A Impostora

This movie is a remake of "No Man of her Own", starring Barbara Stanwyck (1950). "Mrs. Winterbourne", starring Ricki Lake (1996), was also a remake.

The original story was by Cornell Woolrich: "I married a Dead Man".

It was also a French movie "I Married a Dead Man" ("J'ai épousé une ombre")in 1982, starring Nathalie Baye. I have enjoyed this movie in all three American incarnations. I have not seen the French version, but now that I know it exists, I will try to find it. The best version, of course, was the one starring Barbara Stanwyck. However, I thought both Ricki Lake and Tracey Gold did a fine job of portraying the poor girl, who wound up in circumstances not of her own making. I like happy endings, and all three American versions had happy endings.

Doesn't anyone realize all these films are a remake of an old 1950 Barbara Stanwyck movie called "No Man of Her Own".

Pregnant Stanwyck is on a train running away from her low life boyfriend back in New York and is befriended by a young married couple also expecting a baby. They are both just out of the service on their way to meet her in-laws for the first time. On a visit to the ladies room Barb is given a chance to try on the fancy engagement ring when the train wreck happens.

In "She's No Angel" when the runaway was offered a chance to try on the ring I could see that the young newlyweds were doomed. Sure enough, within seconds they are dead. This movie is still running and I'm sure it will have some differences that will manifest themselves but if you have a chance, check out "No Man of Her Own", 1950, it's a very good movie in the film noir style.

When I read the Plot Summary: "A young woman on the run allows grieving parents to believe she is their late son's wife." I immediately thought that they had taken the movie -"Mrs. Winterbourne" - and changed the title for TV. WRONG!!! The plot summaries could be used to describe both movies. It as at this point the resemblance ends. The movie is slow, predictable, and at times - down right boring. There are very strong actors in the movie, but apparently the director did not know how to utilize their talents. The blame should be shared equally by the screenwriter. The script is "sappy". Somehow I felt that I should connect with the lead character (played by Tracey Gold) but I could not decide whether she should be liked, disliked or even pitied. The character's motivation was revealed too late in the story to justify the ending. In "Mrs. Winterbourne" the last ten minutes were the best in the movie, the plot and subplots all came together based on good character development. In "She's No Angel" it felt like the writer and/or director (or possibly even the film editor) realized that the film was running long and they wrapped up the story line in the remaining allotted time. I believe that when watching a movie the viewer has a responsibility to suspend reality and that filmmakers are allowed to use poetic license. I think their license should be suspended for this one.

A woman is raped and her employer refuses to pay her owed wages. She runs away and ends up in a road accident. People assume she's someone else who died, and is not able to admit anything until its too late. I found this film uncomfortable to watch as you know the main character is living a lie and you keep wanting her to be honest.

In 1982, A novel written by American Author William Irish, under the title of "I married a dead man", gave rise in France to a Film called "J'ai épousé une ombre" starring Nathalie Baye, Richard Bohringer, and Francis Huster. A pregnant woman fleeing a violent boyfriend, boards a train and is taken into care by a newlywed couple returning to the Bordeaux region (the husband has yet to present his new wife to his parents who are rich wine-growers). The train crashes, the couple are killed and the girl is taken for the dead newlywed wife because she was wearing her ring at the time the crash happened ! The story "She's no Angel is identical to this, except that it is a car crash, and not a train crash but every other aspect identical, even down to the fact that the welcoming family are winegrowers ! So there has to have been some copying somewhere. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed both "J'ai épousé une ombre" and "she's no angel" though I suppose the credit must first of all go to William Irish as 'tis he who wrote the original novel Quite entertaining !