At its most basic, "Rachel and the Stranger" is a domestic comedy set in the wilderness of 19th century Ohio. Director Norman Foster manages to pack more charm into each five minutes than most films have during their entire running length. At its most ambitious, "Rachel and the Stranger" is an allegorical story about the impact of a catalyst into a seemingly stable dynamic. In this case the stranger in the title, Jim (Robert Mitchum), visits the isolated farm of long-time friend David Harvey (William Holden), his young son Davey (Gary Gray), and their bond servant Rachel (Loretta Young).

David bought Rachel (who is working off her late father's debts) after his wife died, needing a replacement to help raise Davey. He married her out of respect for social convention but has no intention of consummating the marriage. While David treats Rachel with respect and consideration, his son is openly resentful of the substitute mother. After some initial progress the threesome settles into a distanced existence, a rut from which there is little chance they will be able to escape on their own. But things quickly change when Jim stops by on his way to town.

For the first time Rachel has someone who actively engages her. Jim's attentions build up Rachel's status in Davey's eyes while causing David to see her obvious attractions for the first time. But Foster doesn't limit things to this predictable interplay; he builds on it by having Rachel quickly come out of her guarded shell in response to Jim's interest. Even the makeup people get into the act as Young goes from the look of a plain pioneer woman to a subtle radiance.

 

All four stars are excellent. It was probably Holden's best performance as he provides most of the humor with his growing attraction to Rachel and his increasing irritation with the attention Jim is paying to her. Young was about 10 years too old for her 25 year-old character but this is not really a factor as the age of the character is unimportant; you wonder why they did not simply change the one reference to her age after casting Young for the part.

Young's acting tends to be underrated because of her later work as a television hostess but 

even her film work as a teenager was extraordinary. She was an especially good casting choice because the repressed Rachel needs to subtly convey a depth and dimensionality early in the film to make her later transformation plausible.Mitchum gives perhaps his liveliest performance as he seems to be having a lot of fun with his part. Gray is solid as always, one of those rare child actors who were not irritating after a few minutes on the screen.*Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

 

 

I too became a fan of this movie (thank you American Movie Classics). What at first appeared to be a run-of-the-mill frontier cabin story turned into an absorbing, well-written, well-acted human interest story with four engaging characters, a beautiful locale (the movie would have benefited from color), and a fine score to boot. The concept of a bonded (indentured) servant added an interesting historical facet. The cast, of course, is top notch. Mitchum and Holden work particularly well together. The film should be a lot better known than it is, and is well worth a see.

 

Norman Foster ("Journey into Fear"/The Great Sex War"/"The Green Hornet") directs a fine Western that tells of hearty pioneers who made a home in the Ohio wilderness and conquered both nature and the unfriendly Shawnee Indians. It plays out as a romantic adventure and is written by Waldo Salt, who bases it on the story "Rachel" by Howard Fast.

 

In the mid-1800s, Big Davey Harvey (William Holden), an Ohio backwoodsman farmer living in isolation from the stockade, is all shook up to find himself a widower as his lovely Susan just passed on and left him with the responsibility of raising his young son Davey (Gary Gray). Feeling the need to have a woman look after the boy, to keep him from being all woodsy and uncultured,  and to also do the household chores, Big Davey journeys to the stockade to hire a live-in housekeeper; but is told by Parson Jackson (Tom Tully) it wouldn't look right for a man and woman to share the same house and the parson talks him into buying for eighteen dollars a bonds-woman named Rachel (Loretta Young) and making it all good by marrying her.

It helps that Rachel is a knockout, can cook and is refined. Back in their small log cabin, Big Davey is awkward about the marriage and chooses to treat the hard-working Rachel as merely a housekeeper and someone who gives the boy Bible and school lessons without fulfilling his marriage vows to consummate the marriage in a biblical manner.The boy in the meantime,so much misses his loving mom, that he unfairly treats the saintly Rachel in a gruff manner. It seems the grief is too great for the Harvey men to love Rachel properly, as they are still trying to deal with their loss. 

 

The cabin is visited by the free-spirited guitar playing Indian scout and hunter Jim Fairways (Robert Mitchum), a longtime friend of Big Davey's and a former rival for Susan's affection. The friendly carefree bachelor Jim flirts with Rachel, brings a joy to the surroundings by his lively singing (he delightfully belts out the folk song, "O-he, O-hi, O-ho") and makes Big Davey a jealous man. Jim's actions make Big Davey and Davey see how much Rachel means to them and that they are not willing to let her go when Jim asks to buy her for his wife. What follows is a Shawnee Indian attack on Big Davey's homestead and some heroics on the part of Rachel and Big Davie to come safely out of the raid and thereby cement their marriage.

 

Reviewed on 11/9/2008  - Grade:B