KnotMissPriceless
Why so much hype?
Solemplex
To me, this movie is perfection.
Aneesa Wardle
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
Jenni Devyn
Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.
mrb1980
"Strange Bargain" doesn't have any big stars, but its cast is very capable, the direction is good, and the script is excellent. It's a story of a suicide gone wrong, which is a little unusual.Sam Wilson (Jeffrey Lynn) is approached by his boss Mr. Jarvis (Richard Gaines), who tells Sam that he's going to kill himself. In order for his family to collect insurance, he has to make his death look like murder. Jarvis gives Wilson $10,000 to fake the murder, but things don't go the way anyone plans. There's a neat little twist at the end and Sam reunites with his faithful wife Georgia (Martha Scott).Lynn, Scott, and Gaines are great, as is Harry Morgan as a wise police detective. The little-known Katherine Emery is very good as Jarvis' conniving, grasping wife. As many reviewers have noted, Scott, Lynn, and Morgan reunited in 1987 for a TV episode to recreate their parts. It's a good treat for those who love late 1940s films, and it'll keep your attention at all times.
jbrickwood
For any Murder She Wrote fans, this movie may be familiar. It was the main feature for an episode entitled 'The Days Dwindle Down', aired in April of 1987. Jeffrey Lynn, Harry Morgan and Martha Scott resurrected their roles for the episode. I have yet to see the movie, however after seeing this episode, I am now intrigued to see what the movie was actually like.
bmacv
A sedate thriller built upon the insecurities of the newly emergent white-collar class, Strange Bargain offers solid production values and brisk direction. Jeffrey Lynn (who looks like a solution of Ray Milland and Bruce Bennett) is a hard-working family man who earns his keep as an accountant. One morning when the milk bill comes due he screws up his courage to ask for a raise; when he does, his boss tells him that the firm's at the brink of bankruptcy, and lets him go. But wait -- there's more! The boss plans to kill himself but make it look like murder so his wife can collect the insurance; for helping, he offers Lynn $10-grand. Lynn tries to prevent the suicide but arrives too late, finding his boss already dead. Enter a police detective (Harry Morgan) whose instincts tell him all is not as it seems (not only to him, but to us as well). Morgan aside, you're not likely to recognize any of the cast, but the story works itself out neatly and holds your interest. Too polite and middle-class to be true noir, Strange Bargain nontheless delivers what it promises.
snicklefritzy
An interesting note about this movie: The TV Series "Murder, She Wrote" produced a "sequel" to it in a 1987 episode, "The Days Dwindle Down," (episode # 3.21). Several actors, including Harry Morgan, reprise their roles. Jessica Fletcher re-solves the original crime by interviewing several of the original characters some 30 years after the fact (actually closer to 40 years!). The episode makes nice use of scenes from the original movie as flashbacks to explain the plot. Imagine the surprise of watching a typical MSW episode about an old murder, and then a 34-year-old Harry Morgan suddenly pops up in B&W interviewing the same (though younger) witnesses about the same murder!
