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Friday, April 30, 2010

Perfect Strangers (1950)

A jury is sequestered in a murder trial in which a man (Ford Rainey) is accused of murdering his wife in order to be free to marry another woman (Frances Charles). Two married jurors (Ginger Rogers, Dennis Morgan) fall in love as their affair parallels that of the accused man and his mistress. Based on the play LADIES AND GENTLEMEN by Charles MacArthur and Ben Hecht and directed by Bretaigne Windust. A potentially intriguing premise gets derailed by contrivances and stock secondary characters. But the screenplay by Edith Sommer only superficially takes advantage of the possibilities. Too much time is devoted to the stereotypical other jurors like the tiresome Thelma "Here comes another wisecrack" Ritter, who are only there to pad out the already brief running time. Only Margalo Gillmore as a snooty society woman ready to come apart at the seams holds any interest. Rogers goes all actressy on us in full KITTY FOYLE mode and deflates any possible genuine emotions. With Paul Ford, Harry Bellaver, Marjorie Bennett, Edith Evanson, Anthony Ross, Whit Bissell and Ned Glass.

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