Best movie of this year hands down!

Memorable, crazy movie

Good movie but grossly overrated

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

A King Brothers Production. Copyright 19 August 1944 by Monogram Pictures Corp. New York opening in November 1944 at the Brooklyn Strand (which meant no New York opening so far as most critics were concerned). U.S. release: 21 August 1944. U.K. release through Pathé: 9 April 1945. Australian release through British Empire Films: 6 May 1945. 6,169 feet. 68 minutes. Re-issue title (with Mitchum top-billed): BETRAYED.SYNOPSIS: Worried when her new husband, Paul, forces her to go into hiding with him, Millie Baxter is further frightened when her loyalty makes her flee with him from the law. Police Detective Blake (Neil Hamilton), involved in the case, becomes suspicious of Millie's ex-boyfriend, Fred, and decides that he knows more of the crime than he has divulged. Discovered and arrested, Paul admits that he was at a bar in Philadelphia where the murdered man was last seen alive.COMMENT: A classic B-grade thriller, William Castle's second film as a full director (he was previously a dialogue director) shows a great deal of promise, which, alas, was never exceeded in his later films. Though already, he shows his predilection for a "gimmick" in this case the casting of inexperienced Robert Mitchum in a key role. Castle's tendency to imitate the successes of other directors is also on display, in this case Hitchcock's screaming cleaning woman over the whistle of a train. Ira Morgan's superb photography contributes a great deal to the mood and the art direction is suitably drab.

"When Strangers Marry" (not "When Cousins Marry" like the poster in the musical 'The Producers') is a good 1944 noir directed by William Castle starring Robert Mitchum, Kim Hunter, Dean Jagger, and Neil Hamilton.Hunter plays Mildred, who could have had Robert Mitchum but instead marries Dean Jagger after knowing him for four months and seeing him three times. Jagger was attractive, but I know whom I would have chosen. Millie's new husband, Paul, is supposed to meet her in New York City after their wedding, but when he doesn't show, she panics. An ex-beau, Fred (Mitchum) is also at the hotel and takes her to the police so that she can report him. Seems he left Philadelphia on the same date as the Silk Stocking Murder, so the police want to know more about him. When Paul does show, he acts mysteriously. Millie becomes frightened, but she's torn by her love for him.Though it's from poverty row Monogram Studios, Castle gives us an atmospheric movie with neat images. I know people have compared it to "Seventh Victim," a Val Lewton film, but some of it reminded me of the Jacques Tourneur "Cat People," particularly the photo used for the poster. The second-last scene is fantastic.The film's New York City references are a little off. It's not Bleeker Street and 7th Street, it's Bleecker Street and 7th Avenue; and why the car taking passengers to Louisville KY goes through Harlem instead of the other way is anyone's guess. But it gives us a great scene.Tense, exciting, with good performances and surprisingly short "When Strangers Marry" is highly recommended.

Monogram produced a lot of stinkers, but they also had their share of classics. "When Strangers Marry" (under its re-release title "Betrayed" for the DVD), is one of the best. Ingenue Kim Hunter, years before Brando emotionally screamed "Stella!" to get her attention, plays an innocent young girl from Ohio who has been married for only a month to a man she hardly knew. In fact, he immediately went on the road on business, and has just sent for her to meet him in New York when she arrives and runs into an old flame (Robert Mitchum). The husband remains mysteriously out of site for a while, so she gets reacquainted with Mitchum before finally encountering her husband (Dean Jagger). It becomes apparent the moment he shows up that he is in trouble and may be the killer of a drunk man he admits to having rolled in Philadelphia.The fast-moving film noir like mystery presents its facts, adds on a couple more clues, and delivers the truth with a neat little twist that remains surprising even if it was a bit predictable. Neil Hamilton, an early 30's leading man (and later the police commissioner on "Batman") is fine as the investigator whom Mitchum and Hunter go to see to find Jagger. Hunter shows great promise and within a few years, would go onto film immortality in "A Streetcar Named Desire" and gain cult status by donning heavy make-up as Zira in "Planet of the Apes". Mitchum and Jagger are fine as well. This was one of Mitchum's first major roles after tons of walk-ons, and within a year of this, would be one of Hollywood's most popular "tough men", a new breed of leading actors like Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster that would change the way Hollywood made movies. This is a definite must see for fans of '40's "B" features.

This is a Hitchcockian film that reflects well the Film Noir period of Hollywood. Suspense is high, and the audience is kept guessing right to the end about who might be the killer of the drunk good-time Charlie, who innocently invited a stranger in a bar in New York to stay in his apartment for the evening. Don't be fooled by the original name, though.It is being aired on the premium classics channels under the a.k.a. name "Betrayed".