Kim & Kirk Team For Suburban Soap ‘Strangers When We Meet’ 1960

Kim Novak is Maggie the bored housewife & Kirk Douglas is Larry the restless architect...

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Despite the star power of Kim Novak and Kirk Douglas as illicit lovers, Strangers When We Meet was only a moderate moneymaker in 1960. Critics didn’t heap praise on the slick screen soap, either. Strangers When We Meet was simply not an affair to remember.

Well, that slogan about sums it up for 'Strangers When We Meet!' 

Still, there are aspects that make Strangers, if not memorable, a noteworthy post-war take on adultery. While the stars are sympathetic—i.e. sanitized from Evan Hunter’s novel—they don’t get off scot free. And yet, they aren’t “punished” for their sins, either, like Elizabeth Taylor in BUtterfield 8, from the same year that Strangers was released. Nor is there a leering quality so common in “sensational” soap operas or sex comedies from that era. The cuckolded mates, while imperfect, are not caricatures, to rationalize the cheating spouses’ ways. For a mid-century cinema soap, there’s much gray area in this beautifully shot Cinemascope romance.

Sin in the suburb on aisle 5! Kim Novak accidentally makes off with Kirk Douglas' shopping cart
and the rest is adulterous angst in 1960's 'Strangers When We Meet.

This was an atypical drama for Columbia’s resident comic director, Richard Quine. And he offers a surprisingly adult look at marriage and infidelity. Author Evan Hunter—The Blackboard Jungle, Last Summer, screenwriter for The Birds, and aka Ed McBain—never shied away from difficult topics.

Note how more blunt the promo was for the original Evan Hunter novel.

Strangers When We Meet plays like a low-key version of a Douglas Sirk melodrama, but without all his flourishes. Though some reviews and movie viewers have cited Strangers as dull, those who don’t enjoy Sirk’s stylized soap tropes may find Strangers When We Meet more satisfying to watch.

A visually interesting pic with Novak's Maggie sick in bed, hair down. Kim looks a bit like '50s Vera Miles here, whom she took over the starring role in 'Vertigo,' when Vera became pregnant.

One of those post-war looks at suburban angst, Kirk plays architect Larry Coe, who works at home, has lovely Barbara Rush as his wife, with cute kids, and lives in a fab modern house… but he’s not happy.

I’d say Kim Novak’s character, Maggie, has more to beef about. Her housewife leads an empty life, with a husband who barely seems to notice her and a child who’s hardly on screen. Maggie does have a mother, who she despises for having an affair herself. Novak does have a secret admirer/stalker that won’t stop calling her, yet pays the most attention to her. Between Kim’s trying to shut down the stalker while trying to hook up with Kirk’s architect, Novak spends half her scenes on the phone!

Kim Novak has almost as many scenes on the phone as she does with Kirk Douglas in 'Strangers When We Meet!'

As Maggie, Kim Novak gets a role in Strangers that plays to her strengths as an actress: she’s vulnerable, insecure, and enigmatic. There’s little studio-trained posturing here, Kim just is. Novak was given the big buildup by Columbia’s Harry Cohn to replace Rita Hayworth as the studio’s next film goddess. Kim was given the star treatment, but I always felt their glamour makeover was a bit heavy-handed, particularly in Bell, Book, and Candle. Here, Novak’s housewife is toned down, yet Kim rarely looked lovelier on-screen. Kim Novak comes across like a human being, instead of a movie star mannequin. Novak has a particularly good scene when she attempts to talk to and/or seduce her husband, who seems profoundly disinterested in her. Even though she’s only partially dressed in a black bra and slip, he’s ‘tired.’ Some viewers wondered if he was secretly gay, but in the novel, the character had it drummed into his head by his mother that sex was bad. Some critics commented on her hesitant, hushed line readings—I occasionally found Kim’s gulping words and near inaudible delivery distracting, too. Was it Novak’s fabled nervousness or part of her characterization? Like her performance in Vertigo, the actress and the character were perfectly aligned.

Kim's best scene as Maggie comes when she tries to find out why her screen husband does not desire her.

Some of Strangers’ critics felt that Kirk Douglas was miscast as the earnest architect, but I thought it was nice to see Kirk playing a normal guy for a change, instead of his usual hyperventilating hamminess. Douglas’ still a strong presence and makes his character sympathetic, even when he is not behaving that way. That’s a real trick for an actor, and the mark of a great star who can keep the audience from feeling alienated.

Kirk Douglas in one of his few low-key roles as Larry Coe, the dissatisfied family man.

Barbara Rush plays the thankless role of the “good wife,” Eve Coe, quite well. At first, she comes on like the pushy, upwardly mobile wife, but as the movie goes on, you start to see her side of things. As she feels shut out of her husband’s decision making, her character becomes more empathetic. And she holds her own in the intense, attempted rape scene with Matthau.

