Woman in Hiding (1950) and When Strangers Marry (1944)

Toronto Film Society presented Woman in Hiding (1950) and When Strangers Marry (1944) on Sunday, July 21, 2024 as part of the Season 76 Fall Series, Programme 9.

Woman in Hiding (1950)

Production Company: Universal. Producer: Michael Kraike.  Director: Michael Gordon.  Screenplay: Oscar Saul and Roy Huggins, based on the story Fugitive from Terror by James Webb. Cinematographer:  William H. Daniels.  Editor: Milton Carruth.  Released Date: January 6, 1950.

Cast: Ida Lupino (Deborah Chandler Clark), Stephen McNally (Selden Clark), Howard Duff (Keith Ramsay), Peggy Dow (Patricia Monahan).

Melodramas were at one point in film history among the central pillars of Hollywood storytelling. Especially in the 1930s to the 1950s, some of the greatest films of the era were of this particular sub-genre.

Melodramas often focus on protagonists being confronted with (as the name of the genre implies) dramatic obstacles relating to some sort of hardship involving societal issues, love, or heartbreak. The dour plot circumstances often had these types of films labelled somewhat broadly as “tearjerkers”. In many ways, melodramas were the soap operas or telenovelas of their time; an observation that becomes all the more accurate when it can be noted that the genre’s fall from popularity largely coincided with the rise of television.

Frequently in the golden age of melodramas, films would focus on the struggles of female characters; women who were often put in heartbreaking or emotionally anguishing scenarios. A film that falls firmly into this category is the 1950 melodramatic-thriller, Woman in Hiding. Directed by Michael Gordon (who would go on to direct the 1950 adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac later that same year) and starring Hollywood trailblazer Ida Lupino, Woman in Hiding tells the story of Deborah Chandler Clark (Lupino), a woman who is manipulated into marriage after the death of her father by the handsome Selden Clark (Stephen McNally).

When it becomes clear that her father was murdered by Selden in order to secure her family fortune, Deborah escapes her new husband and ultimately fakes her death to escape him. However, Selden is not convinced of his wife’s demise and is committed to having her killed. Deborah must now flee not only her husband, but the people who are up to collect the bounty he has put on her head.

While quite obviously a typical melodrama of the time, Woman in Hiding is notable for its incorporation of other genre elements. Specifically of note is the frequent use of noir and thriller stylistic tropes. While the murder mystery element of the story is a known aspect of noirs, the film often uses its lighting setups as an emotional feature. Shadows are especially employed to accentuate tense or dramatic moments between characters, a common visual metaphor of the noir genre.

The film also uses elements of thrillers to great effect. Director Michael Gordon expertly layers in dramatic tension and genuine moments of dread for the audience to feel as we witness Deborah’s journey unfold. From the brakes being cut on her car to her being cornered by the main antagonist, Woman in Hiding is highly effective at utilizing these tropes. It does however, cause the film to feel somewhat inconsistent. Some scenes come off as overly sappy, while others induce sweaty palms.

One could also argue that the film utilizes forms familiar to audiences of more exploitative films of the era; movies which skirted the line of what was acceptable to show in a Hays Code era of Hollywood. The theatrical poster itself seems to delve into this with the words “NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN” prominently stamped across its key art. Art which, it should be noted, depicts a visceral scene of attempted domestic abuse. An image such as this shown so blatantly as to entice an audience with a taboo visual is very indicative of the time.

The post-war era of Hollywood was a time of great transition in the film industry, as the era of strict censorship began to have its grip lessened, especially as it entered the far more liberal 1960s. The 1950s, as a result, was an era where studios could conceivably get away with displaying such an image on the poster.

While something like domestic violence probably would not be shown on a poster today, the times were quite different. And after all, violence and controversy sell. Despite that, Ida Lupino as Deborah Chandler Clark is neither written nor performed in a traditionally sexist way. This is typical of Lupino, one of the most important women in Hollywood history. While she is perhaps most famous as an actor, she used her influence and fame to leverage her way into not only producing films but becoming one of the first female directors in Hollywood.

Her performance in Woman in Hiding almost reflects this independent and powerful nature of hers. Deborah Chandler Clark as a character is fierce, capable, and highly likeable in her characterization. She is an innocent woman who has been put in an awful situation and we sympathize with her struggles. We want her to succeed and escape the deranged Selden Clark. In many ways, although not perfect by the standards of today, the film has a strong feminist tone, much like Ida Lupino herself.

Perhaps in a way, it is somewhat autobiographical. We follow a character who is stuck in a man’s world and is often seen to be taken advantage of by those in power. But regardless of her position, she fights back in order to attain her own freedom, much like how Lupino herself famously fought the highly sexist Hollywood system in order to secure her own creative place.

