Moviecut—Strange Impersonation

source: Strange Impersonation

I normally love B pictures but this film was so cringe-inducing, it made my teeth ache. I know we're supposed to suspend disbelief but I'd need a whopping dose of the "Girl Chemist's" anesthesia to become brain-dead enough to accept this plot. There were so many agonizing aspects so I'll just mention the 2 that gave me a headache: the over-the-top scene when Jane Kanaski comes to call (so subtle) and the casting of William Gargan as a Hunky Catch. Gargan is so off-putting he made me uncomfortable watching as I could almost feel his soft, puffy, sweaty hands.

Spoilers herein. This film was from a period in which the definitions of and borderlines between genres was changing, perhaps the most in the history of film. This experiment is a 'safe' noir, where the viewer is returned to the fuzzy familiar world of the happy ending. In other words, this movie is one thing that disguises itself as something else, something darker, more mysterious and less 'scientific' (meaning in this case, logical). And the story is the same thing. Would be pretty interesting if their were at least one other element that was done well. Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

STRANGE IMPERSONATION is an odd and unsatisfying little slice of film noir that plays havoc with established genre elements. The main characters in this film are all women who take the moniker 'femme fatale' to the extreme: they're far more violent than the men, and willing to take part in schemes often dangerous and deadly. The story bears more than a passing resemblance to the British crime film RETURN OF A STRANGER in the tale of a leading scientist who ends up being horrifically scarred in a laboratory accident. A hefty dollop of plastic surgery follows, at which point the woman decides to wreak revenge on the various characters who have ruined her life - with deadly results. While this film can be quite watchable at times, overall it's a disappointment. The acting is a bit too shrill for my tastes, and Brenda Marshall is hardly the type of heroine who it's easy to identify with. But the worst thing about it by far is the twist ending, which is a real kick in the teeth to anybody who's bothered to waste their time watching this.

With a dash of The Wizard of Oz, and a bit of a tease from Hillary Brooke (the future tease of Abbott and Costello), Strange Impersonation asks us to believe that a nerdy scientist would prefer plain-looking Brenda Marshall over hot and juicy Hillary Brooke. Give me a break; I dont think so. The story is intriguing, but the pacing is a bit off, and the dialogue leaves a lot to be desired. I will not reveal the ending, but I did mention the Wizard of Oz for a reason. Recommended only to see Hilary as a bad girl.

A female scientist in New York, working on an anesthetic, keeps trying to get it just right, and won't marry her fiancé until it works. She has a devoted friend and assistant who seems very loyal. One night, she accidentally hits a drunken woman, and gives her cash after driving her home. Later, the assistant gives the scientist a dose of the anesthetic to test it once again. This sets up a plot of disfigurement, blackmail, and accidental death. Then, a twist is revealed which sets the scientist out on the course for revenge. TRUE SPOILERS BELOW: This is a difficult film to describe without revealing spoilers, even though it runs just over an hour. Brenda Marshall is the heroine, William Gargan her leading man, Hillary Brooke the assistant, and Ruth Ford the drunken woman. After being disfigured in a chemical explosion caused purposely by Brooke, Marshall breaks off with Gargan, whom she thinks has lost interest in her. It was all a trick of Brooke's to win Gargan for herself. Then, Ford shows up to blackmail Marshall, and is killed in a struggle over her gun. Marshall decides to take her place. After getting plastic surgery from H.B. Warner in L.A. (who has a strange idea about her), Marshall returns to New York, uses Ford's identity, and steps into her old job working with Gargan. Brooke is on to her and before you know it, Marshall is arrested for murdering herself! Yes, it is complicated, but not so confusing that you need to watch it more than once. It all comes together with the most delightful conclusion at the end. Some might groan (I did at first), but when you stop and think about it, it makes sense. After all, this is Film Noir, and nothing is supposed to make sense until the film is over. I could have done without nurse Mary Treen however; She is annoying enough to have been a deserving victim. Definitely a must for students of Film Noir and lovers of classic movies, particularly the "B's".

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.

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.

Hey, gals, don't shoot me for that statement...that isn't my idea, but let's face it, this is the underlying statement of this rather soap operish film. After all, the war was over and women did a great job working in all fields while the men were fighting a war, but look what happens to this gal when she decides to put her career ahead of getting married, popping out kids, and being a nice dutiful wife. Instead, she continues her job as a chemical research scientist, gets tangled up with a blackmailing woman who's aided by an ambulance-chasing shyster lawyer, is disfigured thanks to her jealous assistant, and just generally is in a mess that takes her the length of the movie to get out of. Ah, Anthony Mann sure won't get the woman's vote for this effort, but he redeemed himself later with films with strong and able female leads. Seriously, this is strictly a B concoction made to be a space filler on a double feature bill, just what was to be expected by the old Republic Studios which churned out hundreds of those great B films and cliffhanger serials. However, it is fun.