Lovely Barbara Rush does a fine job as Douglas' wife, Eve Coe, about to get pounced on by Walter Matthau!

Ernie Kovacs, the groundbreaking comedian, is surprisingly good as the neurotic author who hires Douglas to build his dream house. Even when given some pretty plumy lines, Ernie is natural and warm as the validation-seeking writer, whether it’s from critical raves or a house that reflects his success. Sadly, Kovacs died in his famous car accident two years later.

Comedic genius Ernie Kovacs is quite good as the insecure author who wants Douglas to design his dream home.

Irascible Walter Matthau often played villains early in his career. While Walter was physically unconvincing as the bad guy (ever see him bullwhip Burt Lancaster in The Kentuckian or chase Elvis with a gun in Kid Creole?), Matthau played a great sleaze, like here as Felix, the philandering neighbor. While practically taking notes on what his fellow suburbanites are up to, Felix feigns indignation at a neighbor for telling dirty jokes at a party. Matthau’s quite the scene stealer, sparring with Douglas, and his scene where he puts some unwanted moves on Rush’s Eve, is creepily chilling.

Walter Matthau is Felix, the nosy hound dog neighbor of Kirk's adulterous architect. 

Nancy Kovack made her film debut with Strangers. Kovack was a fixture on TV in the ‘60s and ‘70s, and the statuesque starlet was always frosted blonde, with lipstick and eye shadow to match. So to see Nancy as Marcia, one of Ernie Kovac’s many girlfriends, all dolled up as deep brunette with arched eyebrows, was a surprise. In 1960, if a startlet wasn’t made over to look like Marilyn, they done up like Liz! Kovack looks like a sexier Paula Prentiss here. Nancy has only has one scene as the good-natured broad who likes to knock back a drink before noon, but she’s sexy, smart, and funny.

Nancy Kovack is almost unrecognizable in her 'BUtterfield 8' look! Kovack has one scene in her debut, but she's fun.

Strangers When We Meet shows off a great deal of location shooting, surprising for a movie that wasn’t a glorified travelogue, and this gives the movie some authenticity. Also noteworthy is that the house that is constructed for Kovacs’ character was real—movie legend has it that it was supposed to be a wedding gift for Kim and director Quine, who were engaged during filming, from Columbia. When Strangers wrapped, so did their romance!

A house is not a home: The house is real, but it never became a wedding home to Novak and director Richard Quine.

Much of Strangers was sanitized for the big screen: Maggie was no stranger to infidelity and Larry sought adultery tips from Felix in Hunter’s novel. But some of what’s onscreen is still eyebrow-raising: the scene after Kirk and Kim consummate their affair, they are dressing at a motel, afterward. She’s looking in the mirror, with the back of her dress unzipped to her waist and no bra. Kirk comes up behind and sweetly zips her up. Eve is shown nude from the back, waist up, as she puts on her robe to answer the door to hound dog Felix, emphasizing her sexual vulnerability. The movie is frank about sex as far as it could be in 1960, with even the Coe’s boy asking if sex was like Santa Claus!

This scene was a bit of an eye opener for 1960. Remember when Janet Leigh in a bra was a big deal
that same year in 'Psycho?' Well, Kim one-ups (or is that two-ups?) the censors by wearing NO bra!

Like The Sandpiper later, Strangers When We Meet finds the adulterous screen couple in a no-win situation. To have the romantic leads enjoy a happy ending would go against screen convention, yet to have the couple part in a way that satisfied audiences was tricky. I found Strangers’ finale melancholy and am sure that audiences weaned on happy endings found it even more so.

Kirk Douglas' architect spends the first part of this film always trying to pick up Kim Novak's housewife!

Despite the slickness of Strangers When We Meet, there’s a certain honesty that reflects the coming trend of realism in movies. And the stars’ polar opposite personas—Douglas’ overt intensity and Novak’s passive vulnerability—make a compelling counterpoint. If you check your expectations, you just might enjoy getting acquainted with Strangers When We Meet.
As of 2/9/19, there's a nice copy of Strangers When We Meet on YouTube: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCo4Y721IYg

Kirk Douglas was 43 when 'Strangers When We Meet' was filmed. Kirk lived to be 103!

'A Face in the Crowd' Looks at Real Issue of Media Mania: Us

'A Face in the Crowd' came out in '57, with Andy Griffith
as southern singing idol Lonesome Rhodes, a nod to Elvis!

Media pundits have had a field day over Lonesome Rhodes, from 1957’s A Face in the Crowd, claiming the charismatic creep “predicted” the rise of Donald Trump. Even religious right columnist Cal Thomas tagged Trump as Rhodes, the rags-to-riches character of Elia Kazan’s prophetic film. Yet one columnist scoffed that a more apt comparison would be of Trump to Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane—and meant it as a compliment!

