Written by Evan Hunter (from his novel)
Cinematography by Charles Lang
Edited by Charles Nelson
Original music by George Duning
USA, 1960, Richard Quine Productions (distributed by Columbia Pictures), 35mm, color, 2.35:1, 117 min.
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Kim Novak, Ernie Kovacs, Barbara Rush, Walter Matthau
In the late 1950s unfaithful spouses were still classified as
adulterers – of the “Thou Shall Not” kind. It wouldn’t be until the
1960s and 70s that the wanderers could see themselves as “swingers” or
“wife-swappers/husband hoppers.” The dominant look of Mid-Century
modernist architecture -- with all its open spaces and transparent
glass walls – lent itself to this much more open kind of marriage and
relationships. Thus, it’s quite fitting that the house designed by
Larry Coe (Kirk Douglas) in STRANGERS WHEN WE MEET has an open-space
interior but lots of Japanese-style wooden walls indoors and outdoors,
which clearly keep the indoor sexual trysts with Maggie Gault (Kim
Novak) hidden from view. The adulterous couple may be on a hillside out
of reach of their neighbors, but they need to keep the relationship
also out of sight. A decade later the window/walls of glass in MCM
homes would serve as picture frames or even proscenium arches
containing often very visible trysts or orgies. By the 1970s
exhibitionism and voyeurism hooked up quite easily in the hills
surrounding the Hollywood film industry. The dominance of Mid-Century
modern architectural styles made it all the easier. Larry Coe's home
design in the film combined elements of East and West (Japan and
California) in a way that ensured privacy while providing great views
of the hillsides and valleys of Bel-Air. Throughout the film the house,
actually being built during the film's production, would become an
important co-star to Douglas and Novak.In STRANGERS WHEN WE MEET
(1960) Maggie is married to a plodding businessman who is not driven by
nor even overly interested in sex. Even though she is beautiful but
reserved in showing much passion, Maggie is not the “frigid” one -- a
pre-feminist neurosis beloved by “macho” males unable to look inward
into their own neuroses in the 50s. Instead, it seems to be her husband
who is cold and passionless, blind to his wife’s beauty, love, and charms.
In short, Maggie is locked in a loveless marriage. Even though she had
their son six years before, there’s certainly nothing going on in their
bedroom now. Yet, Maggie isn’t the other favorite 50s female stereotype
-- the “nymphomaniac.” Funny how the male psychoanalysts of the 50s
dealt with (and defined) the two extremes of female sexuality,
nymphomania and frigidity, all or nothing. They and their male patients
couldn’t seem to accept the idea that the male might be “at fault” or
simply not be attractive to a particular woman. Somehow they thought of
men with multiple partners as cool and adventurous, while women with
more than one partner were "sluts." There is a lot of angst in
STRANGERS WHEN WE MEET over prior affairs Maggie has had. A decade
later, feminism would bring new life into the discussion of male &
female sexuality and their differences, and women could finally begin
breathing more freely. What Maggie seems to want and need is love,
affection, and passion. If she can’t get that at home, then an
opportunity with an attractive man is simply too much to deny. Her
adultery makes perfect sense.
Larry Coe is a bigger puzzle
than Maggie. He has a wonderful wife Eve, whose only fault seems to be
that she doesn’t understand why he puts his dream of designing
wonderful new living and working spaces over making lots of money off
commissioned work that he feels nothing for. Eve is the personification
of the 50s wife who wants to get ahead through her husband’s job,
certainly not unusual for the time – now in retrospect an explanation
why my father had a full-time job and two part-time jobs in the 1950s,
but that just allowed us to “stay put” rather than “get ahead.” Eve is
not interested in Larry’s creative dreams; she wants money for the
family. Eve and Larry have two sons and lots of neighbor/friends and
give parties out on the patio, but Larry’s eye has already begun to
wander. Even if he is not actively looking, he can’t help but notice
Maggie.
Once the young blonde shows interest in his work, Larry
is attracted. Once she shows a willingness for afternoon get-togethers,
he is hooked. They meet at
a seaside bar/hotel for their affair and even drive out to check on the
progress of the house he is designing/building for famous novelist
Roger Altar, who is similar to Larry in one way – he makes money off
what he doesn’t really “feel.” Once their architect/client relationship
gets underway, Larry is able to design a house he believes in and Altar
is finally able to take a chance on a much more personal novel. In a
way the two men help each other more than the women in their lives do.
But Altar initially differs dramatically from Larry in that the
novelist has a string of women, all of whom he quickly tires of. Larry,
on the other hand, is faithful to Eve until he is drawn to Maggie. The
passion proves to be too much for him, however, coupling the joy of
building a beautiful home in a Japanese/MCM style and feeling the
heights of sexual freedom and the thrill of sneaking around and lying
to everyone, including himself.
STRANGERS WHEN WE MEET (1960)
could be described as a perfect match for the Mid-Century modernism of
Southern California. The action in the film straddles the changes in
sexual liberation dreamed of in the 50s and realized (for better or
worse) in the 60s. The house Larry designs partakes of old-fashioned
materials of wood and newer uses of glass expanses. Its location on a
hillside embodies the optimism of Southern California Cool – a
mud-slide/earthquake-defying statement of “Here I Am” – built by a
dreamer who understands modern tools, techniques, and materials that
can overcome Nature (at least for a while).
The casting of
STRANGERS WHEN WE MEET was excellent. Kirk Douglas, nearly always a
“hot” actor in the sense of having boundless energy and unbridled
passion, truly seems like a creative man dying to cast off his stifling
bonds. He will not be a man in a gray flannel suit doing the jobs
assigned to him by others with little imagination. In fact, he contains
a bit of Howard Roark (the architect hero of Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead),
but perhaps on a lesser scale (until the end of the film). Douglas is
perfectly believable as a man who loves his wife but still is driven
toward something more – in his professional and emotional life.
Kim
Novak is perfect in the role of Maggie (just a hint of the Elizabeth
Taylor character in CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF). What some critics called
“wooden acting” at the time can be seen today as the perfect embodiment
of Southern California
Cool of the 50s. Her reserve, her strikingly chiseled beauty, her
mountain stream voice, her cool façade and demeanor, all remind me of
Southern California cool jazz.. Novak, both the actress and the
publicity-shy person, is to cool jazz what Kerouac’s “Dean Moriarty”
(On the Road) was to be-bop jazz. Out of Southern California’s
lifestyle and need to chill out in the 50s came the original East
Coast/West Coast battles thirty years before hip-hop. Into the bebop
dominated jazz world came a mellower, often more melodic sound created
by Dave Brubeck, Dexter Gordon, Gil Evans, Miles Davis, Chet Baker,
Gerry Mulligan, and so many other West Coast greats. A cool blonde like
Novak was a visual representation of the way cool jazz made many feel.
It
would be very feasible to imagine Chet Baker and Kim Novak as lovers,
but during the making of STRANGERS WHEN WE MEET, the 27-year-old
actress was very involved with her director, Richard Quine. However,
her first marriage wouldn’t be until 1965 and that was a short-lived
one with a British actor. Just as great as her performances were in
PICNIC (1955) and VERTIGO
(1958), Kim Novak’s portrayal of Maggie in STRANGERS WHEN WE MEET is
not only pitch-perfect and often quite moving but also provides an
intriguing look into the psychology of Southern California cool –
stylish, austerely beautiful, deceptively simple, bold, and inviting.
– Chale Nafus