Love From A Stranger

2488. LOVE FROM A STRANGER (1936-EngIand). With ANN HARDING, BASIL RATHBONE. Based on a story by AGATHA CHRISTIE. This first-rate thriller is as edge-of- your-seat exciting as any film ever directed by Alfred Hitchcock! The macabre story begins on the happy morning that office worker Carol Howard learns she has won the grand prize of the French National Sweepstakes. After many years of drudgery and penny-pinching, she will have the opportunity to travel the world and indulge in the luxuries she so far has only been able to admire through shop windows. When she informs her fiance Ronald Bruce of the fortune they will share, he responds with disappointment. He wants to be the one to give her things. What’s more, he would rather report to his office each day than pursue a fun-filled jaunt across the continent. Just then handsome Gerald Lovell (in a bravura performance by urbane Basil Rathbone) enters Carol’s life to provide the color and romance that stodgy Ronald lacks. A lively courtship through the nightspots of Paris leads to their marriage. On the wedding day, Ronald turns up to warn Carol that Gerald is the worst sort of scoundrel. Is Ronald experiencing sour grapes? Is Gerald an honest and sincere husband whom Ronald has maligned? Or could he really be a madman with a murderous mission? This taut and well-directed psychological melodrama features several exciting plot twists and is a real find for suspense film fans. 87 minutes. Crime Mystery Suspense