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Rachel and the Stranger

Rachel and the Stranger
Rats1948.jpg
Directed by Norman Foster
Produced by Richard H. Berger
Jack J. Gross
Written by Howard Fast (story)
Waldo Salt
Starring Loretta Young
William Holden
Robert Mitchum
Music by Roy Webb
Cinematography Maury Gertsman
Edited by Les Millbrook
Harry Marker
Distributed by RKO
Release date
  • September 18, 1948 (1948-09-18) (Premiere-New York City)
  • October 2, 1948 (1948-10-02) (U.S.)
Running time
80 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Box office $2.4 million (US rentals)

Rachel and the Stranger is a black-and-white 1948 western film starring Loretta Young, William Holden, and Robert Mitchum. The Norman Foster-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 trade. It was based on the Howard Fast short story "Rachel".

While the film had a low budget, it was RKO's most successful film that year, making $395,000.

In colonial America, David Harvey (William Holden), a recent widower living in the wilderness, decides that his young boy Davey (Gary Gray) needs a woman around to help raise him. He goes to the nearest settlement and consults Parson Jackson (Tom Tully). David gets talked into buying the contract of an indentured servant named Rachel (Loretta Young) and marrying her.

Their marriage, however, is in name alone. Rachel serves more as a servant than a wife and Davey resents what he sees as an attempt to replace his dead mother Susan. Jim Fairways (Robert Mitchum), a family friend (and former suitor of Susan's), visits and falls in love with Rachel. When he offers to buy her, David must fight to keep her and discovers his love in the process.

The film recorded a profit of $395,000.

After Mitchum was arrested for possessing marijuana, RKO rushed to release the film to take advantage of the news of Mitchum's arrest.



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