We Were Strangers
An explosive story of violent lives...lived dangerously!
1949 | 106m | English
Popularity: 0.8 (history)
| Director: | John Huston |
|---|---|
| Writer: | John Huston, Robert Sylvester, Peter Viertel |
| Staring: |
| China Valdes joins the Cuban underground after her brother is killed by the chief of the secret police, Ariete. She meets and falls in love with American expatriate Tony Fenner. Tony develops a plan to tunnel under the city's cemetery to a plot owned by a high official, assassinate him, and blow up the whole Cuban hierarchy at the ensuing state funeral. Together with a band of dedicated revolutionaries, they begin digging. | |
| Release Date: | Apr 27, 1949 |
|---|---|
| Director: | John Huston |
| Writer: | John Huston, Robert Sylvester, Peter Viertel |
| Genres: | Adventure, Drama, Romance, Thriller |
| Keywords | cemetery, political assassination, revolutionary, cuban american, havana, cuba, 1930s, war with fascism, brother murder, secret tunnel, romantic subplot, corrupt police officials, digging |
| Production Companies | Columbia Pictures, Horizon Pictures |
| Box Office |
Revenue: $0
Budget: $0 |
| Updates |
Updated: Feb 02, 2026 Entered: Apr 20, 2024 |
| Name | Character |
|---|---|
| Jennifer Jones | China Valdés |
| John Garfield | Tony Fenner |
| Pedro Armendáriz | Armando Ariete |
| Gilbert Roland | Guillermo Montilla |
| Ramon Novarro | Chief |
| Wally Cassell | Miguel |
| David Bond | Ramón Sánchez |
| José Pérez | Toto |
| Morris Ankrum | M. Seymour |
| Lelia Goldoni | Consuelo Valdés (uncredited) |
| John Huston | Señor Muñoz (uncredited) |
| Name | Job |
|---|---|
| John Huston | Director, Screenplay |
| Robert Sylvester | Novel |
| Russell Metty | Director of Photography |
| Al Clark | Editor |
| Peter Viertel | Screenplay |
| George Antheil | Original Music Composer |
| Ben Hecht | Additional Writing |
| Name | Title |
|---|---|
| Jules Buck | Associate Producer |
| Sam Spiegel | Producer |
| Organization | Category | Person |
|---|
Popularity History
| Year | Month | Avg | Max | Min |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 2 |
| 2024 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 3 |
| 2024 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 1 |
| 2024 | 7 | 4 | 9 | 1 |
| 2024 | 8 | 3 | 6 | 2 |
| 2024 | 9 | 4 | 11 | 1 |
| 2024 | 10 | 3 | 7 | 1 |
| 2024 | 11 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| 2024 | 12 | 2 | 5 | 1 |
| 2025 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 1 |
| 2025 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| 2025 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 2025 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2025 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 2025 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 2025 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 2025 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2025 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2025 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 2026 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2026 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Trending Position
talisencrw
8.0
It was unique to come across this early Huston work. It's weird that today, three generations later, when Scarlett Johansson gets in trouble for being cast as an Asian, that this was long the practice. I've seen star Jennifer Jones here as a Cuban, and later in 'love is a Many-Splendored Thing' as E ... urasian. She and John Garfield (himself playing a Cuban-born American businessman and revolutionary supporter) had good chemistry, and the film was finely made. Worth purchasing and rewatching.
Jun 23, 2021