Strangers When We Meet

Kim Novak and Kirk Douglas positively steam up the screen in this well-done film depicting a torrid suburban affair in Eisenhower's sexually repressed America. It is a great story and is singlehandedly responsible for my being a huge Kim Novak fan. Not only was (is) she undeniably beautiful, she is a remarkable actress. Look for Walter Matthau in a villainous turn, and the great Ernie Kovacs in one of his final performances.

If viewed from the morality of the period, this is actually quite a good movie. It attempted to tell a story about and comment on American family life, particularly on repressed desires and wedded relationships in the suburbs just before the "swinging 60's" exploded. Hearing Walter Matthau sum up his marital role as merely being considered "furniture in his own home" speaks volumes about what this film is about. Kim Novak is the sexy wife and mother to one family. Living down the manicured street is Kirk Douglas, the virile husband and dad in another - both living their lives against the backdrop of 1950's-60's morality. You do the math...

Is it worthy of awards? No. Is the conflict entertaining? You bet! Definitely worth a look to those who like films from this era.

The awarded architect Larry Coe (Kirk Douglas) lives a boring marriage with his wife Eve Coe (Barbara Rush) and their two young sons in the suburb. Larry is designing and constructing an unique house to the successful writer Roger Altar (Ernie Kovacs) on the top of a hill. Margaret 'Maggie' Gault (Kim Novak) is a sexy blond sexually neglected by her husband Ken Gault (John Bryant) that lives in the same neighborhood and they have a young son. When Larry meets Maggie at the bus stop of the school bus, he unsuccessfully hits on her. But soon they encounter each other again and they have a love affair. They fall in love with each other, but when their despicable neighbor Felix Anders (Walter Matthau) discovers their affair, they have to decide between loyalty to their families or love.

"Strangers When We Meet" is a timeless romance that takes place in 1960, but could be in any time. The fight between loyalty and respect to the wife and family and the desire for a sexy woman or a handsome man is eternal and part of the life. The way each part will behave is the variable in this equation of life. "Strangers When We Meet" presents a conventional and moralist commercial conclusion, but totally credible. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Nono Mandamento" ("The Ninth Commandment")

What I liked in this movie was the way the screenplay, as well as the director, gets close to what happens in real life. I mean, the doubts that assault many people when they think they have already got what society makes us consider as the right stuff: a job, a wife, sons. People in this situation one day realize that their life is empty in many senses, and they search for understanding in someone else outside their home inner circle. Only one thing annoyed me: the ending leaves the character played by Douglas in a very comfortable situation, considering he's the real motor of all the thing; besides, Maggie's (Kim Novak) husband (John Bryant) disappears from action in a very important, in my opinion, moment. Leaving apart these last things I consider as faults, the whole movie deserves to be watched; I think it's profitable and can make all of us take a minute or two for a meditation.

I was rather surprised when I saw this love story. I found it very moving, serene and very inspired in all aspects. The perfect balance between main plot (the relationship of Douglas and Novak) and substories (writer, Douglas' wife, neighbours) is amazing. The culmination of the film is the final scene in the recently finished house that architect Douglas has designed. A very big bravo for Novak and Douglas performances, two (still) living legends. If there were only films like this in the cinemas now...