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Pretty Good

Great Film overall

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

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.

Geraldine Fitzgerald is the sister from hell in "The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry," a 1945 film directed by Robert Siodmak, who knows a thing or two about suspense. The film stars George Sanders, Ella Raines, Moyna Macgill (Angela Lansbury's mother), and Sara Algood.The Quincy family, a brother (Sanders) and two sisters (Macgill and Fitzgerald) live in an big, old house - all that was left to them by their parents. Harry is the head designer of patterns in a cloth family; his sister Lettie (Fitzgerald) is a professional invalid; and his other sister, Hester (Macgill), is a rather silly, complaining woman who feels unappreciated.When a New York firm comes to town to look at the cloth factory, Harry meets and falls in love with Deborah (Raines) and announces they are going to be married. Hester is thrilled beyond belief for him; Lettie, on the other hand, is very upset. Deborah has her number immediately and is determined not to allow Lettie to break up her relationship with Harry.Lettie and Hester are supposed to move into another house, but that doesn't happen. On the day Harry and Deborah are to leave for Boston to be married, Lettie has one of her "attacks" and Harry refuses to leave town. Deborah realizes that he will never leave his sisters and walks out of his life. When Harry finds out that Lettie's inability to find a suitable house after six months and her illness were just manipulations to drive Deborah away, something in him snaps.Based on a play, this film proved somewhat controversial. Censorship would not allow the original ending, so five different endings were filmed and shown in preview. The ending that was chosen is derivative, drawing on a device used successfully in the past.I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I really loved the way it ended, in spite of some people seeing it as a cop-out. I liked it because of my sympathy for Harry, so well portrayed by George Sanders, who was cast against type here.Geraldine Fitzgerald gives a fantastic performance as the awful Lettie, an unbelievable shrew. Fitzgerald was perfect. Macgill is excellent as well, likable because she sincerely wants the best for Harry, and annoying because she's a whiner. Ella Raines made a lovely Deborah.Very entertaining - I loved it!

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.

Well-acted and neatly translated to the screen, "The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry" is an enjoyable and at times intriguing Universal picture, something of a mix between woman's picture, crime narrative and familial melodrama.As another IMDb reviewer says, this could have made excellent material for Hitchcock to work with; whilst Siodmak's handling is lacking in the sort of tension and suspense old Alf would have brought, he does create a memorable melodrama with reflective moments.Sanders is excellent as the 'good guy' lead, playing a thoughtful and rather hidebound man looking to break away from his somewhat stifling New Hampshire small-town life. The Quincy family, including the possessive Lettie (Geraldine Fitzgerald), are thrown into sharp contrast by the outgoing urban girl, Deborah Brown - played with an easy-going warmth by Ella Raines. Lettie and Deborah embody the contrasting options that Harry has open to him in life: stifling, picturesque seclusion, the country versus sensual adventurousness, the city. Miss Brown with her New York city flat and 'library of detective stories' is an immensely attractive figure, and it is testament to Sanders' acting ability that he conveys the depth of tradition and family ties that make it a more complicated 'choice'.Overall, a very satisfactory New England melodrama that does not outstay its welcome at a lean 77 minutes, and provides excellent work for Sanders, Raines and Fitzgerald.