Review of We Were Strangers

The idea of a movie about a revolution: Yes, that is John Huston. The casting: Well, to some degree, it may have been out of his hands. But it's a really crude, uninteresting movie. And that despite John Garfield (who is quite good) as its male lead)! Actors in community theater are taught that if play is translated or is otherwise taking place in a country where English is not the primary language, accents are unnecessary. Worse than unnecessary: They make no sense, as we are hearing what the people are saying in their language as translated into our (if we speak English.) Here, everyone except Garfield speaks with a thick Spanish accent. Garfield is playing an American.

It's heartening to see Ramon Novarro given work in the late forties. He and Gilbert Roland sound fairly realistic. And Pedro Almandariz, as the villain, does not sound fake. He is also very good.

That leaves Jennifer Jones. Here is an actress whose talents were far too often ignored or squandered. She was a charming comedienne; yet she was often cast in heavy, intense movies.

She is the star of what may be my favorite Lubitsch film, though it's an atypical one: "Cluny Brown." And she is hilarious, as a blonde, no less, in Huston's own "Beat the Devil." I can't imagine gong to a theater in 1949 with a date and having to sit through this. It is hard enough to watch on DVD.on DVD.