The Strange Woman
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DVD Cover Information Actor: Edward Biby, Hillary Brooke, Jessie Arnold, Louis Hayward, Olive Blakeney Director: Edgar G. Ulmer DVD: Region Code 1 Audio: English (Original Language) Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dolby, DVD, NTSC Picture Format: 1.33:1 Running Time: 99 minutes DVD Release Date: 2004-12-21 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Studio: Alpha Video |
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Movie Reviews of The Strange Woman
Movie Review: An Edgar G. Ulmer masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
Strange woman, indeed.
First, this is one of Alpha's cheap (inexpensive) DVD releases, and I found the quality of both picture and sound to be a 7 on a scale of 10. Alpha, a company doing yeoman service in releasing a tremendous catalog of otherwise forgotten Poverty Row pictures, often does not seem overly concerned with digital restoration (a fairly expensive process). This particular release, however, is quite watchable with good sound. Now, on to this juicy gem.
Leave it to B-movie genius, Edgar Ulmer, to wring every ounce of perversion and sleaze from a drama given by definition to plenty of inherent heat.
The set up is a familiar one to film noir fans - a very pretty girl (Hedy Lamarr), given some tough knocks by life (in this case a drunken, violent father), grows into a stunning sexual predator reaping men like Joan Crawford or Barbara Stanwick specialized in with much better known films (Mildred Pierce and The Strange Loves of Martha Ivers for two example). But in Ulmer's hands, this injured woman, and this film, is something else
again.
First and foremost, this is a great performance by Hedy Lamarr. It is a shame she was not called upon to act more often, as she certainly was capable, as this film proves, of Oscar-caliber work. Lamarr was one of the most beautiful actresses to ever stand in front of a camera. There are near legendary stories about stage hands, actors, directors, forgetting the business at hand, lost in a simple stare. But more, her beauty was combined with pure sexual allure (a very rare combination - many actress have one or the other, seldom both). With these traits, acting skills were barely required. Perhaps it took a director like Ulmer, a man completely unimpressed with simple beauty, to bring out the artist in Lamarr.
Favorite scenes: Lamarr being beaten by her father as a young woman. The father screaming "This is one beating you'll NOT like!" Lamarr smiles as her father undoes his belt and begins the whipping, smiles and smiles with each lashing, until finally her expression is a combination of pain and pleasure.
Lamarr approaching her much older husband's son, turning out lamps and blowing out candles as she approaches, her eyes glittering in the growing darkness. "Shall I light your way?" she asks.
Lamar approaching the fiancée of her best friend in the dark of night as lightening strikes behind her and a burning, split tree light their embrace.
Lamarr, older now, screaming at newest husband "Hell! Hell is opening up under our feet!"
In other notable noirs, actresses like the aforementioned Stanyck and Crawford were always misunderstood or somehow justified in their hardness (and that's the worst that could be said of them - they were just tough, wisecracking gals who had perhaps made an understandable mistake). Here, however, the Lamarr character, Jenny Hagar, never cracks wise once, nor does she ever imagine what she has done is justifiable. She purrs destruction or flames hot with regret and self loathing. She is NOT an okay gal beneath it all. She is, in fact, twisted and perverse, somehow horribly self-aware of her
own evil.
Finally, it was a huge treat to see George Sanders playing a big, rugged leading man. This is before he became so adept at playing cads and bounders, and he seemed to enjoy himself completely.
Okay, one more tidbit, just to let you know how much you need to see this film:
In a fit of conscience, Jenny Hagar/Lamarr, now married to a rich man, donates $1,000 at a church service when the rest of the wealthy congregation remaines silent upon the reverend's fervent request. Upon leaving the church, the reverend thanks her for speaking up and comments on her good work, saying she must always give such service to the church. "Haven't her lips given you enough service for one day?" snaps the rich, much older husband.
Edgar Ulmer at his finest. -Mykal Banta