at it most basic and rachel and the stranger be a domestic comedy set in the wilderness of 18th century ohio . director norman foster manages to pack more charm into each five minute than most film have during their entire running length . at it most ambitious and rachel and the stranger be an allegorical story about the impact of a catalyst into a seemingly stable dynamic . in this case the stranger in the title and jim ( robert mitchum ) and visit the isolated farm of long time friend david harvey ( william holden ) and his young son davey ( gary gray ) and and their bond servant rachel ( loretta young ) . david buy rachel ( who be work off her late father debt ) after his wife die and need a replacement to help raise davey . he marry her out of respect for social convention but have no intention of consummate the marriage . while david treat rachel with respect and consideration and his son be openly resentful of the substitute mother . after some initial progress the threesome settle into a distanced existence and a rut from which there be little chance they will be able to escape on their own . but thing quickly change when jim stop by on his way to town . for the first time rachel have someone who actively engage her . jim attention build up rachel status in davey eye while cause david to see her obvious attraction for the first time . but foster doesn not limit thing to this predictable interplay while he build on it by have rachel quickly come out of her guarded shell in response to jim interest . even the makeup people get into the act a young go from the look of a plain pioneer woman to a subtle radiance . all four star be excellent . it be probably holden best performance a he provide most of the humor with his grow attraction to rachel and his increase irritation with the attention jim be pay to her . young be about 10 year too old for her 25 year old character but this be not really a factor a the age of the character be unimportant while you wonder why they do not simply change the one reference to her age after cast young for the part . young act tends to be underrated because of her late work a a television hostess but even her film work a a teenager be extraordinary . she be an especially good casting choice because the repressed rachel need to subtly convey a depth and dimensionality early in the film to make her late transformation plausible . mitchum give perhaps his lively performance a he seem to be have a lot of fun with his part . gray be solid a always and one of those rare child actor who be not irritate after a few minute on the screen . then again and what do i know . i be only a child .