The Stranger Came Home

A man with a rather unfortunate haircut shows up after being missing for three years. Turns out he had amnesia due to a blow on the head and has just recently recovered his memory. He confronts his wife and his friends, convinced one of them tried to kill him three years earlier. On the same night he returns, one of his friends winds up murdered and bad haircut guy is the prime suspect.

Talky, mostly dull mystery from Hammer with the added appeal of having Paulette Goddard in it. This is called a film noir by some but frankly I don't see it. Sometimes it seems every movie involving murder or sex from the '40s and '50s is labeled film noir. There has to be a more specific meaning than that. For me there is and this doesn't fit my definition. Anyway, the biggest draw to this is Paulette Goddard. She's fine, as is the rest of the cast, but nothing to write home about. She was in her forties at this time and still looked good but that is NOT her on the movie poster and DVD cover. She does not appear in this movie scantily clad in lingerie. Sorry! Oh, and for some reason they tried to pass this off as being written by the actor George Sanders, when it was actually written by Leigh Brackett. Not sure why the deception. Were audiences in 1954 really craving George Sanders or something?