Not as a Stranger

A slow, serious medical melodrama that weighs ambition against empathy, with a chilly, self-absorbed protagonist and a quietly suffering wife at its center.

Directed by

Stanley Kramer

Genres

Drama, Romance

Starring

Robert Mitchum, Olivia de Havilland, Frank Sinatra

Tagline

Stands alone! First as a book... Now as a motion picture!

Overview

Lucas Marsh, an intern bent upon becoming a first-class doctor, not merely a successful one. He courts and marries the warm-hearted Kristina, not out of love but because she is highly knowledgeable in the skills of the operating room and because she has frugally put aside her savings through the years. She will be, as he shrewdly knows, a supportive wife in every way. She helps make him the success he wants to be and cheerfully moves with him to the small town in which he starts his practice. But as much as he tries to be a good husband to the undemanding Kristina, Marsh easily falls into the arms of a local siren and the patience of the long-sorrowing Kristina wears thin.

How it feels

Melancholic, earnest, tense and dark. Measured and needs your attention.

About

Ambition, betrayal, guilt, redemption

Content

Mild violence, gore, sexual content and language.

Note

Written by AI, so it can be wrong. Full breakdown

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Watch the trailer on YouTube (opens in a new tab)