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Rachel and the Stranger

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Rachel and the Stranger
Directed byNorman Foster
Screenplay byWaldo Salt
Based onRachel
1945 story
by Howard Fast
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyMaury Gertsman
Edited by
Music byRoy Webb
Color processBlack and white
Distributed byRKO
Release dates
  • September 18, 1948 (1948-09-18) (Premiere-New York City)[1]
  • October 2, 1948 (1948-10-02) (U.S.)[1]
Running time
93 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$2.4 million (US rentals)[2]

Rachel and the Stranger is a 1948 American historical film starring Loretta Young, William Holden, and Robert Mitchum. The Norman Foster-directed film was one of the few to address the role of women in the early American frontier, as well as portray early America's indentured servant trade.[citation needed] It was based on the Howard Fast short story "Rachel".[1]

While the film had a low budget, it was RKO's most successful film that year, making $395,000.[2]

Plot

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In early America, David Harvey (William Holden), a recent widower farming in the wilderness in the Northwest Territory, decides that his young boy Davey (Gary Gray) needs a woman around to help raise him. He goes to the nearest settlement and consults Parson Jackson (Tom Tully) and his wife. In view of the dearth of women in the settlement, David buys the contract of an indentured servant named Rachel (Loretta Young). David accepts that he will have to marry her, for the sake of propriety.

Their marriage is in name only. David is still grieving for his dead wife Susan, and Davey resents what he sees as an attempt to replace his mother. Unlike Susan, Rachel is unskilled in the use of a musket, but she resolves to learn to shoot to connect with the boy and through him, with the father.

Jim Fairways (Robert Mitchum), a hunter who is a family friend, visits and becomes attracted to Rachel. On his next visit, Jim brings presents, including a dress for Rachel. David becomes jealous and irritated as Jim stays weeks longer than expected. He takes the opportunity of a night out hunting foxes with the dogs to tackle Jim and encourage him to leave. Davey defies Rachel and stays outside the cabin to listen to the sounds of the hunt. A prowling mountain lion threatens Davey and the stock. At the sound of a gunshot, the men come running, and Rachel admits that she killed the animal. As a result, she rises in Davey's estimation.

When Jim offers to buy her, David's resentments come to the surface, and they fight. Rachel is quietly furious and feels that both men regard her more as a commodity than as a wife. She decides to leave and walks back to the settlement. Taking Davey, David and Jim ride after her.

That night, while they are camped after finding Rachel, they see a glow in the sky and fear the Shawnee are attacking settlers. The men send Rachel and Davey on horseback to the settlement while they run back to the cabin to see what is going on.

Rachel sends Davey on for help while she follows the men. She reaches the cabin to find them besieged. She is dragged from her horse by one of the attackers, but David and Jim make a sally and get her into the cabin. The Shawnee set the cabin on fire, and the trio retreat to the cellar. Early the next morning, Parson Jackson and the local militia arrive to drive off the attackers. David and Rachel survey the burnt-out cabin, making plans for the future. Rachel knows she has been accepted as a wife when David tells his son to "do as your ma says" and enfolds her in a tender embrace.

Cast

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Production

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Filming took place in Eugene, Oregon.[3]

Reception

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The film recorded a profit of $395,000.[4][5]

After Mitchum was arrested for possessing marijuana,[6] RKO rushed to release the film to take advantage of the news of Mitchum's arrest.[7] The film opened in 7 key US cities to test the public's attitude and both critics and the public welcomed it and it was the number one film in the US for two weeks.[8][9]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Rachel and the Stranger: Detail View". American Film Institute. Retrieved May 10, 2014.
  2. ^ a b "Top Grossers of 1948", Variety 5 January 1949 p 46
  3. ^ "Filmed in Oregon 1908–2015" (PDF). Oregon Film Council. Oregon State Library. Retrieved December 27, 2015.
  4. ^ Richard Jewell & Vernon Harbin, The RKO Story. New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House, 1982. p. 231
  5. ^ Richard B. Jewell, Slow Fade to Black: The Decline of RKO Radio Pictures, Uni of California, 2016
  6. ^ "Actor Robert Mitchum is released after serving time for marijuana possession". History.com. A&E Networks. Retrieved December 2, 2022.
  7. ^ Rachel and the Stranger at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  8. ^ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety. September 22, 1948. p. 3. Retrieved December 29, 2023 – via Archive.org.
  9. ^ "National Boxoffice Survey". Variety. September 29, 1948. p. 3. Retrieved December 29, 2023 – via Archive.org.
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