(1945)
3
Bruce Eder
Strange Illusion is one of the most enchantingly bizarre and thoroughly enjoyable examples of film noir ever to come out of the celebrated "B" studio PRC, as well as being one of the most unsettling psychological thrillers of its era. Director Edgar G. Ulmer had become fascinated with the subject of psychology in the mid-'40s when he decided to make this movie, intended initially as an adaptation of a contemporary play, not a single element of which ended up in the final film. The screenplay that did result crawled with Freudian subtexts and several levels of neurosis and psychosis; the Oedipal fixation of the young hero and the villain's thinly veiled pedophilia (directed at teenage girls) being only the most obvious. The basic plot derives from Hamlet, but it is given a particularly nasty (and startling) edge by making the Claudius character (Warren William at his oiliest) into a would-be child molester. Coupled with Jimmy Lydon's vulnerably neurotic (yet appealing) hero, that onscreen pairing is as disquieting as it is startling to watch. Even in a movie made two decades later, these elements would be extraordinary, but the fact that they are presented within the context of a stylish little '40s B-mystery programmer makes them even more unsettling. Ulmer also filled his movie -- shot, as was usual in his case, in under three weeks, though not the mere six days in which Detour was filmed -- with all manner of stunning visuals, from the eerie dream sequences that open and close the film to the paranoia-laced, claustrophobia-inducing scenes of the hero trapped in a sanitarium. One particular scene, of the hero turning an eavesdropping gambit of the villains (a one-way window behind a mirror) into a means of escape, is a brilliant piece of photography, staging, and psychological symbolism. What's even more amazing is that none of the budgetary limitations under which Ulmer was working show through. This is one of the best-looking B-movies of its era, and it even offers a rich musical score by Leo Erdody (partly adapted from Schumann) that is central to the plot -- though to appreciate this film fully, one should find the best-looking DVD edition (probably the one from Allday Entertainment). There were directors working during this period who had scripts costing ten times in fees and time what this one did, and budgets of a million dollars or more (which would be up to 40 times what Ulmer had to spend here), who never made a movie a quarter as good, or as fascinating, disturbing, and complex, as Strange Illusion.
Trailer
releases for Strange Illusion on AllMovie
Strange Illusion (1945)
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Strange Illusion
Alpha Video
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January 27, 2004 |
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Strange Illusion
Image Entertainment
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September 18, 2001 |
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Strange Illusion
Roan Archival Group
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January 30, 2001 |
