unmistakable.
Mature is a likable enough fellow who is an aspiring playwright on Broadway who likes to gamble and have a good time as well and Simmons is a girl who nurtures him until he gains success. But then being a Broadway success he falls prey to the usual temptations. A really big temptation comes his way in the form of his latest leading lady, husband collecting Monica Lewis.
The cast has some real scene stealing character players like George Cleveland, Jane Darwell, Wally Vernon and Dabbs Greer all of whom are part of the lives of Simmons and Mature. They form a real rooting section for this marriage and they all care about the two leads and make you care as well. The story is told mostly through their recollections of how the relationship of Mature and Simmons has developed over the years and you get to know them as good if flawed people, especially Mature.
It's not Citizen Kane hardly, but Affair With A Stranger is a good entertaining drama with a great cast even if the title of the film was probably done to sensationalize the film a bit and get folks to plunk down their money thinking it might be something else. It's good enough as it is, on its own merits.
Mature is a likable enough fellow who is an aspiring playwright on Broadway who likes to gamble and have a good time as well and Simmons is a girl who nurtures him until he gains success. But then being a Broadway success he falls prey to the usual temptations. A really big temptation comes his way in the form of his latest leading lady, husband collecting Monica Lewis.
The cast has some real scene stealing character players like George Cleveland, Jane Darwell, Wally Vernon and Dabbs Greer all of whom are part of the lives of Simmons and Mature. They form a real rooting section for this marriage and they all care about the two leads and make you care as well. The story is told mostly through their recollections of how the relationship of Mature and Simmons has developed over the years and you get to know them as good if flawed people, especially Mature.
It's not Citizen Kane hardly, but Affair With A Stranger is a good entertaining drama with a great cast even if the title of the film was probably done to sensationalize the film a bit and get folks to plunk down their money thinking it might be something else. It's good enough as it is, on its own merits.
Good movie
wild_viking22 December 2005
Warning: Spoilers
This is the first movie I ever saw Jean Simmons in. The movie is somewhat sentimental but still likable. I fell in love with Jean Simmons watching it. Her presence jumps off the screen and you can see the difference between a good actress and a great actress. Presence. Victor Mature is also very good in the role he plays. It is not his genre and you can see that he was wasted by not doing more of these kinds of roles. The rest of the actors in the movie do a very good job as well. I remember when I was watching the movie I really got into routing for their relationship to endure. I really liked the way the story unfolded and the way it came out with flashbacks. All in all a good movie to watch on a Sunday afternoon.
A highly enjoyable film
michaelreid530 July 2011
Having just watched this I thought I'd post a comment.
A fine film, with lots of deft touches.
Victor Mature is very enjoyable to watch in this.
Jean Simmons is perfect for her role.
And supporting the story there is a range of wonderfully talented actors who play their parts so well.
It is old fashioned, sure, but that is no bad thing.
Definitely worth a watch. The script is good.
Highly enjoyable and very entertaining.
I rate this 8 out of 10.
A fine film, with lots of deft touches.
Victor Mature is very enjoyable to watch in this.
Jean Simmons is perfect for her role.
And supporting the story there is a range of wonderfully talented actors who play their parts so well.
It is old fashioned, sure, but that is no bad thing.
Definitely worth a watch. The script is good.
Highly enjoyable and very entertaining.
I rate this 8 out of 10.
Cute setup, doesn't turn out
HotToastyRag27 July 2020
In Affair with a Stranger, Victor Mature's marriage to Jean Simmons is falling apart, only they're the only ones who don't know it. Each vignette of flashback is led into by an "extra", like a taxicab driver, the maid, etc. who remember different parts of their marriage and tell the audience about it. With that format, the movie had potential to be cute, but it didn't turn out that way.
They meet, they fall in love, they fall on hard times, but as the rumor mill flies with their impending divorce, they're completely unaware of it. After all, they're not watching the movie. The reason I didn't really like this romance is because of the title. It's pretty obvious someone has an affair, and I didn't like the way the film handled it. If you like the two leads, though, you can give it a whirl.
