STRANGER IN THE HOUSE

UK, 1967, 107 minutes, Colour.
James Mason, Geraldine Chaplin, Bobby Darin, Ian Ogilvy, Clive Morton, Moira Lister, James Hayter, Megs Jenkins.
Directed by Pierre Rouve.

Stranger in the House is an adaptation of a novel by French detective story writer, Georges Simenon. Many of his Inspector Maigret stories were adapted for television, especially in France. Other adaptations include The Man Who Watched Trains Go By in the early 1950s with Claude Rains and the Hungarian The Man from London by Bela Tarr (2007).

The location for the story has been changed to England. James Mason plays an alcoholic widower who does not know what is happening in his own house, especially with his daughter (played by Geraldine Chaplin) and her boyfriend (Bobby Darin). When the boyfriend is accused of murder, the lawyer decides to take on the case and to get his life back in order.

The film was written and directed by Pierre Rouve, an exile from Bulgaria who went to the UK, wrote a number of screenplays (The Dock Brief), directed this film only and spent most of his time as an art critic and as a broadcaster on the BBC World Service.

1. The significance of the title? The American version was called 'Cop Out’. Is this a more appropriate title?

2. The qualities of the film as a psychological drama, about relationships? The success of the film as a murder mystery?

3. How important was the atmosphere of the small town? The English background, the officials and their business roles in the town? the shop, the knowledge of one another, the atmosphere of scandal etc.?

4. How important was the generation gap as a setting for the psychological drama, as incorporated into the murder mystery? John Sawyer and his not understanding his daughter, the initial sequences about his resentment of
his wife? Why had he not communicated his love for his daughter? The Hawkins family, the Flower family and their non?communication? The sequences with the wildness of the younger generation? Their inability to communicate
to their parents? Angela’s resentment? The contrast in the lifestyles at homes the parties? Mrs. Flower and her affair with the lawyer? What comment did the film make on each of the generations, their good and their bad, the hypocrisy?

5. How was Sawyer the focus of the film? A strong characterisation of a broken man? Audience sympathy for him or not? His moving into the role of the hero solving the mystery? His drinking, his weakness, life at home? His
relationship with Angela? His rudeness to the Flowers and to his other relations? His being challenged by the defence of Joe? The detailed manner of his investigation? Interviewing people in their localities, listening to their memories? The impact of his behaviour in the court and his not speaking? His arrival at the party and the dramatics of his explanation of crime and punishment? How compassionate was he to Desmond?

6. What had Sawyer achieved by the end of the film? The truth, as a breaking of hypocrisy in the town, a relationship with his daughter, an innocent man being saved?

7. The importance of the flashback technique, the accumulation of information about Barney and his relationship to the younger people, the motivation for his murder?

8. How attractive a character was Angela? Her role in the house, resentment of her father, ridiculing him, her memories with the set in which she moved, meeting Barney, loving Joe? Why did she accept Barney into the house?
Her appeal to her father and the reconciliation?

9. How important a character was Joe? His moving in the circles with Angela and Desmond? The importance of his being Greek? The sequences with his mother? The accusation for the murder? Angela's belief in him, the interviews with Sawyer In the prison? His desperation at Sawyer's behaviour in the court? The slights on his being foreign?

10. The presentation of the Flower and the Hawkins families? Their arrogance, their roles in administering justice? Their relationship with he younger generation?

11. How well explored was the character of Desmond? The flashbacks about his impotence? The sequence of the stripper? Sufficient motivation for his murdering Barney? His arrogance in concealing the truth? The impact of crime and punishment on him? What had happened to him in John Sawyer's revelation of his guilt? His future?

12. How interesting a character was Barney? His sudden emerging towards the group? The way that the led them? The way they relied on him? His hold over each of them? His taunting of Desmond? The inevitability of his being murdered? An American and evil influence on these English young people?

13. The cumulative effect of the whole film in terms of interest and suspense?

14. The qualities of the film as a murder mystery, as a social commentary?