THREE STRANGERS
( Warner Bros.)
ELODRAMAS based on Oriental idols and the curses or benefits which they are presumed to dispense have a per-
, sistent fascination; so have stories about the lucky chances of sweepstakes and lotteries. When the two are combined; that.is, when the idol influences the drawing of the winning ticket, but puts a curse upon it, you have the promise of an entertainment which, though highly improbable, will at least not be uneventful. Three Strangers is such an entertainment. What compensates a good deal for the patent absurdities in the film is the unusually good acting (unusually good, I mean, for this type of thriller). Geraldine Fitzgerald is the ‘heroine-cum-villainess whose superstitious regatd for a Chinese idol called. Kwan-Ying motivates the action, by bringing about a strange pact -involving a sweepstake ticket--be-tween herself and two strangérs picked at random ftom the London streets. One of the strangers is wanted by the police on suspicion of murder (unfounded) and altogether is a most unusual person--not the least unuSual thing about him being that he jis portrayed by Peter Lorre. I can think of a dozen reasons why Mr. Lotre was not suited to play this role-which is, in effect, that of the romantic lead-and only one why he was: the fact that Mr. Lorre is such a good artist that he can make even the most unlikely characters seem interesting. The other stranger is a lawyer of dubious repute: and here we have the immense Mr. Sydney Greenstreet; immense in both senses of the word, in a story and a role which are really both too small to contain his dazzling virtyosity and his sardonic sehse of comedy, and yet which both become worth seeing by his mere presence.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19461129.2.61.1.2
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 388, 29 November 1946, Page 32
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290THREE STRANGERS New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 388, 29 November 1946, Page 32
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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