Rachel and the Stranger (1948)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Norman Foster

Writers:

Waldo Salt (screenplay)
Howard Fast (story)

Release Date:

25 April 1949 (Sweden)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

REBEL BRIDE of a man she never kissed! Pledged to share his home...but not privileged to claim his love! Until one day...one fateful day...along came a Tall, Dark Stranger!

Plot:

David Harvey is a widower with a young son, Davey. They live on an isolated Ohio farm during the pioneer days...

Plot Keywords:

Widower | Father Son Relationship | Old West | Beautiful Woman | Young Boy

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Loretta Young	...	Rachel Harvey
William Holden	...	David Harvey
Robert Mitchum	...	Jim Fairways
Gary Gray	...	Davey
Tom Tully	...	Parson Jackson
Sara Haden	...	Mrs. Jackson
Frank Ferguson	...	Mr. Green
Walter Baldwin	...	Gallus
Regina Wallace	...	Mrs. Green

Also Known As:

The Tall Dark Stranger (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

80 min | UK:92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:K-12 | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Eugene, Oregon, USA

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

Loretta Young was famous for placing a "swear jar" on the sets of all of her films, charging anyone in the cast or crew who used foul language 25 cents for doing so, then giving the funds to one of her favorite charities. While making this film with her, Robert Mitchum reputedly held his tongue about his pious co-star until shooting was completed. As he exited the set on the final day of production, Mitchum smiled, dropped a $20 bill into the jar, and said, "This should just about cover everything I've been wanting to say to Loretta."

Movie Connections:

Featured in 100 Years of the Hollywood Western (1994) (TV)

Rachel and her 3 guys

This is a film that for most of its running time has no other players than the three adult leads and a child. The players had better be good for this one. Fortunately they are and Rachel and the Stranger has a good quiet charm about it.

The title role is played by Loretta Young. She was a year past her Oscar winning performance in The Farmer's Daughter and really at the top of her game. Rachel is a bondservant who is bought by widower William Holden to help out at the family farm, bring back a feminine touch to the place and help raise his son, Gary Gray. Rachel is bought for "eighteen dollars and owing four" by Holden, but frontier proprieties being what they were, Holden has to marry her.

But she's no wife, she's bought and paid for help, until Holden's friend Robert Mitchum shows up and starts looking at her as a desirable woman. Now Holden starts thinking along those lines and the fun begins.

Holden and Mitchum both do very well in typical roles for both at the time. Bill Holden called this his "smiling jim" period which ended with Sunset Boulevard a year later.

Mitchum gets to sing in Rachel and the Stranger and even cut a couple of records of the songs he sings from the film. Not bad for Bob, among the many accomplishments of that complex and talented man was as a singer and songwriter. He didn't do it often enough in movies.

But the movie really turns on Loretta Young's performance. She strikes just the right note as the bondwoman who helps make the whole lot of them a family again.

The movie is also a good depiction of frontier Ohio. An Indian attack is part of the problems the quartet faces and the Shawnees were very active there until the Battle of Fallen Timbers which took place in 1795. Figure the action to be taking place slightly before that.

A nice entertaining film.