A Stranger in My Arms

High-quality romantic drama from the master producer Ross Hunter, this lesser-known among his hits benefits from a terrific cast, all contributing key scenes and moments.

Not one of German director Helmut Kautner's classic movies, he still deserves credit for getting such a set of acting at top quality. Not just the leads, with Jeff Chandler and Mary Astor providing high drama, but surprising contributions by Sandra Dee as Mary's bratty daughter and Conrad Nagel as Mary's slow-burn husband.

The story of possessiveness and being true to yourself seems like a soap opera vehicle for June Allyson but it's so much more. Flashbacks of Chandler and June's late husband Peter Graves battling in a raft during the war build suspensefully to a final reveal of what actually happened. I was deeply immersed in the problems and secrets of this set of characters, and rewarded with a serious, moving feature.

Wealthy, deluded matriarch--who keeps most of her relatives neatly under her thumb--hopes to shower her deceased Air Force pilot son with honors and medals he may not have earned; meanwhile, her widowed daughter-in-law hopes to get vital information from the husband's co-pilot, who survived eleven terrible days lost at sea with the man in question and is now attempting to steer clear of his partner's family. Ross Hunter-produced collection of secrets and soap suds, adapted from Robert Wilder's book "And Ride a Tiger", is well-acted but gets off to a rather stiff and confusing start. The plot does manage to gather some steam at the halfway mark and, though the character-driven action is a bit stagy, the people on-screen are surprisingly complicated. Jeff Chandler always performed most capably in a lower key, but here he gets to be a bit more animated (particularly in his scenes with flirtatious teen Sandra Dee) and it suits him. June Allyson is an odd choice for his romantic interest; initially it appears as though Allyson is phoning her performance in, yet she approaches the role in an unusual way which garners not only interest but sympathy. The most colorful role is held for Mary Astor as the Queen Bee, and she's an intimating force (you can believe that one word from her sends everyone scuttling about doing her bidding). Not a great picture by any means, but a thoughtful, tolerable one, with attractive photography and a pretty (if derivative) score supervised by Joseph Gershenson. **1/2 from ****

A Stranger In My Arms tells the story of the Beasley family who are trying in every way possible to honor their son who was died in the Korean War. He was the center of the universe for his overbearing and dominating mother Mary Astor.

Peter Graves is the son and he was the navigator on pilot Jeff Chandler's ship. It was Chandler and Graves alone on a rubber life raft in the Pacific. Now Chandler who is a test pilot is being pressured to got Graves's small town where his family are the local Cartwrights have built a veteran's hospital in his memory.

But they want a whole lot more than that and they want Chandler to help them get it. Flashbacks to life on that raft with Chandler and Graves show why Chandler balks at the idea.

Sad that Ross Hunter did not want to splurge for a little color and more than likely his favorite leading man from Universal Rock Hudson was unavailable. But Chandler does well in the part of the test pilot who while he has his own issues just does not want to knuckle under to unreasonable pressure.

One of those pressures is June Allyson widow of Graves and Chandler heard enough from Graves as to how much he really loved his wife. But she's all American wife June Allyson and probably someone Chandler thinks he needs to complete him.

A cruder pressure is that of bribery. Charles Coburn plays the grandfather and patriarch of the Beasley clan. He's a rather ruthless sort used to getting his way. He really gets Chandler's back up with what he wants.

There's a rebel in the clan and it's young Sandra Dee who wants very much to get out from under even throwing herself at Chandler. But she's still a felony.

Finally there's Mary Astor who is the mother from hell. No wonder Graves went to war. She's the best thing in A Stranger In My Arms.

The film is soap opera, but well cast and well done soap opera. The question is that can true feelings that Chandler and Allyson might start can ever grown in such a stifling atmosphere? Peter Graves really expands his casting range with this. Usually he's an all American good guy, even in Stalag 17 he was although he was using that against type as the German planted informer. Here he's something completely different than what you would expect from him.

Some have disparaged A Stranger In My Arms, but I think there's a lot worthwhile in this film.

This film was based on a novel entitled "And Ride a Tiger" by Robert Wilder and starred two Hollywood stars with solid careers behind them: June Allyson, petite, with a husky voice, a singer and a dancer in some musicals and always a good choice for a melodramatic romantic role with her honest homely girl look. At her side was the strong Jeff Chandler, always with an air of an intense guy, prematurely graying hair, the look of a biblical prophet and signs of not having much patience to tolerate nonsense.

Another outstanding role was for Sandra Dee, who was at the peak of her popularity as a typical teenager of her time. Daring, mischievous, innocently sexy and a real nightmare to keep under control. But basically a good girl.

On the side of the older ones, we find Mary Astor, a good-looking actress who as she grew older embodied characters with strong personality. And the sensational Charles Coburn. He went from serious to friendly, from stern to lascivious, from kind to incisive, with enormous fluidity. It is impossible to ignore his performance, even though it was brief.

And let's not forget Peter Graves. He really played many roles during the 1950s, some leading roles in Science Fiction, in some westerns and in the transgressive film Bayou alongside Lita Milan. But in 1959 he was still playing supporting roles and Mission Impossible was still a long way off. In "A Stranger in my Arms" he is a key character, although he is dead from the beginning. The fighter plane in which he was acting as navigator, along with pilot Jeff Chandler, had fallen into the sea and both survivors were left adrift in a rubber raft that was barely staying afloat. After many desperate days of thirst and hunger, the rescuers only found one survivor, Pike Yarnell (Chandler), who explained that his co-pilot had been torn from the raft by strong waves and that he had been unable to do anything to save him from death. The entire film revolves around this dark event and we see what happened through Chandler's "flashbacks." The film goes by quickly, the drama is very well narrated and the conclusions seem to be taken from a psychology book, where all the conflicts and misadjustments are rationally explained and all the actors understand their mistakes and promise to do better in the future. I wish it were like that in real life.

Many familiar faces in a melodrama, well written, directed and acted.

Although you more and more during the progress of the film learn to share the hatred of her that gradually becomes evident in the protagonists, Mary Astor actually makes the most remarkable performance in this film about a mother's tragedy, all caused by herself and she herself understanding it least of all. The war drama is just the frame, from the beginning you must suspect that Jeff Chandler has something to hide, some terrible secret about the truth that can't be revealed, and the entire film is building up towards this revelation. This was apparently Helmur Käutner's only American film, but he was a fine stylist in cinematography with only credits on his record and several German classics. June Allyson always has a special knack of cheering up a film, and here it is needed indeed. She is the only straight and sane person with a cool head in this sordid family business, and no wonder Jeff Chandler accepts her invitation alhough he has reason tu suspect the worst. Peter Graves as the war hero plays a small part and only thirsting and dying on that raft on a desert sea under the sun, but he makes it all right. Also Charles Coburn has a small but extremely significant part in (unconsciously) releasing the gradual detonation of a family bomb, and Jeff Chandler goes through with his difficult and delicate part with honest honour - his hell is actually the worst. This is in character very much like a Douglas Sirk film, but it goes deeper, probing untouchable undercurrents that are utterly out of bounds for discussion in a family, but the autopsy is expertly performed, leaving Mary Astor totally naked.