相逢何必曾相识 (1960)

During the recent rediscovery of Quine, Strangers When We Meet has been almost unanimously declared the director’s masterpiece. Although this adult melodrama of infidelity is clearly set in Sirk territory, it replaces Sirk’s pointed artificiality with a biting urgency, understated realism and palpable sadness. A fascinating cross between Sirk and Cheever, then, Strangers is a poignant last sunset of the Hollywood melodrama in the twilight of the classical studio era. Kirk Douglas and Quine favorite Kim Novak play suburbanites drawn into an adulterous and inevitably ill-fated affair. After his comedies and musicals, in which character and tone take precedence over plot, Quine gives further evidence of his ability (as in his film noirs) to maintain narrative drive even while privileging his keenly observant eye for human behavior.