Three Strangers (1946)

★ 6.4 1h 32m IMDb
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On the eve of the Chinese New Year, three strangers, Crystal Shackleford, married to a wealthy philanderer; Jerome Artbutny, an outwardly respectable judge; and Johnny West, a seedy sneak thief, make a pact before a small statue of the Chinese goddess of Destiny. The threesome agree to purchase a sweepstakes ticket and share whatever winnings might accrue.

Three Strangers

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Cast

Sydney Greenstreet
Sydney Greenstreet as Jerome K. Arbutny Died 1954 · Eastry, Kent, England, UK Sydney Hughes Greenstreet (27 December 1879 – 18 January 1954) was an English actor. He is best known for his Warner Bros. films with Humphrey Bogart and Peter Lorre, which include The Maltese Falcon...
Geraldine Fitzgerald
Geraldine Fitzgerald as Crystal Shackleford Died 2005 · Greystones, County Wicklow, Ireland Geraldine Fitzgerald, Lady Lindsay-Hogg was an Irish-American actress and a member of the American Theatre Hall of Fame. She was born south of Dublin, the daughter of Edith Catherine and Edward Martin...
Peter Lorre
Peter Lorre as Johnny West Died 1964 · Rózsahegy (now Ružomberok), Austria-Hungary (now Slovakia) Peter Lorre (June 26, 1904 – March 23, 1964) was a Hungarian-American actor frequently typecast as a sinister foreigner. He caused an international sensation in 1931 with his portrayal of a serial ki...
Joan Lorring
Joan Lorring as Icey Crane Died 2014 · Hong Kong, China Joan Lorring, born Mary Madeline Ellis is a Hong Kong-born American actress and singer known for her work in film and theatre. Soon after, her family moved to Los Angeles, Madeleine (known by her nic...
Robert Shayne
Robert Shayne as Bertram Fallon Died 1992 · Yonkers, New York, USA From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Robert Shayne (October 4, 1900 – November 29, 1992), born Robert Shaen Dawe, was an American actor whose career lasted for over 60 years. He was best known for p...
Marjorie Riordan
Marjorie Riordan as Janet Elliott Died 1984 · Washington, District of Columbia, USA

Audience Reviews

John Chard 7.5/10 Feb 08, 2014
Three strangers, one idol and one sweepstake ticket. Bad mix.

Three Strangers is directed by Jean Negulesco and written by John Huston and Howard Koch. It stars Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre and Geraldine Fitzgerald. Music is by Adolph Deutsch and cinematography by Arthur Edeson.

A tricky movie in structure as it constantly shifts between three character arcs to lead us to its resolution. Plot finds Crystal (Fitzgerald) luring Johnny (Lorre) and Arbutny (Greenstreet) to her apartment to make a wish in front of a Chinese idol known as Kwan Yin. It’s believed that Kwan Yin will bring a wish true if requested by three strangers at midnight. They mutually agree on purchasing a lottery ticket and vow to split the winnings evenly. Naturally things don’t go as planned…

The key issue here is that the three characters are tainted by their weaknesses, so as greed, paranoia, bad luck and jealousy grips their respective lives, Kwan Yin deals them the cards they deserve. Negulesco and his writers give the actors meaty parts, thrusting the characters into a world of embezzlement, murder, imprisonment and alcoholism. The vagaries of fate shows its hand as well, and with Edeson’s black and white photography cosying up to the thematics, pic rounds out as a thriller cum drama with added mysticism for good measure.

Huston’s noir shadings are evident, and since it was written before it, this makes for a good appetiser to The Maltese Falcon. Good fun to be had here and the final outcome for our three strangers doesn’t disappoint either. 7.5/10

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