They meet, they fall in love, they fall on hard times, but as the rumor mill flies with their impending divorce, they're completely unaware of it. After all, they're not watching the movie. The reason I didn't really like this romance is because of the title. It's pretty obvious someone has an affair, and I didn't like the way the film handled it. If you like the two leads, though, you can give it a whirl.
uneven story of a breakup
ksf-224 January 2020
When a television personality provides announces the breakup of a famous married couple, Bill Blakely (Victor Mature ) and wife.... their friends talk and think about the couple and their relationship. Jean Simmons is the young starlet on the rise, who is apparently coming between the married couple. This one has a lot in common with "A Star is Born".. which was first made in 1937. and of course, the Judy remake in 1954, right after THIS film. It's a little confusing. seems to end a bit abruptly. not a lot of rhyme or reason. Directed by Roy Rowland. didn't win any Oscars, but made some pretty well known films. was also married to Louis Mayer's neice. one fun note: Alvy Moore apparently filmed scenes for the film, but they were left on the floor... has was Hank Kimball in Green Acres ! might have been fun to leave those scenes in.... guess we'll never see them now. so many roles in the cast list here were uncredited or deleted. The kid "Timmy" was child actor Billy Chapin... appears to have quit hollywood before he hit age 20.
Collection of Clichés
JamesHitchcock24 June 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Lucy Lawson, a syndicated gossip columnist, prints a story that William Blakeley, a successful Broadway playwright, and his fashion model wife Carolyn are on the verge of divorce. Lucy obviously does not believe in fact-checking; her sole source is Janet Boothe, a young actress appearing in Blakeley's latest play. The story is in fact false; the couple have no plans to divorce, or even separate, and there is no romantic liaison between Blakely and Janet, although she would clearly like there to be. (The title "Affair with a Stranger" is misleading; it presumably refers to the growth of the relationship between Blakely and Carolyn, but audiences might have taken it to mean some sort of illicit or extra-marital affair. The studio seem to have had difficulty finding a title; possible alternatives were "Break-Up" and "Kiss and Run", both of which seem equally inappropriate).
Although the report is false, it appears in the papers where it is seen by the Blakelys and their various friends and acquaintances. The rest of the film is, for the most part, a series of flashbacks telling the story of the Blakelys' relationship as seen through the eyes of these people. We learn of their first meeting, their courtship and eventual marriage, of the various problems which have affected them and of William's rise to success after initial setbacks.
The film is sometimes described as a comedy, and there are occasional humorous moments. There is, for example, a running gag about a husband who bends over too close to a door and then gets hit on the backside when his wife unexpectedly opens it (and vice versa). "Comedy" does not, however, strike me as the right description, as a lot of the material deals with serious issues. Carolyn, for example, suffers a miscarriage and learns that she cannot have any more children. She and William adopt a son, Timmy, but he is also taken ill. Carolyn objects to William's habitual gambling; at first it seems that she is making too much of this when she objects to him taking part in a nickel-and-dime poker game with friends, but we later learn that he has lost much larger sums betting on horseracing.
Miscarriages, infertility, illnesses and gambling addictions are not normally regarded as the stuff of comedy. But this film they are not really used as the stuff of serious drama either. Too many potentially interesting plot-lines are left hanging in mid-air. We never actually hear what happens to young Timmy- we presume that he recovers from his illness, but this is never made clear. Similarly, William's gambling problem ceases to be an issue in the second half of the film, but we are never sure whether this is because he has overcome it or because, after having several smash hits on Broadway, he is now earning so much that he can gamble to his heart's content without Carolyn worrying.
Some reviewers have objected to the teaming of the twenty-something Jean Simmons with the 40-year-old Victor Mature on the grounds that a girl as lovely as Carolyn would never have gone for an older man, but I was never worried by this. Older man/younger woman romances were common currency in the Hollywood of the fifties, often involving actors with a much greater age difference than the sixteen years between Simmons and Mature. (The thirty-one years between Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn being a particularly egregious example). Moreover, such romances can, and do, happen in real life. My main objection to Mature is that he looks hopelessly miscast as William. This is only partly because I have great difficulty envisaging him as a playwright, or indeed as an intellectual or creative artist of any sort. It is also because he was never a very expressive actor, relying more on his looks and muscular physique, and here he never seems comfortable in scenes where he has to express strong emotions, as he is often called upon to do.
