The Silver Screen Oasis

Eddie G Robinson is in top form as the ruthless patriarch of an Italian - American banking family, modeled after the founders of the Bank of Italy, now Bank of America. A weak link, to me at least, is Susan Hayward, as Richard Conte's girlfriend. Someone as tough, but who could show tenderness as well would have been bettered suited for the role Claire Trevor ( ? ) or maybe Cathy Downs who I believe was still under contract at Fox, MsHayward is ok, but not memorable.

I believe that this film is sadly unknown today.

Since this is a 20th Century-Fox film, it gets no play on TCM and remains dormant to many movie fans. It's too bad since it is a superior movie featuring one of Edward G. Robinson's finest performances. What a waste.

House of Strangers is available from Netflix, but not for streaming. Thanks for the tip, I've never heard of it before.

JackFavell wrote:House of Strangers is available from Netflix, but not for streaming. Thanks for the tip, I've never heard of it before.

Never let it be said that 20th Century Fox wasn't an early advocate of recycling:

Oh, you may have seen this before in one of the two other versions of this excellent set-up for a story, which was itself based on the story of Joseph and his brothers from the Book of Genesis. The bestselling book near the mid-century mark arrived in the form of Jerome Weidman's novel, "I'll Never Go There Anymore," and the subsequent films were all credited to Phillip Yordan. After House of Strangers came and went 20th Century Fox used the same plot in Broken Lance (1954) in a Western setting with Spencer Tracy as the Dad and Robert Wagner as the favored son. Then, things got sort of out of hand when the same studio stretched this material further to make the story of a circus family with Nehemiah Persoff as Pop and Cliff Robertson as Sonny Boy in the European based movie, The Big Show (1961). The strangest thing about the last movie is that the biggest star in the flick was Esther Williams, who doesn't participate in any of the circus acts, nor does she swim, except for a moment in a lap pool high in the Swiss Alps.

I think you would really enjoy the story the way it is told in House of Strangers with Eddie Robinson and Richard Conte under the direction of Joseph Mankiewicz. I really wish TCM (or at least the Fox Movie Channel) would show this again. Btw, the story was reportedly so close to the truth about the founder of The Bank of America, A.P. Giannini, that there was some talk about a lawsuit, but apparently that was dropped when Giannini died in the same year as the film's release.

The DVD is available for under $5 around the internet.

Here's a great taste of Eddie at work in House of Strangers explaining the difference between the old and new worlds, while straightening out the formidable Hope Emerson as an appreciative Richard Conte looks on while his Mama (Esther Minciotti) sits quietly with her hands folded, though you can hear the gears whirring inside her too. That's Debra Paget as the docile Maria:

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Oh, geez, if Hope Emerson is in it, I am getting it pronto! That last shot was hysterical!

I notice that with the exception of the mother, this is almost the same cast as Cry of the City. I thought Mimi Aguglia was fantastic as the mother in COTC.

Thanks for putting it all into context, Moira. It's fantastic to see Broken Lance as a direct line from this movie.

It's been awhile since I've watched this, but I remember my first thought after my first viewing: Did Coppola and Puzo watch this a few times?