House of Strangers (1949) - Joseph L. Mankiewicz

In the wake of Citizen Kane many self important filmmakers adapted various techniques in the hopes of giving their films some added credibility. Joseph Mankiewicz had been steadily building as a major writer-director for 20th Century Fox, and although he was thrown into a somewhat low budget project with House of Strangers, he took this opportunity to play with the format. House of Strangers takes a non-chronoligical look at the events leading up to the eventual release of Max (Richard Conte) who spent the last seven years in prison.

We don't know at the outset why he was in prison, how he got out, or who put him there, but a few things begin to make shape up rather quickly. The first scene in the film has Max entering a bank. We quickly find out that the bank is owned and operated by Max's three brothers (Luther Adler, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., and Paul Valentine). The bank used to be run and owned by the brother's father Gino Monetti (Edward G. Robinson). Well details slowly unravel as we find that the old man is dead and we're left to believe that the brothers, either all or some of them, are responsible for his incarceration. 

Rather than unfold as a vendetta with perhaps a brief flashback sequence Mankiewicz abandons this idea quickly. His first stop after the bank is to his old girlfriend Irene, played by an unimpressive Susan Hayward. Like most females in the noir world she falls into the category of the weak and needy type. She provokes nothing, but her suggestion for Max to abandon his bloodlust and move with her to San Francisco does wind up being a motivating factor for him. The dialogue between them is full of innuendos, and with very little interpretation we're led to believe that she hasn't exactly been faithful to Max during his long sentence. In fact more so than any visual cues or plot devices, the thing that most makes this fit in a noir cycle is the dialogue between Conte and Hayward. Their entire reparte is full of innuendos, double entedres, and all those fast talking lines that people in a real conversation would never use. Perhaps Mankiewicz and screenwriter Philip Yordan were inspired by William Faulkner's script for The Big Sleep. 

Max returns home and while sitting next to the fireplace over which a portrait of his father hangs, he begins to recall the events leading up to his social ruin, and the reason for his bitterness. When we first see Gino, we get a rather warm reaction to him. He seems a likeable guy, singing in the bathtub, opening the bank when he gets there. He's in no rush, and he clearly does things his own way. At the bank he's willing to loan nearly anyone money he feels is worth a shot, never asking collateral, just stories. Robinson plays Gino like a warm hearted Italian stereotype and we take a liking to him rather quickly. For this reason its hard for us to eventually turn on him, as Max and his sons eventually do.

The story is told through Max's recollections, so this might lend some reason as to why Max appears so clearly the favorite son. He takes after his father the most, the self made man. All of Gino's sons depend on their father for their income, working at the bank in various jobs. Max on the other hand has a law degree and makes a living outside of his father's business. He is also stubborn, makes his own rules, and has an extremely difficult time taking no for an answer. These two men are certainly made from the same mold, and at first we have a respect for this. Max is remembering his father pleasantly, because at the outset of the movie he has every intention of avenging himself for his father's sake as well as his own. Therefore we easily see why the two share a common bond.

The resentment of the other brother's grows, and in all honesty you can't be too surprised. Gino has no respect for his other sons, and possibly they don't deserve it. He consistently belittles all of them, keeping them in remedial tasks at the bank, making fun of them, and undermining all of their decisions. The power structure of the family is clearly set up during an early dinner sequence. Max is late and the whole dinner is waiting for him. In the meantime everyone else wants to eat, but of course Gino will hear nothing of it. The relationship between Gino and his wife is also set up as one where the love evaporated decades ago, and possibly before they even came to America. This is a family that rarely speaks, can't stand each other, and their Wednesday night pasta dinners are torture for nearly all involved. The title of the film begins to make perfect sense with this scene, because it is a house of strangers they're all occupying. Joe's wife serves the primary function of a supporting female in a male dominated film. She is the instigating agent, the spoiler, the biblical Eve. Everything might be alright if she wasn't nagging at her husband to rock the boat, demand a raise, and willing to ostricize herself from her adopted family. Its a sad role, and one that pops up far too frequently in these pictures. There is always a misogynistic undertone leading us to believe in film that women are the cause of all evil, even more than money. In the case of this film, money seems a factor, but only because the woman wants it.

The other somewhat major female role is also a rather weak individual and a poor charecterization. Maria (Debra Paget) begins the film as Max's fiancee. The two are to be married, but of course Irene complicates things. Gino thinks its perfectly fine for Max to have this fling before marriage and doesn't seem to worry when the relationship goes awry. He assumes Max is having some fun, and when its over will go ahead and marry Maria. He is convinced that in America nearly all marriages are designed to be loveless ones. Maria becomes weak because as she gets scorned, she naturally becomes weak and latches onto Max's youngest brother Tony. The news doesn't seem to effect Max too much, because he becomes obsessed with Irene. In fact he becomes so absorbed in Irene and the fact that for once he's not getting things his way, that he completely ignores his father's initial legal troubles. It is this initial neglect that help to make Max feel neglectful, and an unworthy son. He needs to make up for not listening, so he's willing to do anything to win the case, and it is this guilt that brings about his own misconduct.

At its core, House of Strangers is about how we take after our parents, whether we like it or not. Its message in the end however is that we need to establish our own identities. With a domineering father like Gino, these boys in many ways fear becoming like him. They all, including eventually Max, resent him and don't like the thought of taking after him. This is a familiar theme in Mankiewicz's work and something tells me this is one of the elements from the original screenplay that he helped to encourage. The film however does have a forced studio production overtone to it, and too much of it falls into conventional subject matter. Its layout and execution is rewarding, but ultimately the film gets bogged down by too many formulaic elements.

Grade C+