The film might have been better with another actor in the leading role, but any improvement would probably only have been slight. The script is not a good one; when the film first appeared in 1953 Bosley Crowther, film critic of the New York Times, called "a virtual collection of clichés", and nearly seventy years on it seems even more clichéd than it did then, a dull domestic drama with little to say. 5/10
Although the report is false, it appears in the papers where it is seen by the Blakelys and their various friends and acquaintances. The rest of the film is, for the most part, a series of flashbacks telling the story of the Blakelys' relationship as seen through the eyes of these people. We learn of their first meeting, their courtship and eventual marriage, of the various problems which have affected them and of William's rise to success after initial setbacks.
The film is sometimes described as a comedy, and there are occasional humorous moments. There is, for example, a running gag about a husband who bends over too close to a door and then gets hit on the backside when his wife unexpectedly opens it (and vice versa). "Comedy" does not, however, strike me as the right description, as a lot of the material deals with serious issues. Carolyn, for example, suffers a miscarriage and learns that she cannot have any more children. She and William adopt a son, Timmy, but he is also taken ill. Carolyn objects to William's habitual gambling; at first it seems that she is making too much of this when she objects to him taking part in a nickel-and-dime poker game with friends, but we later learn that he has lost much larger sums betting on horseracing.
Miscarriages, infertility, illnesses and gambling addictions are not normally regarded as the stuff of comedy. But this film they are not really used as the stuff of serious drama either. Too many potentially interesting plot-lines are left hanging in mid-air. We never actually hear what happens to young Timmy- we presume that he recovers from his illness, but this is never made clear. Similarly, William's gambling problem ceases to be an issue in the second half of the film, but we are never sure whether this is because he has overcome it or because, after having several smash hits on Broadway, he is now earning so much that he can gamble to his heart's content without Carolyn worrying.
Some reviewers have objected to the teaming of the twenty-something Jean Simmons with the 40-year-old Victor Mature on the grounds that a girl as lovely as Carolyn would never have gone for an older man, but I was never worried by this. Older man/younger woman romances were common currency in the Hollywood of the fifties, often involving actors with a much greater age difference than the sixteen years between Simmons and Mature. (The thirty-one years between Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn being a particularly egregious example). Moreover, such romances can, and do, happen in real life. My main objection to Mature is that he looks hopelessly miscast as William. This is only partly because I have great difficulty envisaging him as a playwright, or indeed as an intellectual or creative artist of any sort. It is also because he was never a very expressive actor, relying more on his looks and muscular physique, and here he never seems comfortable in scenes where he has to express strong emotions, as he is often called upon to do.
The film might have been better with another actor in the leading role, but any improvement would probably only have been slight. The script is not a good one; when the film first appeared in 1953 Bosley Crowther, film critic of the New York Times, called "a virtual collection of clichés", and nearly seventy years on it seems even more clichéd than it did then, a dull domestic drama with little to say. 5/10
A very old-fashioned melodrama
vinnienh10 December 2000
This melodramatic and superamerican "comedy" is now terribly dated, not interesting but made with feeling and thus another routine job done by Roy Rowland. It's nice to see epicman Mature in a setting other than the arena or biblical backgrounds.
Total Lack Of Chemistry
malcolmgsw15 August 2011
This film was recently shown by BBC.I cannot recall that i have ever seen it televised before.This film supposes that Jean Simmons then just turned 23 would fall for a 40 year old Mature,looking nearer 60,and then stick with him through thick and thin.Now Mature was a good action hero but light comedian or dramatic actor he was not.How this role yearns to be played by Cary Grant.As it is Mature plays a fairly unlikeable character who has a penchant for gambling that the Simmons character abhors.So why does she stick with him?Given that this film was made under the Hughes regime it is little surprise that it comes off as a very lacklustre effort.
