Customer Reviews

We Were Strangers

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

 

 

This neglected, controversial, and highly underated John Huston classic has thankfully been released on dvd so that movie buffs can rediscover this "lost" gem. While the dvd has no bonus features (besides a few meaningless theatrical trailors) it at least has a great sound quality and very good picture quality.

John Garfield stars as Tony Fenner, a Cuban-born expatriate who returns to his now troubled country for one purpose: to wipe out the dictator Gerardo Machado and his sinister puppet government. To do this he recruits a handful of brave Cuban patriots, including China Valdes (played by Jennifer Jones), a beautiful young woman who recently witnessed her own brother's murder by the evil chief-of-police, Ariete (played to perfection by Pedro Armendariz). China and Tony slowly but surely fall in love as they work together to free Cuba from dictatorship.

Tony and his comrades are plotting to blow up the Cuban government with a bomb, but when the plan goes wrong, they must split up and try to make their escape as best as possible. When Tony and China are trapped in a building and surrounded by the ruthless police, they decide to fight (rather than be caught and executed) back with a Thompson sub-machine gun and dynamite!

This movie was one of John Garfield's last roles before he was unjustly blacklisted, a blow that many say led to his fatal heart attack at age 39. Jennifer Jones and John Garfield have good chemistry together and the supporting cast is wonderful. If you enjoy classic movies add this explosive thriller to your collection!

At long last a forgotten blockbuster film from Hollywood's Golden Era will soon be released on DVD! Passed up for re-issue on video this action packed, star studded epic will leave an unforgettable impression. Starring Jennifer Jones as the sultry cuban belle and revolutionary, "China" Valdes, John Garfield as Tony Fenner, a courageous Cuban-American revolutionary, Pedro Armendariz as Ariete, the ruthless chief of dictator Machado's police and co-starring Gilbert Roland, Morris Ankrum, Ramon Novarro and others. Filmed entirely in Havana, Cuba in 1948 and released in 1949, this film is based on a true story of the Cuban underground fight against the dictatorship of Machado,during the final days of his regime in 1933.
"We Were Strangers" is definitely one of Hollywood's best action films, virtually forgotten but luckily will soon be available.
I highly recommend this film. Do not miss it as it will definitely become one of your favorites!

In between making the classics "Treasure of the Sierre Madre" (1948) and "The Asphalt Jungle" (1950), John Huston made "We Were Strangers," which virtually vanished and was never released on VHS and seldom shown on television. At the time of the film's release, which was right at the beginning of the HUAC Committee and American political paranoia, it predictably received unfavorable and questionable attention. It was released in April of 1949 but audiences were perplexed by it and it quickly vanished from theaters.

Based on the overthrow of Cuban dictator Geraldo Machado Morales in 1933, the story is about a group of revolutionaries who plot to bring down their corrupt government. China (pronounced Cheena) Valdez witnesses her brother's murder after he distributes leftist pamphlets and vows that she will kill his assassin. At his funeral, however, she is persuaded to join an underground group whose motives are more carefully orchestrated. China's house is next door to a cemetery and the leader of the group (John Garfield) devises a scheme to assasinate an official whose family plot is in the cemetery and detonate a bomb at the man's funeral thereby killing as many officials as possible. To do this, they must dig a tunnel from China's house to the cemetery. Most of the movie is concentrated on the digging of the tunnel as Garfield and Jones' develop a romantic interest in each other. However, the film never lets the romantic issues overpower the film's basic purposes of depicting the desperateness of the Cuban terrorists and the film ends with a violent and exciting shoot-out sequence.

The film often suffers in a few places from sluggish pacing but the performances are all first rate. Jennifer Jones, doing a convincing Cuban accent, is radiant but intense as China and has good chemisty with Garfield. The supporting players are unusually fine. Pedro Armendariz, as the corrupt police chief, is deliciously menacing. Look for silent greats Gilbert Roland and Ramon Navarro in strong supporting parts as members of the resistance. Look for a cameo appearance by director John Huston who appears as a bank teller.

Many of the film's outdoor scenes are shot against rear projections, which are quite noticable. The film, however, achieves an almost documentary-like feel with its stark black and white photography.

This high definition dvd transfer is very good with excellent contrast and a minimum of softness and grain. There are a few noticable specks and scratches but nothing to warrant any serious complaints. Sadly, there are no extra features provided.

