The Stranger's Hand

The Stranger's Hand
The Stranger's Hand
Directed by	Mario Soldati
Written by	Giorgio Bassani; Guy Elmes
Based on	The Stranger's Hand by Graham Greene
Produced by	Angelo Rizzoli; Graham Greene; Peter Moore; John Stafford
Starring	Trevor Howard ; Alida Valli ; Richard Basehart
Cinematography	Enzo Serafin
Edited by	Tom Simpson; Leslie Hogdson; Leo Catozzo
Music by	Nino Rota; Alessandro Cicognini
Production; companies	Milo Film ; Rizzoli Film; Independent Film Producers
Distributed by	British Lion Films
Release date	20 January 1954;
Running time	85 minutes
Countries	Italy ; United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	£164,200

The Stranger's Hand (Italian: La mano dello straniero) is a 1954 British-Italian thriller drama film directed by Mario Soldati and starring Trevor Howard, Alida Valli and Richard Basehart. An international co-production, it is based on the draft novel with the same name written by Graham Greene.^[2] The plot follows the son of a British MI5 agent kidnapped in Venice by agents of Yugoslavia as he searches for his father.

The first two chapters of The Stranger's Hand had been entered by Greene anonymously under a pseudonym to a competition in the New Statesman to write a book in the style of Graham Greene – a competition in which Greene was amused to win second prize. Soldati had seen the chapters and persuaded Greene to complete the novella to make the basis for a film. Greene expanded it to 30 pages of a "film story", on which Giorgio Bassani and Guy Elmes completed the screenplay.^[3]

Cast

Trevor Howard as Major Roger Court
Alida Valli as Roberta Gleukovitch
Richard Basehart as Joe Hamstringer
Richard O'Sullivan as Roger Court
Eduardo Ciannelli as Dr. Vivaldi
Arnoldo Foà as Commissioner
Stephen Murray as British Consul in Venice
Guido Celano as Chief Constable
Nerio Bernardi as Vincenzo
Giorgio Costantini as Pescovitch
Angelo Cecchelin as Luza
Nino Vechina as First Killer
Armando Papette as Second Killer
Giovanni Karuz as Third Killer
Joan Butterfield as Mrs. Harrington
Alessandro Paulon as Morgan
Remington Olmsted as Ramondo

References

^ Chapman, J. (2022). The Money Behind the Screen: A History of British Film Finance, 1945-1985. Edinburgh University Press p 359. The British budget was £77,525, with the balance provided in lira by the Italian co-production partner. The certified sterling cost came to £92,235.
^ Roberto Chiti; Roberto Poppi; Enrico Lancia. Dizionario del cinema italiano: I film. Gremese, 1991. ISBN 8876055487.
^ The Guardian [1]

Bibliography

Spicer, Andrew. Historical Dictionary of Film Noir. Scarecrow Press, 2010.

External links

The Stranger's Hand at IMDb

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[money-1] Chapman, J. (2022). The Money Behind the Screen: A History of British Film Finance, 1945-1985. Edinburgh University Press p 359. The British budget was £77,525, with the balance provided in lira by the Italian co-production partner. The certified sterling cost came to £92,235.

[45-59-2] Roberto Chiti; Roberto Poppi; Enrico Lancia. Dizionario del cinema italiano: I film. Gremese, 1991. ISBN 8876055487.

[3] The Guardian [1]

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e Graham Greene
Bibliography
Novels	The Man Within (1929) The Name of Action (1930) Rumour at Nightfall (1932) Stamboul Train (1932) It's a Battlefield (1934) England Made Me (1935) A Gun for Sale (1936) Brighton Rock (1938) The Confidential Agent (1939) The Power and the Glory (1940) The Ministry of Fear (1943) The Heart of the Matter (1948) The Third Man (novella; 1949) The End of the Affair (1951) The Quiet American (1955) Loser Takes All (1955) Our Man in Havana (1958) A Burnt-Out Case (1960) The Comedians (1966) Travels with My Aunt (1969) The Honorary Consul (1973) The Human Factor (1978) Doctor Fischer of Geneva (1980) Monsignor Quixote (1982) The Tenth Man (1985) The Captain and the Enemy (1988) No Man's Land (2005)
Non-fiction	Journey Without Maps (1936) The Lawless Roads (1939) The Lost Childhood and Other Essays (1951) In Search of a Character (1961) A Sort of Life (1971) Ways of Escape (1980) Getting to Know the General: The Story of an Involvement (1984)
Plays	The Living Room (1953) The Potting Shed (1957) The Complaisant Lover (1959) Carving a Statue (1964) The Return of A. J. Raffles (1975) The Great Jowett (1981) Yes and No (1983) For Whom the Bell Chimes (1983)
Story collections	Twenty-One Stories (1954) A Sense of Reality (1963) May We Borrow Your Husband? (1967) The Last Word and Other Stories (1990)
Short stories	"The End of the Party" (1929) "Proof Positive" (1930) "The Basement Room" (1936) "Across the Bridge" (1938) "Alas, Poor Maling" (1940) "The Blue Film" (1954) "The Destructors" (1954) "A Shocking Accident" "The Invisible Japanese Gentlemen" "The Last Word"
Screenplays	21 Days (1940) Brighton Rock (1948) The Fallen Idol (1948) The Third Man (1949) Loser Takes All (1956) Saint Joan (1957) Our Man in Havana (1959) The Comedians (1967) Monsignor Quixote (1985)
Adaptations	Orient Express (1934) The Green Cockatoo (1937) This Gun for Hire (1942) Went the Day Well? (1942) Ministry of Fear (1944) The Heart of the Matter (1953) The End of the Affair (1955) The Quiet American (1958) Travels with My Aunt (1972) The Human Factor (1979) The Honorary Consul (1983) The End of the Affair (1999) The Quiet American (2002) Brighton Rock (2010)
Other	Brighton Rock (play) Shades of Greene
Category