The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry

1945 "From the Play that shocked Hollywood!"
6.7| 1h20m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 17 August 1945 Released
Producted By: Universal Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
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George Sanders stars in this engrossing melodrama about a very domineering sister who holds a tight grip on her brother -- especially when he shows signs of falling in love.

Genre

Drama, Thriller, Crime

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Director

Robert Siodmak

Production Companies

Universal Pictures

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The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry Audience Reviews

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.
Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes
Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.
Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.
chaplinpricefan The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry was different to what I had been expecting. I was expecting a cushy little number about a family life which becomes disrupted. However, the film was edgier and much more daring than I initially anticipated.The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry tells the story of Harry, a middle-aged man who lives with his two sisters: the good-natured widow Hester, and the young, beautiful but unstable Lettie, who is self-centred, possessive and a hypochondriac. Harry begins seeing a co-worker and becomes engaged to her, and it soon becomes clear just how possessive of her brother Lettie exactly is...The film explores the idea of dependency and dares to hint at the idea of incest between Harry and Lettie, something which would be shocking today, never mind in the 40s. Harry and Lettie's strange relationship will surely intrigue viewers and keep them captivated till the very end. The movie takes a few twists and turns - some predictable, others genuinely shocking, before drawing to a rather dull, cliché conclusion. Unfortunately, the movie, which held solid potential all the way through, is let down by a bad ending. It's not that the ending is bad as much as it is hurried and vague. I had to re-watch the last three minutes to fully understand what was happening. With a little more time and thought in the script, I'm sure a better ending could have been added.All the actors involved were simply wonderful. People who are familiar with George Sanders' work are in for a pleasant surprise as he portrays a rare protagonist role. He's excellent in it, too - sympathetic, comfortable and believable. Geraldine Fitzgerald is captivating and alluring as Lettie, giving her character a dangerous edge. Ella Raines gives a great performance as Harry's new girlfriend. Moyna Macgill and Sara Allgood are also very good in their roles and offer solid support for a brilliant lead cast.I just wish the ending was as gripping and daring as the rest of the film. However, I suppose we can't expect too much from an 80 minute B movie from the 40s. Perhaps if the film were to be remade today, it would be rewarded with a much more fitting ending.
cmeneken-1 The Trouble with Harry is the trouble with Hollywood, the fact that the right-wing timid moguls bowed to reactionary forces and drove out much of the creativity from the movies. Their code ensured that nothing unpleasant or amoral, in their eyes, would be allowed into the cinema, so anything with an edge, or against the grain, or left of center was watered down or erased from films. All of this culminated with the Anti communist Witch Hunt which removed the last vestiges of talent, honesty, and integrity, but preserved for us such hypocrites as R Reagan. The reason many of us like the film noir is that this conservative tendency was less noticeable in the dark crime melodramas of the late 40'a and early 50's since no one cared that much about B movies. Still, when Hollywood had a chance, like in the ending in this film, they would ruin a film. In fact, censorship and its companion greed still rules American films, almost without exception.
BILLYBOY-10 Harry lives with his two sisters. Hester is a widow. She's the nice one although ever- suffering. Lettie is younger, in her 40's, unmarried and much, much too devoted to Harry. Everything is relatively peachy with the three; they are the last of a once highly prominent family but since the lost the family fortune in the stock market crash of 1929, they have been reduced to gradual decay and Harry supports them in the gloomy old family home by working at the local textile mill as a fabric designer. Harry is an effete, sullen, boring, lump of milk-toast played by George Sanders of ( one of Zsa-Zsa Gabor's stable of ex's).Enter sexy,slinky, Lauren Bacall-Veronica Lake look-alike, Debrorah from NYC and the movie picks up. Sister Lettie is totally. possessive,manipulating and controlling. She will not stand by and see her precious Harry attend to, let alone marry Deborah. After she fails to intimidate Deb, Lettie fakes Illness and Deb leaves Harry as Harrydumps their wedding plans to attend to ailing sister Lettie.Soon Harry discovers Lettie has connived all along to destroy Harry's marriage to Deb. He is angry so he poisons her cocoa but good sister Hester drinks it instead. Since Lettie and Hester had been fighting and since Lettie has bought the poison, they arrest and convict her even tho Lettie knows Harry meant to poison her.On the eve of Lettie's execution, Harry, guilt-ridden mess, confesses but nobody believes him and Lettie refuses to attest to his confession as she sees a future for Harry as a guilt-ridden mess. Harry goes home & in walks Deborah, she has come back to him, and then dead sister Hester walks in. The part of the movie where Harry poisons Lettie 's tea and then on has been a dream! Harry & Deb walk off to be married. The End. Definitely a nice drama piece, good twist ending so everyone is alive, no harm done. Not noir by any stretch, just good old B&W soap.
Psalm 52 It's been a while since such an excellent feature film played on my VCR. Kudos to the UCLA Film and Television Archive for restoring this all around well-acted, well-written, incestuous-driven murder mystery which when viewed twice makes the so-called "tacked on ending" very plausible and even MORE effective. Fitzgerald's character knows no boundaries to her familial manipulations and the writing brilliantly has her warring w/ Raines' character for Sanders' very soul. If only ALL the alternate endings where available to view like on "Clue." It impressed me as much as "Memento" although the structure here is linear. BTW: Raines in more than one scene is the exact image of a very young Lauren Bacall.