Customer Reviews

Rachel and the Stranger [VHS]

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In the olden days, there were white slaves as well as black. Rachel And The Stranger may be the only movie to explore that topic, though lightly.
The whole plot is based on antiquated mores, and all the more interesting for it. It starts out like The Courtship of Eddie's Father in the wild west. William Holden (Bridge on the River Kwai) is a widower trying to raise his young son, Gary Gray (The Next Voice You Hear), at a cabin in the wilderness. On the advice of the parson in a nearby town, he marrys a bond slave played by Loretta Young (The Bishop's Wife), buying her out of servitude. But the marriage is only for convenience, to make the living arrangements proper; he still treats the woman as a slave, requiring her to cook and keep the house and mother the boy, and sleep in the loft alone. But when an old family friend, Robert Mitchum (Night of the Hunter), passes through hunting, and shows an interest in the girl, jealously brings out the husband in Holden.
The script is engaging, the actors charming, as with such classics as Shane, Of Human Hearts, Friendly Persuasion, etc. This was probably Mitchum's first singing role. Loretta Young is beautiful as ever as the sympathetic slave, and Holden plays the widower with unresolved feelings just right to make the whole thing work.
Recommended if you like the above mentioned films, and may be of interest to history students as well. It's entertaining, well made and very well acted, and the aspect about the bond slave makes Rachel And The Stranger a truly unique film.

This is one of my favorite movies. I really like loretta young. She plays a bond woman who is bought to help a man out with the work on the farm & to take care of his young son. He does marry her but only because it is the right thing to do. It is in name only. His first wife died. Then along comes Robert Mitchum. He treats Rachael like a woman & it opens her husbands eyes. He also starts to see her as his woman & the boy is starting to like her also because Jim likes her. They even fight over her.

this movie is a must see for all the Loretta Young, Bill Holden, & Bob Mitchum fans, it shows our country's early history with indentured servants, & our early settlers tenacity. This is a keeper

This is an excellent film and I very highly recommend it.
"Rachel and the Stranger," hs a wonderful cast of the beautiful Loretta Young, also William Holden and Robert Mitchim. It's a very entetaining film, about a bond slave taken as a wife in the frontier days. It's vry good and an entertaining film. Loretta Young fans will especially like it.

Rachel and the Stranger is like Sarah Plain and Tall, the children's story. It concerns a man (William Holden) and his son (Gary Gray) after his wife Susan dies. He realizes that it is proper for his son to be raised by a woman and sets out to get a new wife (Loretta Young). He frees Rachel from servitude by marrying her, but she is basically treated as a maid in her new home. Her husband's traveling friend (Robert Mitchum) serves to integrate her into the family, but in the process begins a territorial fued between the two men for Rachel's affections.

Although the action isn't wildly exciting, the characters are interesting enough to carry the story along nicely. Young and Mitchum in particular contribute. Young uses her eyes and a tranquil personality to convey her character; she has much fewer lines than one might expect. Mitchum is rugged and charismatic, the jell that holds the family together. He also has quite a nice voice, with a deep Bing Crosby-esque quality about it that makes him all the more appealing.

I just watched this movie for the first time. The cast is incredible. Too bad it has not been released on DVD. I would
love to know more background about the film.

This is a wonderful movie, and I'm surprised that it hasn't been put on DVD seeing as it has three great stars - Loretta Young, William Holden, and Robert Mitchum. A good story of unfolding love and devotion in pioneer times. PLEASE PUT THIS ON DVD!

I knew this movie had possibilities when I saw that both Robert Mitchum and William Holden were starring in it. It is a relatively short movie and doesn't take too long to draw you in. We see an opening scene of a widower in grief at his remote cabin in the wilderness. He has a young adolescent and senses the practical need of another wife to share in the amplified duties of the time and place. He heads off to the nearest established settlement in this post-revolutionary frontier. The only acceptable choice is a bonded slave woman. A non-romantic marriage is carried out for proprieties sake and the "family" returns to the remote farm. The development of relationships is the core of "Rachel and the Stranger". Holden and Mitchum are good in their roles but they are outdone by Loretta Young. The acting of the young, dyslexically-named Gary Gray, is also quite effective. I found myself drawn into this romance in the making. It has a surprisingly subtle style to it that makes it all the more effective. This is another one of those "sleepers" from the past.

Fun Western Film based on the early 1800s with Willaim Holden (Bridge on the River Kwai) as a frontier farmer who loses his dear wife with a son to raise. He marries the natural beauty Loretta Young (The Bishop's Wife) as a marraige of conveniance as she will be his housekeeper and teacher for his son. Holden and son think lightly of Young and both treat her as a laborer and emotionally harshly as they both miss the first wife/mother. Holden and Young live under the same roof but not the same bedroom and without any physical interaction of any kind (but she is Loretta Young!). Young though plays an independent woman who plans on surival by practicing her own wilderness skills secretly adapting beyond anyone's later belief. But suddenly out of the wilderness steps the king of the masculine leer, Robert Mitchum (Cape Fear) and he immediately recognizes the chemical breakdown between husband and wife and he is ready to fullfill the void for the lucious Young. All this attention to Young awakens Holden who suddenly recognizes the person and beauty of Young and the adventure takes off as Holden and Mitchum become rivals with interceding Indians entering the fray and Young emerges as an independent Lioness. A very pleasant love triangle that perhaps has a little message, "You may not know what you have until you are about to lose it".

Too bad this isn't available for purchase on dvd for US DVD players. What a lovely movie, just really sweet and a delight to watch... made in the days when movie stars were less worried about being paid millions of dollars instead of really loving their craft enough to just make an enjoyable film worth watching.