Colibel
Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.
Matialth
Good concept, poorly executed.
Comwayon
A Disappointing Continuation
Leofwine_draca
A legal drama from 1943, A STRANGER IN TOWN is a low budget potboiler that offers a starring role for old-timer Frank Morgan, best known for playing the title role in THE WIZARD OF OZ. Here, he plays a genial judge who pays a visit to a youthful and crusading politician who has just become mayor and is busy battling corruption in his town.The twist is that Morgan's real identity is a secret, allowing him to observe proceedings from a place of safety. It's not a bad plot per se, but too much of the running time gets bogged down in a lengthy romance between the young characters, and Morgan doesn't have a great deal to do. It's a pity, as in the right hands this could have been something special.
bkoganbing
Frank Morgan who since The Great Cellini played mostly bumbling fools in film took a somewhat serious turn in his career with this B film from his studio MGM. A Stranger In Town casts Morgan as a Supreme Court Justice who comes to a small town for a hunting vacation. When he gets shaken down for a local hunting license Morgan takes a hand in the local reform movement to get the gang of crooks led by Mayor Robert Barrat.The reform candidate for mayor against Barrat is Richard Carlson an eager young lawyer with more passion than courtroom smarts. But getting tutelage from a Supreme Court Justice albeit incognito certainly stood him in good stead. That and a little romance from Justice Morgan's law clerk Jean Rogers.Some of the other members of the cast are such familiar character players as Irving Bacon, Andrew Toombes, Donald MacBride, Olin Howland, and Chill Wills that cast is guaranteed entertainment. Of particular note is Porter Hall playing a corrupt judge who gets an opportunity to get out from under and takes it gratefully. John Hodiak made his feature film debut in A Stranger In Town.A Stranger In Town is a Capra-lite like comedy which holds up well even in these more sophisticated times.
mark.waltz
When Washington DC Supreme Court Judge Frank Morgan takes a much needed vacation, he ends up in a seemingly quaint small city run by a ruthless mayor, corrupt judge and their menagerie of crooked businessmen. Morgan, keeping his identity secret, stirs up a young attorney (Richard Cromwell) to run for mayor and run these offensive control freaks into the town sewer. With the help of Morgan's pretty secretary (Jean Rogers), Carlson soon has the townspeople in an uproar and the powers-that-be quaking in their fat shoes.A delightful surprise, this is just what America needed in 1943 to remind them that clean-up starts at home, that Nazi's, Jap's and the Italians were not their only enemies, and that ultimately, it is the simple folk who will prevail, not Government officials with special interests in mind. This is a far cry from his usual roles for Morgan, not at all the fliberty-gibet he was in most films. He plays the role simply, doesn't strive for lovability, just plain honesty. One of the best films of 1943 (and perhaps the best film you've never heard of), "A Stranger in Town" is a perfect film for students of political science and rousing entertainment for everybody else. It is a message film that still resonates today.
MartinHafer
Oddly, this film stars Frank Morgan as a Supreme Court justice! He's on vacation and runs afoul of a small town's corrupt administration. The crooked judge, mayor and their henchmen don't realize who Morgan is, so he's able to see first-hand their under-handed tactics. Because of their abuse of political power, Morgan decides to stick around and assist a naive young lawyer (Richard Carlson) in his bid to become mayor. At first, they are pretty much ignored, though in time, when the race for mayor seems tight, the old mayor unleashed a wave of dirty tricks--not realizing that Morgan holds the ultimate trump card.I had a hard time deciding whether to score this one a 7 or an 8. It was very good--particularly for a B-movie. Being a "B", it is a relatively short picture (only 67 minutes) but unlike many Bs it has excellent production values (especially the writing) and is very entertaining. About the only knock against it is that I thought the fight scenes were a bit too "slapsticky" and didn't exactly integrate well into the rest of the picture. Still, it's a dandy performance by Frank Morgan, as he's more restrained (i.e., less "hammy") than in most of his starring vehicles--well worth seeing and a lot of fun--as well as a decent civics lesson.
