House of Strangers

It's very hard to deny Joseph L. Mankiewicz had a talent for not only crafting this great script but also the dialogues and directing their actors incredibly well, often getting Oscar-worthy performances out of them. In the case of this film, I'm not sure how much of the…

Rafael "Mister Movie" Jovine

There is no gulf so wide as between the new country and the old - even when it is a gaping maw that opens up within the home of a single family.  “House of Strangers” is the rare noir by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, best known for his acidic showbiz masterpiece, “All About Eve.”…

theriverjordan

Edward G Robinson, Richard Conte and Susan Hayward star in Joseph L Mankiewicz’s noir about a self-made Italian-American banker who comes into conflict with his sons after a life of shady practises finally catches up to him. In making the film, Mankiewicz takes the family…

Josh Gillam

Like “Somewhere in the Night” Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s second Film Noir seems to be a little forgotten and undervalued piece of the genre. This one also hasn’t been released on Blu-ray yet which is kind of a shame because it really is quite an entertaining little film. This…

Gregor Kreyca

"A man who throws away money is a big worry...a big problem." After serving 7 years in jail, Max Monetti (Richard Conte) comes home to confront the three brothers he had a falling out with after the death of their father.  House of Strangers has a structure I don't…

Jesse Snoddon

JOSEPH MANKIEWICZ por Jean-Luc Godard (Gazette du Cinéma N°2, junho de 1950, p. 2) Um dia, fomos admirar uma das últimas produções de Ernst Lubitsch. Era “Dragonwyck”, filme curioso no qual se viam as personagens do melodrama se estereotiparem com alturia [1] e adotarem…

Cahiers du Cinéma – Brasil

I didn't expect to find myself with a riveting, Noir-adjacent familial drama instead of a standard Noir full of crime and gangsters, but I loved it a lot! Richard Conte's magnetic performance anchors the story and he comes especially alive when trading barbs with Susie…

✨🥀 e m m é

Philip Yordan took a story about tough paternity and filial hatred and wrote a script that became House of Strangers with Edward G Robinson, Richard Conte and Luther Adler. Just a few years later, he re-fashioned it as a western, retitled Broken Lance. This was directed by…

Fint

Spent the first half hour riveted by how great this is, only to realise it's actually the story that the Broken Lance, which I loved, is based on. If anything, I'm consistent. Hesitant to call this a noir since its tragedy is hinged on the familial fallout that the…

Irene