A Stranger Came Home is a 1954 British film noir directed by Terence Fisher and starring Paulette Goddard, William Sylvester and Patrick Holt. The film was produced by Hammer Films at Bray Studios with sets designed by the art director J. Elder Wills. It is based on the 1946 novel Stranger at Home, which was credited to film actor George Sanders but was actually ghostwritten by Leigh Brackett. It was released in the United States by Lippert Pictures under the title The Unholy Four.
Plot
Four friends go on a fishing trip but only three return. After an absence of four years, during which time he had been an amnesiac, the fourth man, Philip Vickers, returns home after regaining his memory. He tells of a "friend" who knocked him out, drugged him, and left him to die. Any one of the remaining men could be a suspect as Job Crandall, Bill Saul and Harry Bryce have all been interested in Philip's attractive 'widow', Angie. Unfortunately, Philip's return coincides with a murder and he becomes the main suspect. Angie joins forces with her husband to help solve the mystery and clear his name.
Cast
Paulette Goddard as Angie
William Sylvester as Philip Vickers
Patrick Holt as Job Crandall
Paul Carpenter as Bill Saul
Alvys Maben as Joan Merrill
Russell Napier as Inspector Treherne
Kay Callard as Jenny
Patricia Owens as Blonde
David King-Wood as Sessions
Jeremy Hawk as Police Sergeant Johnson
Production
Filming occurred at Bray Studios in Berkshire.
Critical reception
The New York Times wrote, "A THIRD-RATE British-made whodunit called The Unholy Four, featuring Paulette Goddard and a nondescript cast...A few more fly-by-nights like this Lippert presentation, produced and written by Michael Carreras, and the still-shapely Miss Goddard may find herself collecting the pieces of a career"; Leonard Maltin called it "Muddled"; whereas Allmovie called it a "suspenseful drama."