Three Strangers (1946)

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