- Before there was The Godfather, there was Joseph L. Mankiewicz's House of Strangers. Both films depict the struggles of a large, patriarchal, Italian-American family. In each case, that family doesn't always stay on the right side of law and order. The two films also both star Richard Conte, although at two very different stages in his career. Beyond that, however, it's difficult to imagine anybody confusing the two. One is hands-down the best American gangster epic, while the other is a toss-away noir that would be completely forgettable aside from Mankiewicz's direction and some decent performances by Conte and Edward G. Robinson.
- When we first meet Conte's character, Max Monetti, he's just out of prison and on a vendetta. He hasn't forgiven his brothers (Luther Adler, Paul Valentine, Efrem Zimbalist Jr.) for helping land him in jail, and he doesn't seem especially happy to see his old flame Irene (Susan Hayward), either. Just as the audience is wondering what precisely made Max so bitter, we are treated to a flashback of the good old days when Max was a free man and his father Gino (Robinson) was still alive. Max's troubled ruminations that initiate this journey into the past are probably the best part of the film, and Mankiewicz does a great job highlighting places and objects whose significance will only become clear as the film proceeds.
- The past itself, however, is strictly Robinson's show. I can't think of any other actor who could ham it up singing Italian opera in the bathtub without veering completely into the realm of camp. Robinson pulls it off, though, and he even manages to land some sympathy when his banking business goes completely off the rails. Unfortunately, the rest of the story involving Max's choices between a nice Italian girl (Debra Paget) and the aforementioned femme fatale Irene aren't nearly as interesting as anything Robinson says or does. The result is a tolerable film that ends on a surprisingly positive and optimistic note. I guess that's one other way of telling it apart from The Godfather.
- Based on Jerome Weidman's novel I'll Never Go There Anymore.
- I simply must note that Conte once worked as a singing waiter at a Connecticut resort.
