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Love from a Stranger

Director: Rowland V. Lee (Dir) Release Date: 14 May 1937 Premiere Information: New York opening: week of 17 Apr 1937 Production Date: at Denham Studios, England Duration (in mins): 77 or 86-87 Duration (in feet): 9			Print this page Display Movie Summary

Cast:	Ann Harding	(Carol Howard)
	Basil Rathbone	(Gerald Lovell)
	Binnie Hale	(Kate Meadows)
	Bruce Seaton	(Ronald Bruce)
	Jean Cadell	(Aunt Lou)
	Bryan Powley	(Dr. Gribble)
	Joan Hickson	(Emmy)
	Donald Calthrop	(Hobson)
	Eugene Leahy	(Mr. Tuttle)

Summary:

British stenographer Carol Howard, who has won the grand prize in the French lottery, decides to sublet her apartment while she sails to France to claim her prize. Her fiancé, Ronald Bruce, becomes estranged from Carol when he fears that he will become financially dependent upon her. Dapper Gerald Lovell comes to look at Carol's apartment, and she quickly falls in love with him. On the ship to France, Gerald appears once again, and seduces Carol into a quick elopement in Paris. When they return to England, Gerald convinces Carol to purchase a country cottage in an isolated area. He then arranges for her will to be drawn, making him the sole heir to her new fortune. Carol becomes suspicious of her husband when he refuses to allow her in the cellar of their new home, where he practices a mysterious hobby. After Gerald has a near-fatal heart attack, Carol learns the terrible truth about her husband, that he is a serial murderer who marries women for their money, then kills them. Gerald, feeling safely alone with his newest victim, proudly proclaims his past and tells Carol his proposed date for her untimely death. After returning from the county fair on the announced date, Gerald dismisses their maid for the evening and they sit down to dinner. Carol, however, is able to turn the tables on her husband by proclaiming that she is a much better murderer than he, as she has poisoned his coffee, causing Gerald to have a fatal heart attack. As Gerald dies, Ronald and Dr. Gribble break down the door, and Carol and her true love are finally reunited.

Production Company:	Trafalgar Film Productions, Ltd.
Distribution Company:	United Artists Corp.
Director:	Rowland V. Lee	(Dir)
	Roy Goddard	(Asst dir)
Producer:	Max Schach	(Prod)
	Harry E. Edington	(Assoc prod)
Writer:	Frances Marion	(Scr and dial)
Photography:	Philip Tannura	(Cam)
Art Direction:	Frederick Pusey	(Art dir)
Film Editor:	Howard O'Neill	(Film ed)
Costumes:	Samuel Lange	(Cost)
Music:	Boyd Neil	(Mus dir)
Sound:	A. W. Watkins	(Sd dir)
	John Cook	(Rec)
Country:	Great Britain and United States
Language:	English

Source Text:	Based on the play Love From a Stranger by Frank Vosper (London, 31 Mar 1936), and the short story "Philomel Cottage" by Agatha Miller Christie, published in the collection Regatta Mystery (London, 1939).
Authors:	Frank Vosper
	Agatha Christie

Copyright Claimant	Copyright Date	Copyright Number
Trafalgar Film Productions, Ltd.	10/8/1937 dd/mm/yyyy	LP7723

PCA NO:	1554
Physical Properties:	b&w:
	Sd:	Western Electric Noiseless Recording


Genre:	Mystery

Subjects (Major):	Attempted murder
	Engagements
	Lotteries
	Marriage
	Murder
	Poisoning
	Stenographers

Subjects (Minor):	Apartments
	Aunts
	Fairs
	Heart disease
	Paris (France)
	Physicians
	Ships

Note:	According to MPH , this was Ann Harding's first British film. NYT reported that the play was purchased by Trafalgar for $30,000, and that stage star Gertrude Lawrence turned down a role in this film. Playwright Frank Vosper, who had starred in the play in both its original London and New York runs, disappeared mysteriously when sailing back to London from New York. His battered, dead body was found on the French coast weeks after his disappearence, and the exact cause of death was never discovered. Modern sources report that United Artists had great difficulty distributing the film in the United States, as many exibitors refused the film, claiming it "was unfit to be shown." According to modern sources, the film was released in Great Britain in Oct 1936. The material was filmed once again in 1947 by Eagle-Lion, starring John Hodiak and Sylvia Sidney and directed by Richard Whorf.

Bibliographic Sources:	Date	Page
Film Daily	21 Apr 37	p. 8.
Hollywood Reporter	12 Sep 36	p. 3.
Hollywood Reporter	6 Jan 37	p. 3.
Motion Picture Herald	13 Feb 37	p. 60.
New York Times	18 Oct 1936.
New York Times	23 May 1937.
New York Times	19 Apr 37	p. 27.
Variety	27 Jan 37	p. 13.
Variety	21 Apr 37	p. 14.

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The American Film Institute is grateful to Sir Paul Getty KBE and the Sir Paul Getty KBE Estate for their dedication to the art of the moving image and their support for the AFI Catalog of Feature Films and without whose support AFI would not have been able to achieve this historical landmark in this epic scholarly endeavor.



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