The most recent issue of FILMFAX Magazine (Autumn, 2007) includes an interesting article which claims that this movie was one of JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald's 'trigger' films.

Oswald's widow went on record (in the Warren Report) stating that Oswald watched this film twice in 24 hours when it was shown on a local Dallas TV station, just over a month before Kennedy was killed. Researchers have verified that "We Were Strangers" was, indeed, screened twice in Dallas over a weekend in October of 1963. Following Kennedy's death, the film was effectively buried---it wasn't shown again on TV and was never released on video. It was only released on DVD about five years ago. Even the official PR copy for the DVD neglects to mention these facts.

Nobody knows if Oswald ever saw "The Manchurian Candidate". But he did absolutely see "We Were Strangers". Wondering what he was looking for in this movie, and wondering how this movie might've influenced history, make watching this film an interesting experience.

I saw This Movie on TCM Just a Few days ago,Great Movie and today 6/62010 I Found the dvd at Big Lots for $3.00

Released in 1949, WE WERE STRANGERS had the misfortune to run into the Communist Witchhunt on two counts. The first was actor John Garfield, a liberal who defied the House Unamerican Activities Committee at the height of its dark powers. The second was the film itself, which a presented a group of leftist Cuban militants in a sympathetic light as they worked up a terrorist plot to overthrow a repressive right-wing government. Garfield was blacklisted by the film industry for his refusal to play ball with HUAC and he died of heart attack at age 39 in 1952. WE WERE STRANGERS was not as popular as director John Huston's earlier or later movies, it received mixed reviews at the time, and it quickly disappeared from theatres. The rare television showing aside, the film virtually disappeared for fifty years--and particularly so after the assasination of John F. Kennedy in 1963.

The story is based on the 1933 overthrow of right-wing Cuban dictator Gerardo Machado y Morales, who was ultimately toppled from power by United States influences working Cuba--which is exactly what the film shows. China Valdez (Jennifer Jones) witnesses the murder of her brother by a government official and is radicalized as a result. She is determined to murder her brother's killer, but she falls into a group insurrectionists who have a wider plan: the overthrow of the government itself. The team, which is merely a cell of a larger organization, includes Cuban-American John Fenner (John Garfield), Armondo (Pedro Armendariz), Guillermo (Gilbert Roland), and "the chief" (Roman Novarro.) They plan to dig a tunnel from China's house to a nearby cemetary, where they will plant a bomb; then, when they assasinate a notable figure and his funeral draws dignitaries--including the president--to the funeral, they will kill them all with the explosion.

The film is unexpectedly brutal, gritty, and noir-ish for 1949; it feels much more like a film from the late 1950s than a film from the late 1940s. The cell members discuss whether or not it is right to kill innocent women and children in order to topple the government; somewhat later, when the target of the assasination is revealed, one of the cell members is upset to find he actually knows the man they plan to kill in order to draw the president to the funeral. To further complicate the plot, John and China fall in love, but China becomes an issue for the terrorists when she accidentally draws the attentions of the same man who killed her brother. There is not a false note in the cast. The notion of Jennifer Jones playing a Cuban woman is off-putting in the abstract, but she gives one of the best performances of her career; Garfield, Roland, and Novarro are memorable, but this very much her film.

Several sources state that Lee Harvey Oswald watched WE WERE STRANGERS at least twice in October of 1963, about a month before he assasinated President John F. Kennedy, and his wife Marina later reported that he had been greatly excited by the film. There has been a rumor that the film had a copycat effect on Oswald, who had suspected ties to Cuba, in his decision to kill Kennedy. It will certainly be of interest to the many who study the Kennedy assasination. Whatever the case, it is a memorable film, an often powerful film, and one that I strongly recommend to fans of its stars and directors--and to movie fans in general.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

I bought this movie for its historic value. Practically no film exists that covers Cuba during the late 1920s and early 1930s. Although I knew this was a US interpretation of the period and that it was made in the 1950s, I had hoped for some nod to the Cuban revolution of 1933. In fact, it is an overly dramatic love story of revolutionaries fighting for some undefined revolution who dig a tunnel from the home of an innocent and beautiful orphaned young woman. The rest is entirely predictable. She falls in love with one of the ardent young insurrectionists who is killed. Cuba is only some exotic backdrop for the age-old story of youthful promise and sacrifice. For today's taste, the acting is blatant, overdrawn, sappy, and predictable.