We Were Strangers (1949)

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Good movie, but the point - there are noble American individuals who spend a lot of their money, time and energy just to liberate people around the world and bring them freedom and justice they dream of - is simply stupid. Unfortunately, many prominent intellectuals like Huston believe(d) in this. But what has ever changed for that people and country, after they managed to 'liberate' them? You think people in Afghanistan, Balkan live better now? That Iraqis and Libyans are happier without Husein and Gaddafi now? Whom Americans enabled to rule before that... There were/are Americans who support battles against foreign regimes (not only with words), but they do it all for their own interest in that country, not cause they're humanitarians. They all end up powerful and very reach after they use naive 'revolutionaries' who give their lives to the 'great cause'. The Godfather II puts it much better.

Political drama of the initial Cuban upheaval pre-1933. Shown from the vantage point of the revolutionaries and their plot to overthrow the oppressive government in one fell swoop this is an unusual film for it's time period in that it doesn't shrink away from stating that the freedom workers might have to take innocent lives to achieve their goals. Huston's direction is assured and Garfield and Roland acquit themselves well but the picture is marred by two things. First is the overly obvious rear projection shots that occur throughout the film and the larger problem that Jones is miscast in a part that would have fit Katy Jurado like a glove. She seems neither gritty enough, she is consistently glamorous even when digging beneath a cemetery!!, nor even remotely Cuban to be believable. Not a bad film just flawed.

Following 1948's "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" (after all these years, STILL this viewer's favorite film of all time) and "Key Largo" (one of my personal Top 100), and right before working on one of the film noir greats, 1950's "The Asphalt Jungle," director John Huston came out with a comparatively lesser-known picture, 1949's "We Were Strangers." And, as it turns out, this is still another marvelous creation by a great filmmaker. His third movie in a row to be set in the tropics, it uses as its backdrop the Cuban revolution of 1933. For those viewers not familiar with the history of this event (I know I wasn't!), not to worry; the film tells us everything we need to know. In it, we meet a young Cuban woman named China (pronounced Cheena) Valdes (played by Jennifer Jones), who sees her brother shot dead on the steps of the university for distributing revolutionary pamphlets. His assassin is none other than the greatly feared Armando Ariete, a cold-blooded agent of the Porro, or secret police, chillingly played by the great Mexican actor Pedro Armendariz (who most modern-day viewers will know solely for his final role, that of Kerim Bey in "From Russia, With Love," another of my personal Top 100). Cheena, seeking vengeance, joins the revolutionary movement and enters into a plot hatched by a mysteriously motivated American, Tony Fenner (John Garfield). The plot: to dig a tunnel from her house to the neighboring cemetery, stuff one of the crypts with dynamite, kill a government official, and blow up all the massed heads of state at the resultant funeral. But things don't go quite as planned, in this remarkably suspenseful and exciting film.Clearly deserving a greater renown, "We Were Strangers" boasts many fine qualities. It has been beautifully shot in B&W, and Huston's direction throughout is of course first rate. He gives his gorgeous leading lady any number of stunning close-ups, and Jennifer herself does quite well at portraying a Cuban (at least, she is more convincing than Natalie Wood was as a Puerto Rican, in still another of my Top 100 films, "West Side Story"). While I agree with the Maltin book that Gilbert Roland steals the film playing Guillermo Mantilla, one of the revolutionaries, the single best scene in the picture might be the one in which Armendariz' slimy porrista (is that the word?) gets drunk in front of China, guzzling rum and stuffing his face with Morro crab while telling her of how his own mother is frightened of him. Some Oscar-worthy stuff here from Pedro! But then again, the acting by one and all, under Huston's direction, is just marvelous. The film builds to a blazing, smashing conclusion, and those viewers who want to see sweet Jennifer Jones--the saintly Sister Bernadette, the adorable Cluny Brown, the ethereal Jennie Appleton, the beloved Miss Dove--handle a machine gun and really blow 'em away need look no further! I just love the look on Jennifer's face as she mows them down; what an actress! Though the film can be justifiably accused of having a slightly rushed ending, it is still one that deserves to be better known today. Besides illuminating a seldom-mentioned slice of history, it is remarkably well done, gripping and, ultimately, quite moving. And yes, as he had done the year before in "Sierra Madre," that IS John Huston doing a quick cameo, here as China's fellow worker in a bank. In all, more than highly recommended!

This is a film I have never viewed and enjoyed the great directing of John Houston and also his screen play. Jennifer Jones, (China Valdes) works in a bank in Cuba and when her brother is killed by the chief of police which is really a dictatorship throughout Cuba. China decides to devote her life to avenge her brother's death. China meets up with Tony Fenner, (John Garfield) who is an American and was born in Cuba and wants to overthrow and kill the Prime Minister and his cabinet. Tony Fenner enlists a group of people who believe in Tony's plans and the story becomes very involved and interesting. Jennifer Jones gave an outstanding performance and John Garfield gave a great supporting role. Enjoy.