Crime Street presents The Strange Woman (1946)

Director – Edgar G. Ulmer
 

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Plot
Film Notes
Cast and Production Credits

The Plot

Jenny, the bad seed daughter of a drunk in Bangor, Maine in the early 1800s, marries an elderly businessman, but soon enough seduces his son, and then her best friend's fiance. Meanwhile, the town becomes a Sodom and Gomorrah of lumberjacks, prostitutes and seaman as Jenny makes up for her evil deeds by becoming a Mother Theresa to less fortunate.

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Film Notes

A Moody Mess of a Movie

One of director Edgar G. Ulmer's few "A" list pictures, he managed to get the job at the request of his childhood friend – Hedy Lamarr.

Armed with a better cast than usual, plus a good cinematographer, he turns in a careful, competent effort, with just enough of his individual Ulmeresque touches to make it worthwhile viewing.

Though he has better set and art design than he was used to, he still stylizes the cinematography with the omnipresent, low key lighting, plenty of shadows, odd angles and architectural framing that he utilized in his low budget efforts. Meanwhile, he makes the beautiful Ms Lamarr even more beautiful in what is a moody mess of a film based on a best selling novel.

Gone with the Wind Meets Europa 51

This period film plays like a mini-Gone with the Wind without the massive scope, and in fact Hedy Lamarr bears a striking physical and psychological resemblance to Vivian Leigh's Scarlet O'Hara.

Watch for a few signs of Jenny's sado-masochist nature, as she tries to drown a boy, is beaten by her father and as she voyeuristically takes in the riotous insanity of a town gone frontier kinky beserk.

But her opposing saintly side also comes into view, as her actions also call to mind Ingrid Bergman in Rossellini's Europa '51, as a woman of wealth goes on a mission to aid the poor. That the motive behind Jenny's altruism is never explained would seem to be a short-coming, but that missing fact actually makes the character more mysteriously complex.

Wild Wisdom

Spiritual matters are also addressed in this backwoods melodrama, with the literally strange appearance of a traveling pioneer preacher named Lincoln Partridge.

Garbed in buckskin, like a hell and damnation Davy Crockett/Billy Graham, and portrayed with with golden haminess by ex-Broadway star Ian Keith, the firebrand's Old Testament words of wild wisdom send Jenny, and the later part of the film, off into new psychological frontiers. Has Jenny truly been on a path to seeing the light in her darkness? Will the recognition of her guilt lead her to salvation or damnation? Two actions at the very end of the film could be used as support for either.

Non-Trivial Support

A cast of Hollywood character actors make The Strange Woman one of Ulmer's better acted vehicles.

• Louis Hayward's stage career was launched in London by Noel Coward. Among his many starring roles were The Man in the Iron Mask, The Son of Monte Cristo, Anthony Adverse and The Saint in New York.
• The always elegantly cynical George Sanders, who also played The Saint, left this world with the following note, "Dear World, I am leaving you because I am bored." He had a long career in mostly "A" films, but also originated the character of the Falcon in the "B" mystery series, a role then passed on to his brother Tom Conway.
• Gene Lockhart's most famous role was easily the judge in Miracle on 34th Street.
• Stage veteran Dennis Hoey's performance as Jenny's drunken, cruel and disturbed father stands in contrast to his recurring role as Inspector Lestrade in Universal's Sherlock Holmes series.
• And speaking of Sherlock Holmes films, Jenny's best friend comes to beautiful blonde life courtesy of Hillary Brooke, who was featured in Sherlock Holmes and The Woman in Green.

-- Ed Schneider - Alameda TV

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Cast

Production Credits

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For more on...

Edgar G. Ulmer

Hedy Lamarr

Watch Hedy Lamarr in Crime Street's Algiers

Book author Ben Ames Williams

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