Talk About a Stranger
In his first Hollywood feature, shot by master noir cinematographer John Alton, David Bradley used the odd amalgam of a film noir set in the orange groves of Southern California to evoke a suspenseful and philosophical story around a suspect-thy-neighbor theme particularly apt, in retrospect, for L.A. in the Fifties. A young boy's fear of a mysterious and foreboding next-door-neighbor, whom he suspects of murder, leads him to embark on a determined and violent crusade against the man, despite cautions by various adults that he lacks proof. Newsweek wrote of the film, which, incidentally, features George Murphy and Nancy Davis (Reagan), "The screenplay...is ingenious and touching; David Bradley's direction is expert, and the whole small-scale affair has an air of human authority and insight."