''Rachel and the Stranger'' is a 1948 American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film starring

Loretta Young Loretta Young (born Gretchen Young; January 6, 1913 – August 12, 2000) was an American actress. Starting as a child, she had a long and varied career in film from 1917 to 1953. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the fil ...

William Holden William Holden (born William Franklin Beedle Jr.; April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981) was an American actor, and one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film ''Stalag 17'' (1953) ...

, and

Robert Mitchum Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American actor. He rose to prominence with an Academy Award nomination for the Best Supporting Actor for ''The Story of G.I. Joe'' (1945), followed by his starring in ...

. The

Norman Foster Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

-directed film was one of the few to address the role of women in the pioneer west, as well as portray early America's

indentured servant Indentured servitude is a form of labor in which a person is contracted to work without salary for a specific number of years. The contract, called an " indenture", may be entered "voluntarily" for purported eventual compensation or debt repayment ...

trade. It was based on the

Howard Fast Howard Melvin Fast (November 11, 1914 – March 12, 2003) was an American novelist and television writer. Fast also wrote under the pen names E.V. Cunningham and Walter Ericson. Biography Early life Fast was born in New York City. His mother, ...

short story "Rachel". While the film had a low budget, it was

RKO RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheu ...

's most successful film that year, making $395,000.

Plot

In colonial America, David Harvey (

), a recent widower farming in the wilderness, decides that his young boy Davey ( Gary Gray) needs a woman around to help raise him. The following spring, he goes to the nearest settlement and consults Parson Jackson (

Tom Tully Thomas Kane Tulley (August 21, 1908 – April 27, 1982) was an American actor. He began his career in radio and on the stage before making his film debut in ''Northern Pursuit'' (1943). Subsequently, he was nominated for an Academy Award for hi ...

) and his wife. In view of the dearth of women in the settlement, David is persuaded to buy the contract of an indentured servant named Rachel (

). David accepts that he will have to marry her, for the sake of propriety. Their marriage, however, is in name only. David is still grieving for his dead wife Susan and Davey resents what he sees as an attempt to replace his mother. Despite her hopes, Rachel is treated as a servant and not a wife. She is naturally upset by this but keeps her sorrows to herself. Unlike Susan, she is unskilled in the use of a musket, but resolves to learn to shoot to connect with the boy and through him, with the father. She practices secretly in the cabin's cellar. This will stand her in good stead later. Jim Fairways (

), a hunter who is a family friend (and former suitor of Susan's), visits and becomes attracted to Rachel. She blossoms under Jim's attentions and discloses, to David's surprise and embarrassment, that she can play Susan's spinet. They enjoy a pleasant evening of instrumental music and singing. Later, Davey interrupts the beginnings of a mutual understanding between David and Rachel. On his next visit, ostensibly to retrieve his forgotten guitar, Jim brings presents, including a dress for Rachel. David is disturbed by the easy way in which Jim has become friendly with Rachel and he slowly becomes jealous and irritated as Jim stays weeks longer than expected. He takes the opportunity of a night out hunting foxes with the dogs, to tackle Jim and encourage him to leave. Davey defies Rachel and stays outside the cabin to listen to the sounds of the hunt. A prowling mountain lion threatens Davey and the stock. At the sound of a gunshot the men come running and Rachel admits that she killed the animal. As a result, she rises in Davey's estimation. When Jim offers to buy her, David's resentments come to the surface and they fight. Rachel has to intervene. She is quietly furious and feels that both men appear to regard her more as a commodity to be traded than as a wife. She decides to leave and walks back to the settlement, daring David to take her to law over the indenture. David is angry but also concerned about her traveling alone in view of the possible presence of Shawnee nearby. It has slowly dawned on him what a fine woman she is and what her loss would mean to him. Jim intends to press his own suit. Taking Davey, they ride after her. That night, while they are camped, Jim makes an offer to Rachel to come away with him. At Davey's urging, David makes an awkward bid for her to return home. She does not respond to either man. Later, they see a glow in the night sky and fear the Shawnee are attacking settlers. The two men send Rachel and Davey on horseback to the settlement for safety while they run back to the cabin to see what is going on. Rachel is worried about David and after a while sends Davey on for help while she follows the men. She reaches the cabin to find them besieged. She is dragged from her horse by one of the attackers, but David and Jim make a sally and manage to get her into the cabin where she uses her new-found skill with a musket to aid the defense. The Shawnee set the cabin on fire and the trio retreat to the cellar. Early next morning, Parson Jackson and the local militia arrive to drive off the attackers. David and Rachel survey the burnt-out cabin, making tentative plans for the future. Rachel knows she has been accepted as a wife when David tells his son to "do as your Ma says" and enfolds her in a tender embrace.

Cast

as Rachel Harvey *

as David Harvey *

as Jim Fairways * Gary Gray as Davey *

as Parson Jackson *

Sara Haden Sara Haden (born Catherine Haden, November 17, 1898 – September 15, 1981) was an American actress of the 1930s through the 1950s and in television into the mid-1960s. She may be best remembered for appearing as Aunt Milly Forrest in 14 entrie ...

as Mrs. Jackson *

Frank Ferguson Frank S. Ferguson (December 25, 1906 – September 12, 1978) was an American character actor with hundreds of appearances in both film and television. Background Ferguson was the younger of two children of W. Thomas Ferguson, a native Scottish ...

as Mr. Green *

Walter Baldwin Walter Smith Baldwin Jr. (January 2, 1889 − January 27, 1977) was an American character actor whose career spanned five decades and 150 film and television roles, and numerous stage performances. Baldwin was born in Lima, Ohio, into a theat ...

as Gallus *

Regina Wallace Regina Wallace (September 1, 1886 – February 13, 1978) was an American film and theatre actress. Born in Trenton, New Jersey, Wallace began her career in 1913, performing in New York, where she appeared in the Broadway play ''A Good Little D ...

as Mrs. Green

Production

Filming took place in

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census, Eu ...

Reception

The film recorded a profit of $395,000.Richard Jewell & Vernon Harbin, ''The RKO Story.'' New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House, 1982. p. 231Richard B. Jewell, ''Slow Fade to Black: The Decline of RKO Radio Pictures'', Uni of California, 2016 After Mitchum was arrested for possessing marijuana, RKO rushed to release the film to take advantage of the news of Mitchum's arrest.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rachel And The Stranger 1948 films 1948 Western (genre) films 1948 drama films American Western (genre) films American black-and-white films 1940s English-language films Films based on short fiction Films directed by Norman Foster Films scored by Roy Webb Films set in Ohio Films set in the 18th century Films shot in Eugene, Oregon Films with screenplays by Waldo Salt RKO Pictures films Revisionist Western (genre) films 1940s American films