House of Strangers

Joseph L. Mankiewicz: House of Strangers (US 1949). Poster found on CineMaterial.com.

031703 / 16 / US / 1949 / Mankiewicz, Joseph L. / drama House of Strangers / Muukalaisten talo. © 20th Century-Fox. P: Sol C. Siegel. D: Joseph L. Mankiewicz. SC: Philip Yordan [and Joseph L. Mankiewicz, n.c.] – based on the novel I’ll Never Go There Any More by Jerome Weidman. DP: Milton Krasner. M: Daniele Amfitheatrof.
    CAST: Edward G. Robinson (Gino Monetti – father), Richard Conte (Max Monetti – son), Luther Adler (Joe Monetti – son), Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. (Tony Monetti – son), Paul Valentine (Pietro Monetti – son), Susan Hayward (Irene Bennett), Debra Paget (Maria Domenico).
    101’. B&w Academy. MPAA Seal 13652. A fine NFTVA print. Viewed in Helsinki, SEA, Cinema Orion, Tuesday 10 March 1998.

**** Since the premiere this film had not been re-released, nor transmitted on TV, nor been available on video, nor shown at the Archive before this. I saw it for the first time now. It is an extraordinary, powerful, compact drama about the fight between four brothers as their father loses grip of his banking business. It is related to The Brothers Karamazov and King Lear but has an original cinematic dynamic of its own.