Pesadelo Horrível

They say to keep your friends close and your enemies closer. What if they are one and the same? Just ask scientist Nora Goodrich (Brenda Marshall, in real life Mrs. William Holden). She is conducting an experiment with her assistant/friend Arline (Hillary Brooke), but Arline is after Nora's fiancé (William Gargan), a successful doctor. While Nora is out from anesthetic, which is part of a grand experiment -oops, a fire starts in a beaker, thanks to Arline loading it up, and Nora's face is burned and scarred. While she's recovering in the hospital, Arline fixes it so that the fiancé thinks that Nora doesn't want to see him; meanwhile, Nora is wondering why he isn't coming by. Then an unfortunate accident in her apartment causes Nora to get plastic surgery - but with a brand-new face and a name to go with it.

This is kind of a fun B movie with an interesting cast that includes William Gargan as the object of Nora's and Arline's affections -- bad casting -- the role needed a good-looking B film lead like Jeffrey Lynn or Richard Carlson. H.B. Warner, Jesus in the original King of Kings, plays a plastic surgeon, and Ruth Ford, Mrs. Zachary Scott, plays one Jane Karaski, who is important to the plot.

Economically directed by Anthony Mann, this is a pretty good film with a gigantic twist at the end, one that was actually used in a couple of other films. Not the best but satisfying nonetheless.

Don't look for lovely cinematography, camera angles, unusual sets, great clothes, or anything like that - this movie comes to you from Republic Studios.

Scientist, Nora Goodrich (Brenda Marshall) has developed a revolutionary anesthetic. Rather than bother with years of trials, she simply uses it on herself, in her apartment.

The new drug works very well. In fact, too well, since Nora's conniving assistant, Arline Cole (Hillary Brooke) has plans of her own, and takes full advantage of Nora's comatose condition.

Tragedy ensues, altering Nora's entire life!

STRANGE IMPERSONATION has elements of noir, revenge, and even a bit of sci-fi thrown in. While the ending is somewhat of an eye-roller, the rest is good enough to recommend it...

The third noir from director Mann – after THE GREAT FLAMARION (1945; which I haven't seen) and the minor but not unentertaining TWO O'CLOCK COURAGE (1945) – also has some very welcome horror/sci-fi trappings that should endear it to fans of those kind of movies as well. Lovely blonde, bespectacled scientist Brenda Marshall (who, in real life, was Mrs. William Holden at the time) keeps postponing her marriage to colleague William Gargan because of her all-important experiments in anaesthesia, until one night her jealous assistant Hillary Brooke contrives to overdo the mixture causing an explosion in the vicinity of Marshall (who is out cold) that leaves her facially scarred. More treachery from the two-faced Brooke manages to bar Gargan from visiting the hospitalized Marshall which leads to their breaking off the engagement. A slight traffic accident on the night of the explosion has also put a blackmailing woman and a snooping lawyer in Marshall's path but, seeing the former fall to her death from the apartment window after a tussle, gives her a new lease on life which enables her to change identities with the dead woman and perform plastic surgery (courtesy of surgeon H.B. Warner). Adopting the facial features of the blackmailer (including shedding her glasses and dying her hair black), she introduces herself to Gargan and Brooke as her own school-friend from chemistry class and is soon employed by the former as his personal aide! In the meantime, Brooke starts looking into this intruder's past and, confronting Marshall with her contradictory findings, is shocked when her new rival reveals she is the old one in disguise, after all. On the other hand, the obnoxious lawyer is still on Marshall's trail and, in fact, almost gets her convicted for her own murder when Brooke refuses to corroborate her story about who she really is! The climatic interrogation sequence is where Mann lets all the expressionistic stops out…until the unexpected (and unwarranted) end revelation that it has all been the heroine's nightmare!! That the film succeeds as much as it does in spite of the meager cast, inexistent production values and cop-out finale is a tribute to the mastery of a film-maker who is just finding a firm footing in a genre he will be making his own in the following year or two.

Plot-- After restorative surgery, a disfigured research scientist tries to regain her former status under an assumed identity. And that's despite a scheming rival, an unethical lawyer, and a blackmailing vixen.

About two-thirds of the way through and I was boggling at the implausibles. Okay, I'm usually pretty indulgent about these things; after all, Hollywood itself is pretty implausible. But then came the ending and all the stretches suddenly made weird sense. Not that this is a good film. It's just a programmer from cowboy-oriented Republic that RKO's noir unit might have made memorable. Then too, I agree with reviewer robert temple: why would two attractive women connive over a lump like William Gargan's Dr. Lindstrom. If there was a subtle point being made, I guess I missed it. Instead, it looks like a glaring piece of miscasting.

What the 60-minutes does have is a fine central performance from Brenda Marshall as the afflicted Nora. But most of all, it's a chance for the Hillary Brooke fan club to watch a favorite spider women do her thing. Catch the way her eyes suddenly reveal a hidden inner demeanor. That subtle inner dimension is crucial here, but as the expert actress knows, not to be overdone. Yet, why is she missing from that final scene. Her presence there would seem required in order to complete the circuit with the pivotal earlier scene. But since when did Golden Age Hollywood compromise their blissful fade-outs, regardless of logic.

Anyway, I expect a few years later with a more seasoned Anthony Mann and a more appropriate studio, the idea could have achieved genuine noir status.

Does there exist a male baby boomer who grew up watching reruns of "The Abbott and Costello Show" during the 1950s and early '60s who was able to resist falling in love with Hillary Brooke? With her sexy blond good looks and sweet demeanor, no wonder Lou and all the other guys had a major "thing" for her. Viewers may be surprised to learn, however, that before "The A&C Show," Hillary excelled at portraying so-called "bad girls," as the 1946 potboiler "Strange Impersonation" so amply demonstrates. Here, she plays the assistant to anesthesia researcher Brenda Marshall (herself so memorable in one of my Top 10 films of all time, the 1940 remake of "The Sea Hawk"), as well as the best friend from hell. Hillary sabotages one of Marshall's experiments, leading to an explosive fire and the disfigurement of her boss. She then goes about stealing Marshall's fiancé, leading to a twisty story involving betrayal, plastic surgery, murder, blackmail and identity theft. All this in a brief 68 minutes, and topped with a surprise ending that some may find cheap, but that surprisingly explains away the many plot loopholes, inconsistencies and implausibilities that have preceded it; an ending, in addition, that is wholly earned and was set up in the film's opening moments. Yes, this IS another B cheapie made on the quick by Republic Studios, but it certainly is fun. And need I even mention that it is a must for all fans of Hillary Brooke?