Love From a Stranger
(1937), 86 min. b&w

The film Love From a Stranger is from a Frank Vosper play, which in turn was based on a short story by Agatha Christie entitled "Philomel Cottage." Although the names and a few details are changed, the story is surprisingly similar to "Philomel Cottage."  Filmed in England, Love From a Stranger starred Basil Rathbone and Ann Harding. Carol (Ann Harding) is a working girl, struggling to make ends meet while supporting her aunt and her sister. One day she wins the lottery and is suddenly rich. Carol's fiancé Ronny is not at all thrilled that Carol now has money. He had thought that marriage would make her life better, but now she wouldn't need him to support her. They have a row and he leaves.

Pretending to be interested in renting her flat, Gerald Lovell (Rathbone) meets Carol and discovers that she is longing to travel and see the world. They meet again on board a ship to Paris and Gerald is absolutely charming. He woos Carol, promising her wild, exciting nights, and out-of-the-ordinary experiences. Carol can't help falling in love with him.

Carol's former fiancé Ronny shows up in Paris to apologize and ask her to come back to London with him. He warns Carol that Gerald is a scoundrel and a fortune-hunter and not to be trusted.  But it is too late. Gerald and Carol have just gotten married.

Melodramatic Thriller Carries Strong Suspense with Fine Performances Chiefly distinguished for the splendid performances of Ann Harding and Basil Rathbone. Based on the stage meller by Frank Vosper. This British studio production gets away to a very slow start, and it is only when the picture is half over that the audience realizes they are in for a creepy thriller. For Ann Harding as the girl in search of romance has married a psychopathic case who got a shock during the war, and he is very cunning about concealing his affliction. It is not till he induces her to buy a country place in England after they return from their continental honeymoon, that she begins to notice any thing wrong with her hubby. Gradually the audience also is let in on the fact that the man is a cunning criminal who has already done away with three wives in order to secure their fortunes. He has set a certain night to do away with his present spouse, and the way the suspense is built up from one mounting episode to another will satisfy the most rabid thrill fan. Suffice it to say that the plot is pure meller, and it is only the fine script by Frances Marion, the expert direction by Rowland Lee, and the brilliant performances by Ann Harding and Basil Rathbone that lift this from a commonplace meller to a really exceptional film of its type. Anyone who appreciates superior acting will get their money's worth from the performances of these two brilliant players. —The Film Daily, April 21, 1937

After Carol and Gerald have traveled to exotic places, they return to England, where they purchase a home in a remote spot near Kent.  Gerald makes it clear he does not want Carol's sister, aunt or friends visiting in their home.  "Don't let anyone disturb our happiness—not that noisy Kate or Auntie Lou—not anyone." For a while all is well. Carol suspects nothing and trusts her husband completely.

Gerald, an amateur photographer, sets up his own private darkroom in the cellar, and won't let anyone in. "No one is to go into that cellar but me—no one." One day Carol goes into the cellar to speak to Gerald and he freaks out. "GET OUT!" He apologizes immediately, but Carol says, "I'll never forget the way you looked—like a madman."

Gerald pretends to be interested in renting Carol's flat.

Rathbone and Ann Harding

After this incident Carol insists that Gerald be examined by a doctor. The doctor tells Gerald that he has a serious heart condition and warns him not to get too excited about anything or overexert himself. Gerald and the doctor discuss the Fletcher case, about a madman who murdered three wealthy women.  In each case Fletcher married the woman, and a short time later announced to friends and neighbors that they were taking a trip and would be away for several months. He killed the woman and took her money. By the time anyone began to worry about the woman or found a body, Fletcher was long gone.  Gerald beams when he hears Fletcher described as "brilliant" because he IS Fletcher.  Tension mounts as we realize—the night before a planned "trip"—Carol is alone with Gerald one evening, and he is intent on killing her.  But Carol catches on and outsmarts him.  Knowing he has a bad heart, she tells him she has poisoned his coffee. She succeeds in frightening Gerald so much that he has a heart attack and dies.

Carol greets her fiancé Ronny, who is suspicious of Gerald.

After breaking with Ronny, Carol and Gerald get together.

Don't miss this exciting thriller.  Rathbone is superb, both as the charmer and as the psychotic madman. Excellent performances by the rest of the cast contribute to making this film top-notch. An interesting note is that the film was banned in Denmark. Apparently, it was too scary! Mark Aldridge, author of Agatha Christie on Screen (Springer, 2016), wrote, "Overall the film did well, and was sufficiently successful in creating a thrilling and uneasy atmosphere that the usually liberal Danish censors banned the film outright."

While Basil Rathbone was in England making Love from a Stranger, he lived in Sir Cedric Hardwicke's North London home. Hardwicke was in Hollywood, but later had to hurry back to London to fulfill a contract with Gaumont-British. So Rathbone invited Hardwicke to stay as a guest in his own house.