The story is inspiring both on and off the screen (but it should be noted that there is no evidence that Lupino faked her death in order to elude a murderous spouse). Even if the film is a product of its time, especially in terms of the main genre, there is still a power about it. It is an engrossing tale of murder, mystery and triumph. And at the end of the day, that’s what this age of Hollywood was all about:

Pure escapism and fantasy.

When Strangers Marry (1944)

Production Company: King Brothers Productions. Producers: Frank King and Maurice King Director: William Castle. Screenplay: Philip Yordan and Dennis J. Cooper, based on a story by George Moskov. Cinematographer: Ira H. Morgan. Editor: Martin G. Cohn. Released Date: August 21, 1944.

Cast: Robert Mitchum (Fred Graham), Kim Hunter (Mildred Baxter), Dean Jagger (Paul Baxter), Neil Hamilton (Police Lieutenant Blake).

“It’s almost as if you had married a stranger, isn’t it?”

One of the most fascinating aspects of cinema is viewing the evolution of an artist through the decades and how their career shifted based on Hollywood sensibilities of the time. The likes of Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola are more well-known examples, but there is an arguably more fascinating facet of the film industry where a studio director will instead transition to independent genre film.

On that end of said spectrum is famed director and showman, William Castle. Born William Schloss Jr. in 1914, William Castle is (rightfully) seen today as one of the greatest showmen in Hollywood’s long history. In the post-war cinematic landscape of the 1950s and 60s, Castle employed the use of in-theatre gimmicks to both shock and astonish theatregoers. Between placing live actors in the audience to literally have the film’s events escape the screen, to flying a glow-in-the-dark skeleton over the heads of terrified teens, there was no limit to Castle’s creativity or the lengths he would go to in order to get bums in seats.

While Mr. Castle is most commonly associated with horror and science fiction, essentially films that many at the time would consider “low-brow”, his career in cinema spanned several decades. A great example of his early Hollywood career is the 1944 film When Strangers Marry, later rereleased as Betrayed.

At a glance, (and perhaps even after a first viewing), this particular film may seem like an outlier for Castle when looking back at his career with the advantages of both retrospect and hindsight. However, the film is both reflective of this period of the Hollywood system, Castle’s career at the time, and a unique foreshadowing of how his career would both evolve and cement itself into pop culture legend.

Shot over the course of a single week and for less than $80,000, When Strangers Marry is an entry in the crime/suspense genre, an extremely popular type of film at the time. Starring Dean Jagger, Kim Hunter, Robert Mitchum, and Neil Hamilton, the film follows the newly married Millie (Hunter) who travels to New York City to meet her mysterious new husband, Paul (Jagger). But once she arrives and meets up with an old friend of hers (Mitchum), they begin to suspect that Paul is the perpetrator of a recent murder.

While the core film is somewhat unremarkable by today’s standards, it is a fascinating exploration of how talent both behind and in front of the camera is able to elevate a project beyond its means. Under many other creative teams of the then largely contract-based Hollywood, When Strangers Marry could easily have fallen through the cracks of the hundreds of films churned out by Tinseltown. But everyone involved with the project was clearly invested in its success, something that is evident on screen throughout the runtime.

One of the standouts is the young Kim Hunter as Millie Baxter. While she would go on to critical acclaim as Stella in the classic A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) and pop culture cementation as Dr. Zira in the classic Planet of the Apes films, Hunter here is young and relatively inexperienced. Despite this, she offers up an effective performance as a young woman who has clearly gotten in over her head; playing the character with youth and guilelessness. It is established early on that she and her husband only met two or three times before tying the knot, allowing her scenes with Dean Jagger as Paul to ooze with awkward tension. Their relationship comes off as choppy and one-sided. Whether this was the intention of the filmmakers or based on the circumstances of the production is up to the viewer.

From the perspective of Castle’s direction, it offers a tantalizing view into his future career development. While the film appears on the surface to be a by-the-books crime thriller, it employs several stylistic approaches that elevate it above its contemporaries. Castle utilizes audio stings to accentuate important plot revelations (essentially a lot of “DUN DUN DUNs). He also employs the use of meta transitions, the most memorable of which is mixing the scream of a woman with a train whistle as the shot fades.

While these stylistic choices could be seen today as quite camp, it shows that the directorial style that Castle would come to be known by was alive and well even at this early point in his career. While When Strangers Marry released to positive reviews, it didn’t have the staying power that other films of its era could boast even today. Regardless of that fact, the film stands tall as an example of effective filmmaking on a tight timeline and budget, but also a testament to the talent of its cast and crew. As famed filmmaker Orson Welles stated at the time: “It isn’t as slick as Double Indemnity or as glossy as Laura, but it’s better acted and better directed … than either.”

Notes by Ryan Tocheri