The Incredible Stranger

Despite the renowned Jacques Tourneur directing this short, it was a huge disappointment to me. This is because the style of the story was very stilted and it was told in the worst possible fashion. In other words, instead of showing the story unfold normally, the entire production is narrated....giving the viewer a strangely disconnected view of events.

The story itself is about an unusual man who arrives in town. He doesn't talk at all and seems pretty rude. He also has bought outfits of clothes for a woman and two children...but there are none living with him. Soon, the folks in this small town begin wondering and putting two and two together....and coming up with 7. What really is going on here?

Again, if the story was just told in a normal fashion, it would have been far more engagin. Instead, it's like watching a silent movie with someone narrating EVERYTHING. Pretty dull as a result.

This is a well done, 11 minute short. It does not take place in the 1880's as the previous reviewer wrote-but from summer 1892 when a stranger buys land in the little town and has a home built, completed in December 1892 when the stranger comes into town and moves in. The stranger keeps to himself for the next 5 years though. He does not seem to want to mingle with anyone else in town. The stranger is quite and keeps to himself. Why does the stranger remain so withdrawn? Why has he never invited anyone into his home? This mysterious man receives women's clothes from the City, but does not comment on what they're for when questioned, instead just giving the local folks a hand written note thanking them for a cake they brought him when he first arrived in town. He is a mystery-which is solved on Christmas eve 1897.

A man moves into a small town in the 1890s. He speaks to no one, communicating by occasional note. It is directed by Jacques Tourneur as 'Jack' Tourneur, one of the last shorts he directed before turning full-time to features.

John Nesbitt's long-running MGM series, THE PASSING PARADE, usually showed audiences reenactments of true events, or educated them about some small point overlooked by many. Many of the events were fictionalized, but I cannot recall seeing another which admits that it was all fiction, although based on 'scientifically proven psychology.'

It is, alas, one of the weakest of this interesting series, based upon the hysteria Nesbitt shows, from the short's title to the people who prepare to lynch Paul Guilefoyle.

Incredible Stranger, The (1942)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Part of MGM's Passing Parade shorts, this film takes place in the late 1880's when a stranger arrives at a small town. Previously the stranger had a house built and is constantly ordering stuff for four even though he is the only one living there. The people in town want to know what's going on but it takes five years for the secret to get out. This was always one of the better short series produced by MGM and this here is one of the better episodes. Tourneur was on the break of becoming a big time director but you really can't see any of his trademark style here, even though he still creates a very good movie. The entire film is done with narration so there's no spoken dialogue but this trick is actually good for the movie. The secret of the man is rather obvious but it's still nice when it's revealed.

It's 1892. Nothing ever happens in the small town of Bridgewood. The town receives a letter from Chicago with an order to build a house. After the builder finishes the house, a mysterious man arrives and moves in. The newcomer rarely comes out and barely acknowledges the people of the town. It's a complete mystery until five years later.

This is an 11 minute short. It's really an old way of storytelling with narration. It's almost like a story being told around campfire. It could have been a spooky ghost story but the ending leaves it much more tamer and sweeter. It's interesting but not the most thrilling.