The Stranger Came Home

A man with a rather unfortunate haircut shows up after being missing for three years. Turns out he had amnesia due to a blow on the head and has just recently recovered his memory. He confronts his wife and his friends, convinced one of them tried to kill him three years earlier. On the same night he returns, one of his friends winds up murdered and bad haircut guy is the prime suspect.

Talky, mostly dull mystery from Hammer with the added appeal of having Paulette Goddard in it. This is called a film noir by some but frankly I don't see it. Sometimes it seems every movie involving murder or sex from the '40s and '50s is labeled film noir. There has to be a more specific meaning than that. For me there is and this doesn't fit my definition. Anyway, the biggest draw to this is Paulette Goddard. She's fine, as is the rest of the cast, but nothing to write home about. She was in her forties at this time and still looked good but that is NOT her on the movie poster and DVD cover. She does not appear in this movie scantily clad in lingerie. Sorry! Oh, and for some reason they tried to pass this off as being written by the actor George Sanders, when it was actually written by Leigh Brackett. Not sure why the deception. Were audiences in 1954 really craving George Sanders or something?

English suspense film with a very solid British cast, along with lone American Paulette Goddard. Sylvester, Maben, and Napier are all quite good, but it's Goddard who doesn't quite fill her characters larger than life shoes. She plays Angie, a woman all the men in the film seem to love and adore, as well as Maben's Joan, who is completely devoted to Angie. Goddard is fine but is unable to create a character of great wit, dynamism, beauty, or uniqueness to make such admiration from everyone even remotely plausible. This unfortunately undercuts large parts of the story. The direction is also a bit pedestrian and lacks vision. Despite the many flaws and weaknesses, The Unholy Four is not without suspense was still mildly entertaining.

William Sylvester stars as Philip Vickers, a man who suddenly returns home after being considered dead for four years. Seems he was on a fishing trip in Portugal of all places and disappeared after going ashore. His memory of events is getting drunk, mugged and imprisoned.

His wife (Paulette Goddard) is having a big party and his three cronies are all in attendance. But one of the cronies is killed that very night. Who did it? All evidence points to Vickers.

When a local detective (Russell Napier) arrives on the scene he's convinced that Vickers is the killer but the wife and pal Bill Saul (Paul Carpenter) keep doing suspicious things. Then there's that creepy Joan (Alvys Maben) lurking in the background.

After another murder, things start getting serious.

Low-budget thrillers has some good points but the many negatives bring it down. The sets are incredibly ugly, and then there's that 50s space-age metal kitchen that keeps shape shifting. Goddard (about 44 at the time) is badly costumed and lit. But the story is pretty good.

Goddard, despite star billing, has little to do. Sylvester and Carpenter are good, and Maben is a scene stealer. Napier is also good as the detective. Don't by fooled by George Sanders' listing. He's not in the film, and the novel her wrote was actually ghost-written by someone else.

IMDb's contributors are correct. Actor George Sanders actually "wrote" two crime novels: "Crime on My Hands" (1944) was published under his name and is actually written in the first person. He even mentions some of his films. "Stranger at Home" (sic) followed in 1946. In actual fact, of course, the novels merely served to give Sanders added publicity. He wrote neither. The first was ghost written by Craig Rice, and the second by none other than Leigh Brackett. I've read neither but if the DVD of "The Unholy Four" is anything to go by, "Stranger at Home" presented an intriguing premise but little reader involvement. Certainly it's hard to get over-enthused by the film. The script is weighed down with talk, the direction is stolidly routine, and Paulette Goddard will disappoint her fans. She's neither clothed nor photographed to advantage. Admittedly, a couple of good performances saved the day. I always enjoy Russell Napier. I can usually take or leave Paul Carpenter, but in this case he delivers the best acting in the film. All the same, a movie in which Paul Carpenter shines is not exactly my idea of an engrossing film noir.

Paulette Goddard was in early age one of most beauties actress at Hollywood scene, drawing attention of Charlie Chaplin who marry her, made great movies, in this minor British unknown Noir she is already older for the role, even so was a highlight to promote the picture, an unusual story of a disappeared wealthy businessman Philip Vickers who suddenly appears to find out who try out killed him in sea fishing travel with four friends at Portugal four years before, there someone hits his head and he fell off at ocean, stays with amnesia and has to work as seaman to survives, recovering his memory afterwards is backing home he suspects for all four former friends including his wife Angie (Paulette Goddard) soon one of the four is found death at river, the police takes over the investigation always suspecting of Vickers had commited as crime revenge, a dense and intriguing Noir, aside Goddard was the top billing cast who shines is the resentful husband Vickers (William Sylvester in a robust acting ) between betrayals and hate for past happenings the movie flows in a binding shadows of doubt, well-dramatized by the skillful director Terence Fisher!!

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First watch: 2020 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7