Return of a Stranger ** (1961, John Ireland, Susan Stephen, Cyril Shaps, Timothy Beaton, Patrick McAlinney, Kevin Stoney, Ian Fleming) – Classic Movie Review 13,660  

The 1961 British black and white second feature crime thriller film Return of a Stranger stars John Ireland, Susan Stephen, Cyril Shaps, Timothy Beaton, and Patrick McAlinney. It’s a tale of stalking, murder and kidnapping in suburban London.

The 1961 British black and white second feature crime thriller film Return of a Stranger stars John Ireland, Susan Stephen, Cyril Shaps, Timothy Beaton, and Patrick McAlinney. It is written by Brian Clemens and produced by The Danzigers, and released by Warner-Pathé Distributors (UK).

The creaky, unbelievable 1961 British black and white second feature crime thriller Return of a Stranger stars John Ireland, Susan Stephen, Cyril Shaps, Timothy Beaton, and Patrick McAlinney. Many of the British second features are praiseworthy, but this one lacks spark, creativity and credibility. It has a very promising set-up that is largely wasted. A young married couple’s quiet suburban world is shattered when a strange man begins stalking them with late night phone calls and sudden disturbing appearances.

John and Pam (John Ireland, Susan Stephen) have bought an English suburban house and have moved into it with their little son. Their newly arranged life all seems calm and quiet, but in the middle of the night Pam notices that a strange man is peeping at them from the pavement outside. She starts getting nervous when he re-appears there in the day time, and becomes terrified and runs out screaming when she bumps into him in the local Fine Fare supermarket.

The man turns out to be Homer Trent, part of Pam’s past at an orphanage when she was a teenager. He was besotted with her, and eventually imprisoned after grabbing hold of her and making love to her when she was 14 and he was 25. Now free 15 years later, Trent is intent on reclaiming Pam and is furious that she has found another man and married him. Pam gets mysterious phone calls, her son disappears for a while, and a wreath is delivered by an undertaker at her home for her dead husband, who is still alive.

The very good premise is mostly wasted on unconvincing development, weak dialogue, dull characters and some dreary performances. Imported star John Ireland simply doesn’t fit in to a lower middle-class London suburban setting, struggling for promotion as a draughtsman in a modest advertising agency in a tatty office block.

And John Ireland and Susan Stephen just don’t work as husband and wife. They don’t seem to exist in the same world, except the B-movie studio world, and they are pretty much phoning in their performances as John and Pam Allen. It hardly helps them that their characters do and say the most unlikely things. Just when the monster is stalking them in their home, Pam decides it’s a good idea to pop off into the darkened kitchen to make a pot of coffee! Though, to be fair, Susan Stephen does look suitably scared and haunted throughout the film, her big eyes blazing with terror. She even plays her character’s 14-year-old schoolgirl self successfully.

Talking monster, the man called Homer Trent is a kind of monster of the mind still haunting Pam despite her suburban bliss. This monster of the mind will never die in poor Pam’s disturbed head. The police think that Pam is psychologically disturbed, and she certainly is to some greater or lesser extent, and they think she could be making it all up.

Patrick McAlinney gives the most credible turn as Whittaker, the brusque and unsympathetic copper on the case. Cyril Shaps isn’t given a satisfying role as the villain Homer Trent, just a cardboard monster. Kevin Stoney is OK as Wayne, John’s work rival, and Ian Fleming is fine as their firm’s snotty boss Meecham. Timothy Beaton plays the couple’s kid Tommy Allen, who is only there to be an unconvincing plot convenience at the climax.

Alas the film isn’t any of the things it needs to be properly creepy, taut and suspenseful. Instead it is mostly rather lame, limp and flat. The low budget is a real problem here that director Max Varnel and cinematographer Walter J Harvey are unable to overcome. Shame, it could have been a contender. Still, it remains intriguing and it’s nice to see sympathetic Susan Stephen again.

Susan Stephen (16 July 1931 – 21 April 2000)  appeared in more than 20 films including The Red Beret (1953), The House Across the Lake (1954), Pacific Destiny (1956), Carry On Nurse (1959), and her last, the 1962 comedy Three Spare Wives. In 1957, she married for the second time, to Nicolas Roeg. They had four sons: Luc, Waldo, Sholto and Nico. 

Susan Stephen said that her three movies for the Danziger Brothers producers were a big factor in convincing her to retire from acting. She followed Return of a Stranger with The Court Martial of Major Keller (1961) and Three Spare Wives (1962),

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,660

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com