The Stranger Left No Card

Alan Badel comes to a small English town. He is tall, bearded, wears a motley assortment of old clothes, and clearly a bit balmy. He attracts attention, of course, but he soon shows himself to be harmless, so the locals call him 'Napoleon' and are amused by him. Then he goes to see businessman Cameron Hall as Hall is about to leave. He insists on showing him card tricks, and how to get out of hand cuffs. Then he shows him one last trick.

This 22-minute short is Wendy Toye's first as director, and it's a surprisingly facile little effort that won a well-deserved award at Cannes. Also, it was produced by George K. Arthur, who had been an important star at MGM during the silent era. He saved his money and returned to England; in the 1950s, he produced seven well-received shorts. He died in 1985 at age 86.

This delightful film won numerous awards. Still relatively unknown to the public, it was introduced in the 1950s to many more viewers on the Sunday morning CBS Television program "Omnibus" (would it were still with us!). Omnibus devotees loved it, and enjoyed several repeats.

The small cast is excellent, including the movie debut of outstanding British stage-TV-film character actor Alan Badel, who went on to many choice roles. Photography is choice. Direction superb, music wonderful!

The soundtrack made famous the "Swedish Rhapsody" by Hugo Alfven. Its popularity encouraged Alfven to compose "Swedish Rhapsody No. 2", which never garnered the acceptance of its bigger brother.

The plot is deliciously clever. I wouldn't want to spoil it for viewers, except to ask the cliff-hanging question, "Did he get away with it?" Hard to find, but well worth the fight. I sought it for years before a kindly classical music DJ sent me a VHS copy.

A gem, truly a gem.

This short British film (about 20 minutes or so!) starts off as the charming story of a mute traveling entertainer who endears himself to the citizens of a small town he's passing through, and develops a sinister, devilishly clever twist. Alan Badel (who I'd previously seen and enjoyed as the unctuous, foot-fetishist villain in ARABESQUE) gets a nifty showcase for his versatility, and the music of Muir Matheson adds greatly to the atmosphere. This packs more charm, characterization, and suspense into its short length than many feature-length films I've seen.

"The Stranger" may have left no card but he certainly left an indelible impression on me when I saw him in Belfast's Broadway cinema as a child. (The equally impressive "Incident at Owl Creek" is another short film that I saw at a time when excellent short films were often offered as "support" for the main feature.) I became a great admirer of Alan Badel star of "Stranger" and am always taken back to my first viewing of the film when I hear "Swedish Rapsody".

I do not know how to obtain a copy. However,those who have expressed an interest might like to know that a re-make of the story was included in the "Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected" TV series, under the title "Stranger in Town". It stars one of Britain's finest actors, Derek Jacobi, and the good news is that it has just become available on DVD from Acorn Media Entertainment.

Maybe I should also mention that, in one of those quirks of television programme-making, the "Twilight Zone" people ran out of money, apparently, and, instead of making a final series episode, bought a prize-winning film to fill the gap. That gap-filler was nothing less than the superb "Incident at Owl Creek" (see first paragraph') which, happily, is also available on DVD as part of the "Twilight Zone". Hope that makes a few people happy!

It's been decades since I saw this on British television, and I am desperate to see it again! It was so mysterious and well done. And Alan Badel is a terrific actor, with such a silky-smooth, mesmerizing voice. One can't get enough of him, really. There were so many atmospheric "small" films, made in Britain in the 1950s, and still little-known in the States. The respected tradition of regional and repertory theatres doubtless added greatly to the quality of such films, wherein "stars" as such are not strictly necessary to the end result. (Pity that American films lend themselves more to the star system.) If anyone knows how to get a copy, please let us who cruise IMDb know. Thanks.