Perfect Strangers (1950)

SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Too much about the plot just didn't add up, the writing was bad, some of the scenes were cringey and awkward,

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Some scintillating pre-credits footage of bureaucrats shuffling through card files of prospective jurors, and we're off on the world's least interesting murder trial, propelled by a baffling romance between jurors Ginger Rogers and Dennis Morgan. Both are still married, she's separated, and the movie doesn't seem to know how to treat the prospect of their getting together--we're supposed to want them to, yet also not to want them to, because of all the lives it would disrupt. Meantime, the rest of the jury appears to be the stupidest ever, led by Thelma Ritter, doing her usual welcome Tenth-Avenue-salt-of-the-earth thing, but with bad lines. Rogers, as was her wont at this stage of her career, is more glamorous than the woman she's playing, and one detects a large whiff of star vanity; Morgan looks understandably bored. The movie's unaccountably fascinated with the minor details of jury duty, and everyone on this panel is such an idiot that there's nothing to do but watch them jabber and spar and lead to their inevitable verdict. Bretaigne Windust's direction (now there's a name) is disinterested and uncinematic, but not even a Capra or a Sturges could have made anything of this script.

The first third of the film is about the worst movie making I've ever seen. The director managed to create the sappiest stereotypical jurors one could possibly devise. Not believable characters at all.The remainder of the film is a bit better. Half the script is about the murder case being tried, but the other half of the script is about the relationships among the jurors...particularly the relationship that develops between Ginger Rogers and Dennis Morgan. Will he leave his wife for Ginger? Will she let him? The story is weak, but watchable. The sets are unbelievably cheap. But some of the acting is decent. Ginger Rogers has a few very good scenes, but I would have to say that the script held her back. Dennis Morgan could be a pretty decent actor back in the 1940s (see, for example, "In This Our Lives"), but here he is just okay. His career was fading toward television at this point.I've always enjoyed Thelma Ritter, but she always played the same character...but at least she was entertaining. Margalo Gillmore, a character actress you may recognize, has a decent role here as one of the jurors. Perhaps Anthony Ross worked better on the stage, but I wasn't impressed with him here. He seemed to try too hard. Howard Freeman, another character actor you may recognize, has a decent speaking part here. You may like to look for Alan Reed, who looked a bit like Fred Flintstone...and indeed was the original voice of Flintstone; not that this role is a particular good one. Paul Ford has a nothing role as judge; he was much better in later films where he excelled at playing a comic buffoon. Harry Bellaver is comfortable as the bailiff.This is no "12 Angry Men". But, it's watchable, and interesting in that the first third is so bad, and for seeing some of the actors. You're not likely to see many Dennis Morgan films that are later in his career.

A not very interesting Movie that attempts to give some clue as to the behind the scenes interactions among a Sequestered Jury. Like a Civics Lesson this is as dry as a Depositiion and only of interest to Ginger Roger's completest. The Murder Trial is hardly on Screen limiting the depth needed to give some urgency to the Jurors Private Arguments as they contemplate a Verdict. The typical Romance that blossoms and the Pitter-Patter and Petty Conflicts among The Twelve have about as much appeal as a Boxed Lunch.This could not be called Awful because it isn't, but it barely maintains interest and is a rather Lame Movie that is an Unremarkable Misfire that never comes to Life and remains in a Coma for most of the Running Time, its Duty unfulfilled.

This film is about a group of jurors who are sequestered during an important case. In the process, two of them (Dennis Morgan and Ginger Rogers) quickly fall in love--even though Morgan is still married! This illicit relationship is meant as a parallel to the murder trial, as the defendant was having an affair when his wife was murdered--making him the prime suspect. Aside from these two actors, Thelma Ritter and Alan Reed (the voice of Fred Flintstone) are on the jury. Also, one of the witnesses in the trial is a young Frank Cady ('Sam Drucker' from "Green Acres")--who is apparently alive and well even today.Aside from the Morgan-Rogers angle, the film is essentially a less tense nor as well acted film in the vein of "12 Angry Men". For example, a lady in the jury is projecting her hatred of her ex-husband onto the defendant--much like Lee J. Cobb directed his anger at his son on the defendant in "12 Angry Men". Overall, it's good, but nothing like "12 Angry Men" in quality and the affair angle seems to get in the way and was rather unnecessary--as well as a bit sappy--especially at the end. A decent time-passer but it just doesn't hit the mark.