Never Love a Stranger

When John Drew Barrymore was making films in the 50s he opted for a more modern style than his father John Barrymore ever tried. The elder Barrymore's classical style of acting was quite passé and would never have been accepted. Sad to say that young Barrymore tried and failed to be a James Dean type rebel. For Never Love A Stranger that's especially interesting because supporting Barrymore was an actor who would become the ideal image of cool.

With elements taken from Manhattan Melodrama and Little Caesar, Never Love A Stranger is an old fashioned type film that probably was an anachronism in the 50s let alone now. Young Barrymore plays a slum kid who suffers an identity crisis when he discovers his Jewish roots after having been raised in a Catholic orphanage.

He goes away but comes back one mean and tough punk who becomes kingpin of the rackets, taking over from Robert Bray who gave him his start. And as it turns out his childhood friend, Steve McQueen becomes the special prosecutor with the mission of bringing Barrymore down.

Steve McQueen might have made this film slightly better had he been cast in the lead. But frankly this film was a turgid mess and I doubt that would have helped.

I found "Never Love a Stranger" on YouTube and decided to watch it as it is the first credited movie appearance by Steve McQueen. He doesn't star in the film, but he is an important character in the story.

When the movie begins, a woman dies in a rooming house...leaving a brand new baby behind. With no other options, the boy is sent to be raised in a Catholic orphanage. While he's there, Frankie (John Drew Barrymore) makes friends with a Jewish teen, Marty (McQueen), and his family. He also makes friends with the local mob boss...a guy who likes what he sees in Frankie.

Some time later, the folks at the orphanage discover that Frankie's dead mother was Jewish...and they make arrangements to send him to a Jewish orphanage. Frankie doesn't want to go and disappears for seven years.

In the interim, Marty goes to law school and obtains a job with the District Attorney's office. When Frankie returns, he goes back into business with the mob boss...and soon is able to wrangle his way to the top of the mob empire! As a result, Marty is given a new job by the DA....to get Frankie and make sure he goes to prison! This is made all the tougher as they were friends AND Marty's sister, Julie, is in love with Frankie. What's next? See the film.

While this is generally a very good film, I think all the narration could have been removed and the film could have been a bit better. It's just too schmaltzy and unnecessary. Apart from that, it was an entertaining crime film....not noir, as it lacked the camerawork, glib dialog and violence you'd expect in noir.

"Never Love A Stranger" was taken from an early Harold Robbins book and gave Steve McQueen his first significant role in films. Unfortunately, it is sub-standard in all respects and I would only recommend it to fanatic McQueen fans intent on seeing any and all of his film appearances. The budget must have been minuscule, since the production looks like it would have been cheap even for 50's television. The lighting, sets, and sound are all inferior. The writing is laughably bad and the direction has no sense of pace and certainly no dramatic depth. The lead is John Drew Barrymore, son of the Great Profile and father of Drew. He's not awful, and does what he can with the role, but he and all the other actors are weighed down by the dreadful script and direction. McQueen does not do much better. He is miscast, playing a nice Jewish boy...yes, Steve McQueen plays a nice Jewish boy, you read that right. Not only that, but he begins the film having to be taught how to box and defend himself by Barrymore. Then he grows up to be the noble, honorable district attorney out to get his gangster childhood friend. More astute future casting directors would eventually discover that McQueen's true forte was as the tough rebel and loner, not the goody two-shoes. Moreover, he is given no chance to shine, no scenes to dominate. Its all Barrymore's picture and McQueen is strictly there in support. Lita Milan is also in the picture as Barrymore's girl, and she's awful too.

The film while not exactly a clunker could have been a lot better.

it has that late 50's b/w gangster feel to it like "Studs Lonigan" a couple of years later. A young Steve McQueen cast as a Jewish kid who becomes an attorney does what he can in a supporting role. The person who did have me riveted throughout was John Drew Barrymore who is pretty good in this although his character gets more absurd as the film goes on. Barrymore was a striking looking actor & had talent enough to have a much better career than he actually ended up having.

His lifestyle choices ruined all that, Lita Milan who plays Barymore's girlfriend retired from films all together shortly after & married the Prime minister of the Dominican Republic or something.

"Never Love A Stranger" is a badly directed movie with very poor dialogue, and an off-screen narrator pompously intoning meaningless platitudes.. The basic story is borrowed from several better films, and consequently has few surprises for the audience. However the film is of interest for other reasons.

The first major turning point in the story is based on an extraordinarily racist idea. A mother had died giving birth to a baby who is brought up in a Catholic orphanage. When the child is in his teens, it is discovered that his mother was Jewish. Although the boy has been raised from birth as a Christian, it is decided that he should be removed from the orphanage because it is felt that his parentage prevents him from being a Christian! Can any student of the Catholic Church in America confirm or deny that this kind of racist nonsense ever occurred?

Steve McQueen gives an early career performance, and already it is strikingly obvious that he has a rapport with the movie camera. Interestingly, so too has John Drew Barrymore, which raises the question of why did his movie career not prosper. Lita Milan has a strong and interesting face that is not conventionally beautiful. Thanks to Lee Garmes' lighting and to her heavy eye shadow, she seems better looking than she really is. R. G. Armstong comes in late in the movie, playing a hired assassin. Wearing glasses and city clothes, he is almost unrecognisable from the westerners he played in Sam Peckinpah's movies. Only his eyes remind the audience that they have seen him somewhere before.

The IMDb states incorrectly that Dorothy Collins is not given a screen credit, Yes she is, and so too is lyricist Lawrence Elow.

It is regrettable that "Never Love A Stranger" is such a weak movie. Buried beneath the shoddy dialogue and implausible characterisation is a workable story, struggling to emerge.