Wow! Such a good movie.

Thanks for the memories!

Must See Movie...

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

1955's "Not As a Stranger" was producer Stanley Kramer's first of 15 films as a director, and he spent nearly a year getting it off the ground before it was even published as a novel, fortunately a best seller (author Morton Thompson dead well before its release). Robert Mitchum may at first seem an odd choice for Lucas Marsh, ambitious medical student turned country doctor, but he actually comes off better than Olivia de Havilland, a fine actress but miscast, saddled with a Swedish accent that tends to grate after a while. Cast with some of Hollywood's most notorious drunks, Kramer does surprisingly well in several cases: Broderick Crawford is steady as a rock as Dr. Aarons, Frank Sinatra solidifies his dramatic chops as Mitchum's intern buddy, and the often underused, always underrated Lon Chaney turns in the most powerful scene only 10 minutes in, playing Mitchum's alcoholic father, whose diagnosis of his own son proves to be right on the mark. A bit overlong, with Gloria Grahame in a stock seductress role that could have been excised without a hitch, the ending almost too pat to be believable.

I saw this movie, again, as part of my current opportunity to uncover the many sides of Olivia de Havilland. Over the years, I have probably seen this movie 5 times, and I still enjoy it. It presents the story of a doctor (Robert Mitchum) from his first days in medical school, carries it through his internship, and ends with him becoming a "small country doctor" with a "God complex," and his temptation from a rich but lonely widow siren (Gloria Grahame).There are many subtexts here also. One subtext is that of a poor over achiever trying to compensate for, and deal with, his drunken father (Lon Chaney Jr). He is warned about this from his father, his friend (Frank Sinatra), and his teacher (Broderick Crawford), yet he still has to deal with failure as a doctor to become a whole person. I love this cast too. I could name everyone in the cast onsite, with the exception of a few patients and nurses. Most were great leading and character actors from Hollywood's Golden Age, including: De Havilland as a wonderfully sweet Swedish nurse, whom Mitchum marries for practical rather than romantic reasons; Charles Bickford as his medical partner in that small country town; and Myron McCormick, who heads up the small hospital but has questionable competency skills as a doctor.

This is a long and rather ambitious film that has about as much going for it as it has going against it. The film is about an earnest medical student (Robert Mitchum) who is struggling to pay his way. Unable to scrape up money anywhere, his only prospect is to either quit school or marry spinster Olivia de Havilland. In a very odd bit of casting, de Havilland has had her hair dyed blonde and sports a rather cheesy Swedish accent. Also, while she was only a year older than Mitchum in real life, she plays a woman who appears about a decade older than the virile Mitchum. Mitchum really doesn't love her but he does seem to like her but not appreciate what a great gal she is.Interestingly enough, de Havilland is not the only Swedish-American in the film. Virginia Christine (known to most Americans as "Mrs. Olsen" from the old Folger's commercials) and Harry Morgan also are on hand. Christine sounded Swedish since she spoke Swedish in real life, but Morgan so over-did the accent it was embarrassing. John Qualen, long known for playing such roles, would have been much better than Morgan, but he was not in the film. Why they chose them to be Swedes, I really don't know, as this was NOT important to the film.Back to the film. In medical school, Mitchum was a top student with a great mind but he also had a strong superiority complex--and seemed very judgmental of others. Several times throughout the film this became an issue and by the end of the film, this became the main focus of the stirring conclusion.After medical school, Mitchum and wife went off to a small town to work in a hospital. Oddly, the first and second halves of the movie were almost like two separate movies and both lasted about as long as a shorter full-length movie. In both were an amazing variety of actors that show that this obviously was a big-budget film for first-time director, Stanley Kramer (who went on to much greater things, except for THE PRIDE AND THE PASSION, which was the awful film that immediately followed NOT AS A STRANGER). In support of Mitchum and de Havilland were Broderick Crawford, Charles Bickford, Frank Sinatra, Gloria Grahame, Lon Chaney, Jr. and Lee Marvin (among others). So because of this, you can't blame the mediocrity of the film on the actors and Kramer was a great director. My feeling is that the plot was just too complex and soap opera-like. The film is a good example of a movie that might have been better had it been a bit shorter and simpler, as well as a bit less histrionic (as it was on occasion, such as when de Havilland threw a temper tantrum in a room by herself near the end for no discernible reason whatsoever).Overall, it's an interesting but obvious film that could have benefited from a bit of a re-write.

Enjoyed this great story and all the actors who gave outstanding performances, especially Olivia De Havilland, (Kristina Hedvigson) who played the wife to Robert Mitchum,(Lucas Marsh). Kristina came from a wealthy family and fell in love with Lucas Marsh who was going to medical school and gave him financial support in his striving to become a successful surgeon. There are great scenes in the operating room and it was done so professionally that it kept you on pins and needles throughout the entire picture. Gloria Graham, (Harriet Lang) plays the role of a very sexy rich woman who teases and pleases Lucas Marsh and makes him feel very guilty for cheating on his wife. Frank Sinatra, (Alfred Boone) gives a great supporting role as a real close friend to Lucas and they both went through medical school together and each went their separate ways as doctors. There is plenty of drama and if you have not seen this Great Classic 1955 film, you will definitely want to view many great veteran actors at the top of their careers.