Agatha Christie Screen Spotlight: Basil Rathbone in ‘Love From a Stranger’
On a recent episode of Bill Maher’s Club Random podcast, filmmaker Quentin Tarantino pulled out one of his trademark obscure film recommendations for Maher and his audience: the 1937 Agatha Christie adaptation Love From a Stranger, starring Ann Harding and Basil Rathbone. Tarantino calls Rathbone “one of the great actors, and one of the great talkers,” and those qualities are on full display in Love From a Stranger, featuring Rathbone as a very different character from his signature role as Sherlock Holmes.
Based on Christie’s 1924 short story “Philomel Cottage,” Love From a Stranger began as a 1936 stage play by Frank Vosper before coming to the screen, and its first act is a bit stagey, featuring Harding and Binnie Hale as working-class friends Carol Howard and Kate Meadows, living together in a London flat with Carol’s elderly hypochondriac Aunt Lou (Jean Cadell). The two friends share a casual intimacy that flirts with homoeroticism, but Carol seems devoted to her long-distance fiancé Ronnie Bruce (John Seton).
Her devotion may not be warranted, though, as she learns after she unexpectedly wins a large sum of money from the French national lottery, and Ronnie returns home after five years of working in Sudan to save up for their future life together. As soon as Carol tells him about her winnings, he becomes sullen and withdrawn, resentful of her ability to pay for a honeymoon trip around the world without relying on his support. No wonder she falls right into the arms of Rathbone’s suave, understanding Gerald Lovell.
She probably should have run away with Kate instead, though, since Gerald proves even more devious than Ronnie. At least Ronnie is upfront with his misogynistic contempt, which arises from his inherent chauvinism. Gerald relies on passive-aggressive guilt trips and gaslighting to manipulate Carol into doing what he wants, including signing various papers without reading them and covering the cost of a country estate he wants to buy.
Also, he’s clearly planning to murder her for her money. Rathbone barely disguises Gerald’s underlying psychopathy, and his performance grows more unhinged as the movie progresses. Despite Ronnie’s warnings and Kate’s concern, Carol convinces herself that Gerald’s odd behavior is justified, and she endures his increasing outbursts because they’re so deeply in love.
To the audience, it’s clear that Gerald has only one thing on his mind, but Carol is caught up in the whirlwind romance. As Tarantino puts it: “We know what we’re watching, and we’re heading toward it. But she doesn’t know she’s in a movie.”
“Never trust a man with beautiful manners,” Kate says when she and Carol meet up with Gerald on their boat to Paris. Ronnie is more direct, but because he couches his advice in such condescending, self-serving terms, it’s easy to see why Kate isn’t interested in listening to him.
“Woman’s weakness is man’s opportunity,” Gerald tells Carol during one of his demented rants, but he’s not the only one with that perspective. Part of the reason that Carol ends up in such danger is that she’s constrained by patriarchal norms, even when she becomes independently wealthy, and is expected to defer to her husband, no matter how deranged he seems.
Although it’s mitigated by the male author of the play, Love From a Stranger is the product of two female writers, Christie and screenwriter Frances Marion, so it’s not surprising that it has such a sharp point of view about male fragility. Rathbone leans into Gerald’s manic intensity (complete with maniacal laughter), and by the end, Harding matches him, in an escalating battle of wills between the two characters.
Some of the comic relief from Aunt Lou and the servants at the country estate is awkward and misguided, but for most of the short running time, director Rowland V. Lee keeps the tonal balance between ominous suspense and campy humor. No wonder Tarantino is a fan.
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Josh Bell is a freelance writer and movie/TV critic based in Las Vegas. He has written about movies, TV, and pop culture for Vulture, IndieWire, CBR, Inverse, Crooked Marquee, and more. With comedian Jason Harris, he co-hosts the podcast Awesome Movie Year.