Perfect Strangers (1950 film)

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Perfect Strangers
PerfectStrangers1950.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Bretaigne Windust
Screenplay by Edith Sommer
George Oppenheimer (adaptation)
Based on
Ladies and Gentlemen
1939 play
by
Produced by Jerry Wald
Starring
Cinematography Peverell Marley
Edited by David Weisbart
Music by Leigh Harline
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date
  • March 10, 1950 (1950-03-10)(New York) [1]
Running time
88 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Perfect Strangers, also released as Too Dangerous to Love in some territories, is a 1950 American comedy-drama film directed by Bretaigne Windust. Edith Sommer wrote the screenplay from an adaptation written by George Oppenheimer, based on the 1939 play Ladies and Gentlemen by Charles MacArthur and Ben Hecht. [1] The film stars Ginger Rogers and Dennis Morgan as two jurors who fall in love while sequestered during a murder trial. Thelma Ritter, Margalo Gillmore and Anthony Ross appear in supporting roles.

Contents

Plot

Terry Scott, who is separated from her husband, and unhappily married David Campbell, the father of two children, meet when they are selected to serve on the jury of the Los Angeles trial of Ernest Craig. The defendant is charged with having murdered his wife when she refused to grant him a divorce. David wishes to avoid jury duty, but Terry tries to persuade the rest of the jury that the defendant is innocent until proven guilty. While sequestered during the lengthy proceedings, Terry and David begin to know each other and fall in love.

Juror Isobel Bradford, a snobbish socialite, tries to persuade the panel to vote for the death penalty. The mix of personalities in cramped quarters gives rise to tensions among the jurors.

Cast

Uncredited

Production

Production took place from late June to early August 1949. [2] The film marked a reunion between Rogers and Morgan, who had previously costarred as lovers in the highly successful Kitty Foyle . Margalo Gillmore was a friend of Ladies and Gentleman writers Hecht and MacArthur. [3]

Reception

In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Bosley Crowther called the film a "patently jerry-built affair" and wrote:

Now the modest entertainment is an obviously hacked out affair which turns on a bit of terminal plotting that is flatly mechanical and contrived. The lady who loves her fellow juror, enlightened by this experience, is able to trick the other jurors who would convict an innocent man into seeing the light. In this convenient procedure, not only the rules of evidence but the limits of plausibility are unmistakably stretched. And this doesn't work to the advantage of Miss Rogers. who plays the noble dame, nor Mr. Morgan, who has to act the anguish of a juryman smitten by love. As though being locked up with a jury for several ·weeks weren't enough misery, these two have to simulate the fever of an inevitably frustrated romance. The job is practically hopeless with the material they have at hand. Miss Rogers and Mr. Morgan are pretty dreary throughout the film. [1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Crowther, Bosley (1950-03-11). "The Screen in Review". The New York Times . p. 8.
  2. ↑ "Perfect Strangers (1950)". American Film Institute . Archived from the original on July 14, 2022. Retrieved August 30, 2024.
  3. ↑ Lorraine LoBianco. "Perfect Strangers (1950)". Turner Classic Movies . Archived from the original on December 4, 2020. Retrieved March 17, 2021.
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