Cannot stand Victor Mature
howardmorley19 December 2008
I do not like Victor Mature (VM) in films - put it down to his greasy hair, chain-smoking habit and uncultured voice.He seems particularly miscast in this film as a playwright.A modern playwright should be like Arthur Miller, Robert Bolt or Tennesee Williams.I just did not "buy" our delightful export to Hollywood, Miss Jean Simmons (JS) wanting to have a relationship with VM's character which sponged off her, took her chicken legs food and generally forced his attentions onto her.However I did not buy the DVD to see VM but to see the beautiful brunette JS at the peak of her looks.Basically "Affair With a Stranger" is the story of a struggling playwright who cannot sell his plays to the producers of commercial theatres.He meets JS on New Years eve and starts a relationship poncing off her job as a model.JS has faith in his ability to produce a hit play and of course Hollywood comes to his predictable aid when "Venus Films" agrees to buy the screen rights.During his life of penury VM gets a job as a waiter at a posh restaurant and slips his manuscript into the pile a famous producer is considering at his table.To keep body and soul together VM visits a restaurant and mixes together a soup from various condiments with hot water.This scene has always stayed in my mind over the years when I only saw it on TV (although you do not have access to hot water today in the restaurants I know).
JS and VM marry but lose the child they wanted and VM is told by the male doctor dealing with JS that she cannot have any more children.I laughed when I saw them both lighting up in his surgery.I will not reveal any more of the plot which is predictable.I rated it 6/10.It is one of two JS films I taped off the TV some time ago - the other was Adam and Evelynne (1949) which is the better of the two.My rating reflects the performance of JS and the able supporting actors who did a good job with the script.
JS and VM marry but lose the child they wanted and VM is told by the male doctor dealing with JS that she cannot have any more children.I laughed when I saw them both lighting up in his surgery.I will not reveal any more of the plot which is predictable.I rated it 6/10.It is one of two JS films I taped off the TV some time ago - the other was Adam and Evelynne (1949) which is the better of the two.My rating reflects the performance of JS and the able supporting actors who did a good job with the script.
Leave it to Hennie to deliver "Delicious" gossip.
mark.waltz26 November 2019
Warning: Spoilers
That's Hennie, as in Hennie Backus, wife of character comic Jim Backus, a talented performer in her own right, best known for being hubby Mr. Magoo's partner in a series of comic records. They were best known for "Delicious" where the two get progressively drunk on champagne, his voice increasingly lecherous, her voice increasingly willing. She flies solo here as a Broadway gossip columnist, spreading the dirt that rising playwright Victor Mature is about to divorce his wife (Jean Simmons) because of rising starlet Monica Lewis who happened to call this little tidbit in. From there, the audience is taken in to the world of their courtship (beginning on New Year's Eve in Times Square) as told through the various people in their lives, those who hope it's a mistake or that the marriage can be patched up.
Among these friends are landlady Jane Darwell, married friends Dabbs Greer and Mary Jo Tarola and newspaper peddler George Cleveland. Theirs is a traditional 50's marriage with the husband a free soul, the wife a sensible homebody and the issues generic. There's the usual squabbling over money carried along by pipe dreams and then the stork's pending visit. Mature gets to be more flamboyant and Simmons rather staid, with the obvious outcome of how these problems end up being resolved.
The structure of the film is played as a comedy but in spite of the mood, it's just not really all that funny or surprising how it all works out. The fact that this is trying to represent the Broadway of the 1950's shows really how little screenplay writers did not know anything about the hustle and bustle of that industry. Mature and Simmons would do better in other screen pairings where the script and direction were a lot stronger.
Among these friends are landlady Jane Darwell, married friends Dabbs Greer and Mary Jo Tarola and newspaper peddler George Cleveland. Theirs is a traditional 50's marriage with the husband a free soul, the wife a sensible homebody and the issues generic. There's the usual squabbling over money carried along by pipe dreams and then the stork's pending visit. Mature gets to be more flamboyant and Simmons rather staid, with the obvious outcome of how these problems end up being resolved.
The structure of the film is played as a comedy but in spite of the mood, it's just not really all that funny or surprising how it all works out. The fact that this is trying to represent the Broadway of the 1950's shows really how little screenplay writers did not know anything about the hustle and bustle of that industry. Mature and Simmons would do better in other screen pairings where the script and direction were a lot stronger.
Well, it must be true...it's in the papers!
planktonrules23 January 2020
"Affair with a Stranger" is an excellent, though poorly named, movie. It's really not about an affair but what could become one unless both the husband and wife attend to their marriage instead of their respective careers. And, it's a good object lesson for couples.