Love From a Stranger was released January 1937 in the U.K. and April 18, 1937 in the USA. The film was re-released in 1945 with the title A Night of Terror. (It was indeed a night of terror for Carol.)  In 1947 Love From a Stranger was remade in Hollywood, with Sylvia Sidney and John Hodiak.

This was the first film that Basil Rathbone made with Director Rowland V. Lee. In 1939 they worked together again on Tower of London, The Sun Never Sets, and Son of Frankenstein. This was the only film that Rathbone made with Ann Harding, Bruce Seton, or any of the other cast members.

"Love From a Stranger." —United Artists. Ann Harding will give you a taste of that quality she lost in recent pictures and Basil Rathbone will hold you in a vise of horror and suspense in this British film. With two Hollywood stars, a scenario written by Frances Marion and the director also an American, the set-up is unusual for an English picture and the result is excellent. Consider the unusual story. Miss Harding is a business girl who wins a huge lottery, quarrels with her fiancé and meets an ingratiating stranger whom she marries. He takes her to a remote house in the country and gradually it is apparent that he means to murder her as he has murdered his other wives. For it develops that he is a psychopathic maniac who preys on women who are tired of a humdrum existence, marries them and obtains possession of their money. A crude procedure, but not as the play is written and not, by a long shot, as Mr. Rathbone and Miss Harding act it. Every word and gesture, every thought even, gradually reveals character and leads up to the unbearable climax when, alone in the house, the wife faces her husband with full knowledge of what is in his mind. How she outwits him, reduces him to sniveling confession is ingenious and terrific. You must see this if you can stand strong fare. —Picture Play,  July 1937

"An unusually effective characterization ... It wouldn't be fair to disclose the ending which has been contrived with an enormous amount of suspense." —Rose Pelswich, New York Evening Journal

"Basil Rathbone ... is all that a sinister villain with a homicidal psychosis and beautiful drawing-room manners should be." —John Mosher, The New Yorker

Ronny comes to Paris to see Carol and apologize, but he's too late. Gerald and Carol are married.

Gerald tricks Carol into signing over her fortune to him.

"Basil Rathbone makes an ideal neurotic, unbalanced scoundrel who starts slowly and builds up to a tense finish. He skillfully avoids the pitfalls of over-acting, which would normally come to a less talented player." —Variety, January 27, 1937

"Ann Harding brings a strong, yet restrained emotion to her part, even when it trembles of the verge of melodramatic insanity, and Basil Rathbone terrifyingly combines sensitiveness and insanity in a polished and persuasive performance." —The Scotsman, June 22, 1937

Love From a Stranger (British Made) A powerful sequence in a country home, involving a murder maniac and a woman who nearly goes mad in a successful effort to save herself from him, gives 'Love from a Stranger' a couple of reels of dramatic dynamite. But the rest is inconsequential. Cast names will help this picture to make its way over here, but chances for real money are dubious. Character stud of the suave, mentally deranged man who has married and killed three women was originally a short story. Later it was done as a play under the same title as this picture. It ran just a month in New York last fall. The late Frank Vosper, its author, starred in it on Broadway. Ann Harding is the girl who wins a lottery and weds Basil Rathbone, the murderer. This is when things start to happen. Up to this stage nothing is suspected of Rathbone's past. After the honeymoon, the business of building Rathbone into his sinister character gets under way and the film finally starts to move. Although the steps bringing him to the point where the murder of his wife is planned are deliberate and testing, when the bumping off time approaches the dramatics do reach nerve-breaking tension. Sequence in which Miss Harding realizes what is planned for her is gripping. She parries with Rathbone, frantically tries to save herself, and only by making him believe he has swallowed poison in coffee does she save herself. Miss Harding gives a fine performance throughout these scenes while Rathbone is also excellent. Bruce Seton does well in a small part and shows distinct screen promise. Very little comedy is attempted in the script. Others from Hollywood have had a hand in this British-made including Rowland V. Lee, director; Frances Marion, scenarist, and Harry E. Edington, credited as associate producer. Latter was Greta Garbo's business manager and agent for years. Char. —Variety, April 21, 1937

"Rathbone was particularly effective creating a villain that was both charming and frightening." —Michael B. Druxman, Basil Rathbone: His Life and His Films

"Provides exciting and dramatic moments -- moments that will send the chills skyrocketing up and down your spine ... Both stars are entirely expert at interpreting the jobs entrusted to them." —William Boehnel, New York World-Telegram

Aunt Lou and Kate congratulate Carol on her marriage.	At the cottage, Carol and Gerald meet the maid Emmy.
Gerald won't allow anyone else to carry his trunk to the cellar.	Gerald with his trunk.

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All original content is © Marcia Jessen, 2018