I have read the novel "Not as a stranger" several times, and I love it a lot. Therefore, I had high expectations on this movie. What I saw, justified my expectations just partly. The good thing was, that the script followed the book surprisingly well, for being made in the 1950:s.
But at the same time, they had changed some things unnecessarily. For example, Luke, Mitchum's character, did not at all operate on his boss the country doctor in the end. Instead the doctor, knowing himself that he was soon going to die, left his practice and went on a cruise... The ending in the movie was only unnecessarily dramatic, unrealistic, and contrived.
I also miss the scene where a person had gone astray in the forest, and Luke took part in the search party. The things that were thought and said in this scene in the novel, were very beautiful and full of insight and necessary to the understanding of the story as a whole. I cannot understand why it was not included in the movie..? The episode about the old man, that Luke saved by working the night through, is also a little wrong. In the novel, the hospital doctor had not only neglected his care, but even tried to hasten his death by placing him in an unheated room with an open window...
But apart from these things, I think the movie gave a fairly good rendering of the story. There is one more thing I have to object to, though: the casting. I like Robert Mitchum a lot - I think he was very sexy. A typical alpha male! :-) ...but he was not at all right in this role, about a sensitive, intelligent and intellectual young man.
The same is true for Olivia de Havilland: I like her a lot in many other movies, for example "Gone with the Wind". But she was not right as a Swedish woman (and me BEING a Swedish woman should know! :-) ). Her hair is so obviously bleached into an unnatural blond hair color, that does not go with her eyes or skin. Her - and her female Minnesota friend's - accents, are not Swedish either. Another thing that is very wrong, is that Kristina is supposed to be big, cow-like an ugly (something which is NOT, by the way, typical of Swedish women! :-) ). That was an important part of the story: that Luke only married her for her money. But Havilland is of course VERY beautiful in this movie, as always, so the idea of someone marrying her only for her money gets completely ridiculous...
The worst thing about the casting, though, is that both Mitchum, Sinatra and de Havilland are much too old for their parts in the beginning of the movie. I cannot understand how the people responsible for the casting were thinking..? Apart from these flaws, though, it is a beautiful, interesting and thought-provoking movie, well worth watching!
But at the same time, they had changed some things unnecessarily. For example, Luke, Mitchum's character, did not at all operate on his boss the country doctor in the end. Instead the doctor, knowing himself that he was soon going to die, left his practice and went on a cruise... The ending in the movie was only unnecessarily dramatic, unrealistic, and contrived.
I also miss the scene where a person had gone astray in the forest, and Luke took part in the search party. The things that were thought and said in this scene in the novel, were very beautiful and full of insight and necessary to the understanding of the story as a whole. I cannot understand why it was not included in the movie..? The episode about the old man, that Luke saved by working the night through, is also a little wrong. In the novel, the hospital doctor had not only neglected his care, but even tried to hasten his death by placing him in an unheated room with an open window...
But apart from these things, I think the movie gave a fairly good rendering of the story. There is one more thing I have to object to, though: the casting. I like Robert Mitchum a lot - I think he was very sexy. A typical alpha male! :-) ...but he was not at all right in this role, about a sensitive, intelligent and intellectual young man.
The same is true for Olivia de Havilland: I like her a lot in many other movies, for example "Gone with the Wind". But she was not right as a Swedish woman (and me BEING a Swedish woman should know! :-) ). Her hair is so obviously bleached into an unnatural blond hair color, that does not go with her eyes or skin. Her - and her female Minnesota friend's - accents, are not Swedish either. Another thing that is very wrong, is that Kristina is supposed to be big, cow-like an ugly (something which is NOT, by the way, typical of Swedish women! :-) ). That was an important part of the story: that Luke only married her for her money. But Havilland is of course VERY beautiful in this movie, as always, so the idea of someone marrying her only for her money gets completely ridiculous...
The worst thing about the casting, though, is that both Mitchum, Sinatra and de Havilland are much too old for their parts in the beginning of the movie. I cannot understand how the people responsible for the casting were thinking..? Apart from these flaws, though, it is a beautiful, interesting and thought-provoking movie, well worth watching!