When the film begins, the star of William Blakeley's latest play calls a gossip columnist to announce that she is about to run off with married Blakeley (Victor Mature). It seems, however, a tad premature as no affair has yet occurred...but the lady's 'female intuition' tell her he'll soon be hers. What follows is a very interesting story....told through flashbacks as the couple's friends read the gossip column and then recall the ups and downs of the Blakeley marriage. And, in every case, the folks love the Mr. and Mrs. (Jean Simmons) and wish the story wasn't true...which, it really isn't...though the marriage is in trouble though neither the husband nor wife realize it. It seems over time, they both began focusing too much on their own careers...and this puts the marriage in serious jeopardy.
I liked this film for many reasons. The leads were both at their best and the story really was intelligently written and adult--and I mean that in the best possible way. In other words, it's not sleazy but a good drama illustrating a great object lesson couples could learn from and avoid. Well worth seeing.
When the film begins, the star of William Blakeley's latest play calls a gossip columnist to announce that she is about to run off with married Blakeley (Victor Mature). It seems, however, a tad premature as no affair has yet occurred...but the lady's 'female intuition' tell her he'll soon be hers. What follows is a very interesting story....told through flashbacks as the couple's friends read the gossip column and then recall the ups and downs of the Blakeley marriage. And, in every case, the folks love the Mr. and Mrs. (Jean Simmons) and wish the story wasn't true...which, it really isn't...though the marriage is in trouble though neither the husband nor wife realize it. It seems over time, they both began focusing too much on their own careers...and this puts the marriage in serious jeopardy.
I liked this film for many reasons. The leads were both at their best and the story really was intelligently written and adult--and I mean that in the best possible way. In other words, it's not sleazy but a good drama illustrating a great object lesson couples could learn from and avoid. Well worth seeing.
A precarious marriage put to many tests
clanciai3 May 2020
Jean Simmons is always reliably good, while Victor Mature sometimes can be awful. Here they are teamed together in a marriage that maybe never should have been. Actually, Jean Simmons is advised against it, and Victor Mature is really not much to have, as a playwright of flops and with a bad habit of gambling and losing. Still she accepts him and mothers him, which he needs, and eventually he makes a success and even gets rich, so he doesn't have to gamble any more. She gets pregnant but loses her child and can't have any more, so the marriage is put to some test. Then a scandal beauty and imprudent actress gets the ambition to hook him and spreads some premature news to a dirty columnist, far too sure of herself as an actress, imagining she has him all wrapped up. The film starts with the columnist incident and then tells the long story of the marriage by flashbacks, eventually returning to the present, both Jean Simmons and Victor Mature getting highly surprised by finding the news of their divorce in the paper. They never even had thought of it. That's the argument of the film.
It's not an uninteresting film, above all it's fascinating as a study in the mechanics of a marriage, what makes it hold and what may threaten it. A certain child also plays an important part, he was later the brother in Charles Laughton's famous "The Night of the Hunter", and on the whole, the story is well written and gets some interesting turns. It is great entertainment on a high level, and the twist in the end to all the predicaments can't leave anyone dissatisfied.
It's not an uninteresting film, above all it's fascinating as a study in the mechanics of a marriage, what makes it hold and what may threaten it. A certain child also plays an important part, he was later the brother in Charles Laughton's famous "The Night of the Hunter", and on the whole, the story is well written and gets some interesting turns. It is great entertainment on a high level, and the twist in the end to all the predicaments can't leave anyone dissatisfied.
Gossip tells the story of a playwrite and his wife
bloodrein902104 May 2004
I really enjoyed this film. I have never seen a black and white movie filmed with the theme of flashbacks. the plotline is interesting and even though it is from the 50's everyone can relate. It is clearly a movie that will stand the test of time. The best thing about the movie is the way the lead actor can so eloquently portray the man who lives off a dream. The lead actress also does a great job, in my opinion she is very good and i would like to see more of her movies. This film is special because it was the first to film a child actor. That was told to me by my grandmother so I am sincerely sorry if I am wrong about the child actor thing. All in all this is a great movie and I give it 9 stars.
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