Crime Street presents Strange Illusion (1945)

Director - Edgar G. Ulmer
 

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Plot
Commentary
Cast and Production Credits

The Plot

Very loosely based on Hamlet, Strange Illusion begins and ends in the dreaming unconscious of Paul Cartwright. Paul's father, a prominent state politician, has died recently in somewhat mysterious circumstances. Young Paul has recurring dreams that he interprets as a warning messages from beyond that his mother and sister are in danger. A university criminology student, Paul investigates the surface smoothness of his mother's fiancé, breaking through the mirror to the hard and hidden evil on the other side.

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Commentary

Freud's a Poppin'

Alameda's TV's favorite low budget director - Edgar G. Ulmer (Bluebeard and Detour) returns with yet another class A effort in what would be generously called a B-film. On far less than B financing, Ulmer takes on a modern, though very vague adaptation of Hamlet, and uses his directing magic to take the viewer on a psychological journey that few larger budget movies of its time would dare.

To Be Or Not To Be

Strange Illusion is filled with sinister dream sequences, devious psychiatrists, plus 1945 CSI forensics colliding and exploding among the Germanic tinged cinematography and symbolic scoring.

Ulmer takes Oedipal aspirations for a long drive with his Shakespearean thrust as Mom is called "Princess" by both her son and daughter, and when she and Paul are in a room alone they stand intimately close to each other, touching one another whenever and wherever possible. Meanwhile, the villain, played by slickster Warren William, has a "thing" for young girls. And over it all a freakishly oversized portrait of the deceased dad hovers over the actions even as it moves from room to room.

The Other Side of the Mirror

Still all of the above are just the tip of the neurotic landscape of symbols strewn throughout the film. You can also add mirrors, swimming pools, castle-like mansions, carving knives, jazz music juxtaposed with Schumann concertos, and on and on and on. This 80 minutes worth of film packs it in.

The Other Side of Henry Aldrich

A twisted subtext to this film that would be lost on a 21st century audience is the casting of Jimmy Lydon as Paul, the tortured Hamlet of the story.

Mr Lydon played the part of Henry Aldrich in the very popular B-movie series of the early 1940s. Henry Aldrich was an All-American bumbling adenoidal missing link between the earlier Andy Hardy and the later Jerry Lewis. The original theater audience in 1945 would have felt uncomfortable with this strange illusion of the familiar Henry.

Trivia Pursuit Between the Symbols

Look closer into Strange Illusion and you'll find a very brief appearance of John Hamilton - TV Superman's Perry White. Warren William, the subtly sick antagonist of the film, began his career on stage, later moving to silent films. He played Julius Caesar in the Cecil B. DeMille's very big budget Cleopatra, and also starred in three B-movie mystery series of his own - Philo Vance, Perry Mason and The Lone Wolf.

- Ed Schneider - Alameda TV

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Cast

Production Credits

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For more on...

Edgar G. Ulmer
Bluebeard
Detour
Hamlet in the Movies