Three Strangers
Directed by Jean Negulesco
John Huston and Howard Koch
1946/USA
Warner Bros.
First viewing/Amazon Instant
[box] David Shackleford: [to Crystal] You only want what you can’t have as long as you can’t have it.[/box]
This is a fun John Huston-penned thriller about his favorite topic, greed. It contains dynamite performances by Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre.
Crystal Shackleford (Geraldine Fitzgerald, also fantastic) is in the possession of the idol of Chinese goddess Kwan Yin. She believes that the goddess will grant one wish by three strangers at midnight on Chinese New Year. So Crystal picks up lawyer Jerome Arbuthny (Greenstreet) and dipso Johnny West (Lorre) on the street, being careful not to learn their names, and takes them home. Johnny is intrigued but Arbuthny scoffs at the whole project. The three have different problems but money will help solve all of them and Crystal gets the men to agree to wish that an Irish Sweepstakes ticket will win and to pledge not to sell the ticket before the race.
After making the wish at midnight, the three exchange names and go on their merry way. We learn that the truly wicked Crystal’s real wish is to get her estranged husband back, apparently so she can make him suffer some more. Arbuthny’s wish is to be admitted into a select lawyer’s club but he has been speculating with a client’s trust fund money and fears for his reputation if found out. Johnny, besides drinking himself to death, has been an unwitting dupe in a robbery that ended in murder. He is hiding out with his girlfriend Icey (Joan Lorring) and a gangster during the trial of the actual murderer. Then the murderer decides to admit to the robbery and finger his associates for the murder and Johnny is in real trouble.
I won’t spoil the next developments. Anyone who has seen Treasure of the Sierra Madre and can transpose the situation into this kind of story will have a pretty good guess.
Where to start? Lorre is really the the hero if this film has one. It’s so nice to see him without the usual tics and with a girlfriend who adores him. You just have to love him. Greenstreet gets to shine in the third act with a truly manic and scary turn. The multiple subplots did not detract from the story arc. It’s amazing what strong writing can do. Recommended.
Trailer