 Welles’ 1941 epic, Citizen Kane, is about a rich blowhard who pushes his luck with the public, and sends his empire tumbling. Like Rhodes, Kane pays the price for hubris. Kazan’s A Face in the Crowd and Welles’ Citizen Kane were tough movies that questioned the triangular love-hate relationship between the media, public figures, and their audience.

Andy Griffith, loathsome as Lonesome Rhodes: boob on the tube, audiences eat it up!

A Face in the Crowd was made in 1957, when film censorship and ‘50s conformity was past its zenith, but still in power. Still, the film is gritty, unglamorous, realistic, and packs a punch. Director Elia Kazan employs a sharp visual look but discards the glossy movie style of the era: A Face in the Crowd’s characters look sweaty, rumpled, harried, and human. Andy Griffith is eerily good, both loathsome and riveting as Lonesome, the country crooner turned super-celebrity. Patricia Neal does world weary perfectly, yet is also vulnerable as Marcia, the reporter who falls for Rhodes’ slick charm. Walter Matthau shows his dramatic side as a cynical reporter who carries the torch for Neal. And Lee Remick, in her film debut, is luminous and funny as Rhodes’ majorette bride.

Lee Remick, a majorette who thinks Lonesome is a dream, & finds out he's a nightmare.

The only letdown perhaps is when Lonesome loses his TV throne/bully pulpit after a hot mike exposes the real Rhodes on network television. Censorship of the day demanded characters pay for their sins. Today, we see inflammatory remarks, boorish behavior, and scandal rewarded with TV shows, book deals, and yes, public office.

Both A Face in the Crowd and Citizen Kane got rave reviews but were box office flops. Movies in Hollywood’s golden era were typically escapist fare and audiences didn’t flock to see grim dramas. Post-Watergate cynicism made Sidney Lumet’s Network possible as a black comedy hit, with its dire message about power, politics, and television. Network, which came out nearly two decades after A Face in the Crowd, takes washed-up TV anchor Howard Beale from a nervous breakdown on the air to a megalomaniacal media messiah.

Even worldly-wise reporters Walter Matthau & Patricia Neal can't look away!

 A Face in the Crowd is an in-depth look at the impact that television has on the masses—both positive and negative. Lightening bolts like Elvis and The Beatles made their mark on pop culture when they appeared on American television. So did political phenom Joseph McCarthy, when he found himself on the other side of an investigative committee, and went down in flames on live TV. Yet, fellow Republican Richard Nixon managed to warm the public’s heart once, when he gave his infamous “Checkers” speech in the 1952. The public later cooled toward Nixon in the early ‘60s, with his shifty, sweaty looks next to all-American John Kennedy, during their presidential debates. His infamous losing comment didn’t help his image: “You won’t have Dick Nixon to kick around.” In the ‘70s, President Nixon sealed his Tricky Dick persona with the “I am not a crook” speech…which was later followed by his resignation speech!

Citizen Kane, A Face in the Crowd, and Network took a hard look at how far the media would go to manipulate the masses. Now you can add the internet to the mix. In their time, these films were a therapeutic slap in the face to audiences, to wake up from their complacency and naiveté.

Applause whets the appetite of celebrity consumers.

Here’s the difference in today’s world: We live in an age where just about any small-town person is media-wise. The change started with cable TV and later, the Internet, providing a world-wide platform for anyone with something to sell—a product, a personality, or a point of view. We have been the consumers, sitting in front of massive TV screens and computers, laptops, tablets, and cell phones. There’s been an escalating Tower of Babel built by “personalities,” pundits, and politicians. They are all vying for our favor, with louder voices, bigger promises, and no regard for the truth.

The problem is many of us want to believe the lies, despite the mass of information at our fingertips. Now, people have always preferred comforting lies to painful truths—that’s human nature. But now, we rationalize bad behavior, wallow in conspiracy theories, and defend to the death negative news that fits our world view—no matter what. Before, it was a matter of exposing lies to an unsuspecting public—Watergate, for example. Now, it seems hardly anyone cares. On a recent This American Life broadcast, Ira Glass addressed this trend in “Lies Become the Truth.” After recounting some recent political dust-ups where mud was flung, Glass noted, “It’s easier than ever to check if the fact is true, but the facts matters less than ever…”

The real "face" of celebrity isn't always pretty.

Is it because we want to cling to old beliefs, even though, deep down we know they don’t work anymore? Is it because it takes too much time to sift through the vast amounts of information out there, in our limited attention span era? Is it because we prefer to feed on a newsfeed that’s exclusively scandal over substance? Or is it all of the above?

The tune of a Lonesome Rhodes, Citizen Kane, and Howard Beale never really changes, nor do those of real-life demagogues like Huey Long, Joseph McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Donald Trump, or any of the loudmouths on MSNBC, CNN, or FOX News.

Only the face in the crowd changes, but the song remains the same. It is us who have changed. Too many people are willing to overlook the deep flaws of their idols, as long as they can continue to believe the false message. 

What politicians still count on today...

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