The Strange Woman

An obscure film which, because of surprising creative touches in directing, acting and editing, should be shown more often: more than a potboiler, more than a "women's picture" that did not happen to star Bette Davis or Joan Crawford, it offers an engaging story, characters of substance and - except for a convenient and contrived ending - an honest portrayal of people caught in a web of circumstances and emotions they cannot control. Aside from the glitter and sweep, it has more similarities to than differences from "Gone With the Wind."

This may be Hedy Lamarr's most challenging role, and she acquits herself quite well. George Sanders appears infrequently as a sympathetic character, but even he is victimized by the Scarlett O'Hara-like wiles of Hedy. That both of these performers have accents that are not suggestive of born-and-bred Maine residents should not constitute more than a minor annoyance. The picture has more than enough offsetting merits.

Propelled by powerful performances, a good script and strong cinematography, The Strange Woman explores the life of a beautiful, headstrong, passive aggressive femme fatale in Bangor, Maine, during the early 19th century. Hedy Lamar leads an excellent cast and gives it everything she has. Jenny Hager is a deeply troubled woman who grew up in a dysfunctional relationship with an alcoholic father, and married into a rich family. Throughout her life before and after this marriage, she quietly and subtly plotted and schemed to get where, what and who she wanted, while keeping up the appearance of a good, honest country lady.

The film focuses almost exclusively on Jenny and her romantic entanglements, but is also satisfying as a rather odd example of an anachronistic film noir. As such, it is very original in both concept and story. The Strange Woman may be the best piece of directing accomplished by the very prolific B film-maker Edgar Ulmer (Detour). It is nicely shot and paced, and, unlike many noir films, contains a few positive messages in addition to the disturbing stuff.

Recommendation: Serious noir fans will appreciate this, but you have to give this film some time to breathe. It is fairly slow and contains only a few action scenes - which are not its highlights by any stretch. It is also very focused on gender stereotypes (not all of which are treated uncritically), so its appreciation takes a little more thought than the genre standard.

Hedy Lamarr and Egar G. Ulmer. OK. It really did happen, improbable as the pairing seems.

She is very convincing as the daughter of a drunk who wants to dominate men and the society that squashed her when she was a child. It seems to me that her father speaks with a Scottish burr and that she does very briefly. The story might better have been changed so that he was an immigrant whose accent would be more consistent with th4e luscious Ms. Lamarr's own.

Nevertheless, it is atmospheric and very troubling. She marries an older man and immediately starts out in pursuit of his son. She gets the son and throws him over (a bit improbably) for Gweorge Sanders, wearing mutton chop sideburns here.

It's not Ulmer'best -- that might be his "Hamlet"pdate "Strange Illusion." But it is very good and it is one of the best performances ever given by Ms. Lamarr.

What a story and well acted. Hedy as a teenager and then into a grown woman. She was fantastic looking and fantastic in it. I thought George Sanders, whom I admired as an actor was miscast though. Louis Hayward was excellent as the weak son. In fact everyone in it was well cast. Too bad it wasn't in color, or done by a major studio. I could of sworn the little girl that portrays Hedy as a child was also fantastic for her age. She even looked like Hedy may of looked like at that age. Definitely worth watching.

For a generation hooked on special effects, and mostly shoddy updates of very old film cliches, 'Strange Woman' must seem like a very dated movie. Of course, that largely depends on generational film tastes. A good story; good if sometimes uneven performances, and of course Hedy Lamarr; one of Hollywood's best kept secrets. Poor Hedy usually got the short end of the stick, as most of the critical acclaim went to very over-rated actresses, who were not nearly as beautiful as Hedy. Critics could never get past her phenomenal beauty, and more often rewarded Bergman, Turner, Davis, and Crawford, because they looked like ordinary everyday people. Oh! the simple minded, one-dimensional critics who imposed their bland tastes on a public, that just craved good entertainment. Hedy as Jenny Hager represents a daring stretch for Hedy; and she delivers a somewhat hammy, but nevertheless engaging performance. George Sanders is excellent as usual, in one of his lesser roles, and the cinematography is first rate. This is a melodramatic melodrama folks! It represents a bygone era in movie-making; when movies were made to entertain, sometimes most effectively in black and white, very often with modest budgets, and without mindboggling effects, extremely loud soundtracks. This movie deserves a 7/10.