The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry (1945)

• Year: 1945
• Released: 17 Aug 1945
• Country: United States
• Adwords: N/A
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038123/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_strange_affair_of_uncle_harry
• Metacritics:
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: Passed
• Genre: Drama, Film-Noir
• Runtime: 80 min
• Writer: Stephen Longstreet, Keith Winter, Thomas Job
• Director: Robert Siodmak
• Cast: George Sanders, Ella Raines, Geraldine Fitzgerald
• Keywords: small town, mill, based on play or musical, film noir, b movie, sibling rivalry,

6.7/10

The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry Storyline

In the small town of Corinth, New Hampshire, adult siblings Hester, Harry and Lettie are the elder generation of the Quincey family, they still living together in the family home. While their family was among the town founders, they, like many, lost most of their wealth during the depression, they only being able to keep the house. Harry, the household breadwinner in being a designer at the town’s textile mill, is caught in the middle between the continuing squabbles of the three women of the household: widowed Hester still wants to feel useful around the house; Nona, their longtime housekeeper, will not tolerate any interference, especially by Hester, in what she sees as her responsibilities, including overseeing Harry’s diet; and frail Lettie largely tends to her garden and reads poetry in the green room when not doting on Harry. In reality, Lettie, strong and strong-minded, is the manipulative one, mostly doing what it takes so that Harry will never leave her. Her manipulation has largely led to Harry being a milquetoast, unable or unwilling to think for himself. Things change when Deborah Brown arrives in town, she also working for the textile company in the New York City head office. Harry is immediately attracted to her, and while she attracts the attention of a few men in town, it isn’t until Harry seems like he could lose her that he confesses his love and asks her to marry him, the proposal which she accepts. This move does not sit well with Lettie, who will not let another woman take Harry away from her without a fight. Harry’s response, the measure which he takes when he learns of something Lettie did unilaterally affecting their household, does not turn out quite as expected, leading to all the players turning to their proverbial Plan B to get to their desired end goal.—Huggo

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The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry Movie Reviews

” Harry’s Strange Dilemma “

Perhaps because I have a fondness for older movies, that is why I find this rather quirky film very amusing. Despite the strange and annoying obsession the younger sister has for controlling her brother’s life, this story is filled with so many surprising twists, it kept me in sufficient suspense to see it through. Geraldine Fitzgerald gives a superb performance as Lettie, the needy, and manipulative sister. I found George Sanders performance touching as the patient, tender-hearted older brother Harry, caught between his loyalty to his sister and his first serious love, for the sophisticated Deborah Brown ( Ella Raines ), the self-assured woman he wants to marry. Ella Raines gives a strong and confident performance and the cattish attitude both Fitzgerald and Raines have towards each other is most entertaining. Moyna MacGill is lovely in her role as the kindly and sympathetic sister Hester. This is another film I will not give a synopsis for, rather I encourage the reader to watch and be their own judge of this interesting story with it’s very unexpected ending.

The last of the Quincey’s.

Robert Siodmak directs this psychological film noir that is based on the Broadway play Uncle Harry by Thomas Job. It stars George Sanders, Ella Raines, Geraldine Fitzgerald & Moyna MacGill. The story follows Harry Quincey (Sanders) a shy clothes designer in small town New England. He lives with his two sisters, the pretty but manipulative Lettie (Fitzgerald) and the more scatty and care free Hester (MacGill). Into his life comes the gorgeous Deborah Brown (Raines) who quickly brings colour to his otherwise dull existence. But Lettie is far from impressed and sets about doing all she can to stop the couple getting married and living together. Her actions will have dire consequences for all of the Quincey family.

Though falling some way short of the noir standards of Siodmak’s best genre efforts (“The Killers”/”Criss Cross”), this none the less is a dandy piece dealing in various forms of obsession. Finding that it’s produced by Joan Harrison gives weight to the notion that this is more a “Hitchcockian” small town thriller than an overtly film noir piece. Harrison of course wrote a number of screenplays for “Hitchcock”, and sure enough as the film unfolds one feels like we are involved in something the big director would have revelled in. Quite what “Hitch” would have made of the palaver surrounding the ending of the film, one can only imagine, but yet again a nifty 40s thriller is saddled with an ending that has caused division across the decades.

Because of the Hays Code, five different endings were tested for the film, with the one chosen vastly different to the one in the play. So while I personally find the existing ending quirky, and certainly not film destroying, it’s sad that the incestuous elements of the source have been jettisoned and therefore taking away a crucial dark edge to the turn of events in the last quarter of the film. Harrison was incensed and promptly quit Universal Pictures in protest. With hindsight now, they could have ended the film about ten minutes earlier and it would have worked better. But cest la vie and all that.

Sanders is superb, very touching as the shy, naive designer pushed to his limit by sibling suffocation. Fitzgerald is glamorous and nails the devious side of her character with much conviction. While Raines, a touch underused due to the story, has a hard quality that puts one in mind of a certain Lauren Bacall, and that to my mind is very much a good thing. Some food for thought though, I couldn’t help wonder about if the roles had been reversed. Raines playing manipulative bitch and Fitzgerald the love interest definitely cries out as a winner me thinks.

It’s a conventional story, but one that has depth and boasts a director capable of crafting the right sort of itchy mood. There’s no technical trickery exactly, but attention to detail exists and between them the makers have produced an intelligent and gripping film, that, in spite of some foregoing of dark emotional undercurrents, is very recommended to noir and “Hitchcockian” supporters. 7.5/10

what a shrew

Geraldine Fitzgerald is the sister from hell in “The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry,” a 1945 film directed by Robert Siodmak, who knows a thing or two about suspense. The film stars George Sanders, Ella Raines, Moyna Macgill (Angela Lansbury’s mother), and Sara Algood.

The Quincy family, a brother (Sanders) and two sisters (Macgill and Fitzgerald) live in an big, old house – all that was left to them by their parents. Harry is the head designer of patterns in a cloth family; his sister Lettie (Fitzgerald) is a professional invalid; and his other sister, Hester (Macgill), is a rather silly, complaining woman who feels unappreciated.

When a New York firm comes to town to look at the cloth factory, Harry meets and falls in love with Deborah (Raines) and announces they are going to be married. Hester is thrilled beyond belief for him; Lettie, on the other hand, is very upset. Deborah has her number immediately and is determined not to allow Lettie to break up her relationship with Harry.

Lettie and Hester are supposed to move into another house, but that doesn’t happen. On the day Harry and Deborah are to leave for Boston to be married, Lettie has one of her “attacks” and Harry refuses to leave town. Deborah realizes that he will never leave his sisters and walks out of his life. When Harry finds out that Lettie’s inability to find a suitable house after six months and her illness were just manipulations to drive Deborah away, something in him snaps.

Based on a play, this film proved somewhat controversial. Censorship would not allow the original ending, so five different endings were filmed and shown in preview. The ending that was chosen is derivative, drawing on a device used successfully in the past.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that I really loved the way it ended, in spite of some people seeing it as a cop-out. I liked it because of my sympathy for Harry, so well portrayed by George Sanders, who was cast against type here.

Geraldine Fitzgerald gives a fantastic performance as the awful Lettie, an unbelievable shrew. Fitzgerald was perfect. Macgill is excellent as well, likable because she sincerely wants the best for Harry, and annoying because she’s a whiner. Ella Raines made a lovely Deborah.

Very entertaining – I loved it!