BETRAYED
(WHEN STRANGERS MARRY)
1944.....67 minutes
Dean Jagger, Kim Hunter, Robert Mitchum
Betrayed
is the reissue title for the classic melodrama When Strangers
Marry. In her third film, Kim Hunter plays a waitress who comes
to New York to meet her husband Dean Jagger. Kim's marriage
was a whirlwind affair, and as a result she barely knows her
husband. She soon discovers that Jagger may be involved in a
murder -- and that he very well may be a homicidal maniac. Designated
by film-historian Don Miller as the finest "B" picture
ever made, Betrayed is chock full of superb cinematic touches,
courtesy of director William Castle. Best bits include the shot
of Kim Hunter staring out her hotel window, her face illuminated
by a flashing neon sign, and a "shock cut" straight
out of Hitchcock's The 39 Steps. Third-billed Robert Mitchum
was elevated to star status on the reissue prints of When Strangers
Marry, which unfortunately tended to give away the film's surprise
ending; also in the cast in a tiny role is Mitchum's future
Out of the Past co-star Rhonda Fleming.
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