User reviews

Hedy Lamarr once said that the key to appearing beautiful is 'to stand still and look stupid', but here she proves she could act when required to. As the daughter of a drunk, Jenny has ambitions to rise in the world and become beautiful, using her wiles to subdue and bewitch men into doing her bidding. With a rich and older husband with a weak and easily led son, you can see where this is going, and with people like George Sanders and Louis Hayward supporting her in the cast, Hedy shines in the title role.

A beautifully shot, tightly written film which may have been low budget but has a definite sheen of polish.

Hedy Lamarr and Egar G. Ulmer. OK. It really did happen, improbable as the pairing seems.

She is very convincing as the daughter of a drunk who wants to dominate men and the society that squashed her when she was a child. It seems to me that her father speaks with a Scottish burr and that she does very briefly. The story might better have been changed so that he was an immigrant whose accent would be more consistent with th4e luscious Ms. Lamarr's own.

Nevertheless, it is atmospheric and very troubling. She marries an older man and immediately starts out in pursuit of his son. She gets the son and throws him over (a bit improbably) for Gweorge Sanders, wearing mutton chop sideburns here.

It's not Ulmer'best -- that might be his "Hamlet"pdate "Strange Illusion." But it is very good and it is one of the best performances ever given by Ms. Lamarr.

Made just after Hedy had departed MGM when she was still a top star and able to pursue roles with more depth than the glamour assignments handed her by Metro. She was one of the producers of this outing and selected Ulmer as director. Theirs was a contentious partnership but the result was one of Hedy's best performances.

If you can put aside the fact that the lead character has a Viennese accent and her father an Irish one when they are both lifelong natives of Bangor, Maine then there is much to enjoy. Hedy, stunningly beautiful as always, plays a deeply conflicted woman well and though the film veers wildly from morality tale to lurid melodrama it is certainly more fun than a lot of more highly thought of films.

An 1820's vixen climbs her way maliciously up the social ladder.

The movie's got the gloss and the casting of a top studio production, maybe TCF. But it's not. Instead, the film is an independent production with Lamarr as a co-producer. I mention this because the result looks tailor-made for a Lamarr career move; at the same time, she does manage to prove she's more than just Hollywood's perfect face. Here, her conniving little vixen (Jenny) transits a number of emotional stages and male victims in fairly convincing style. However, unless I missed something, Jenny's inner guile fails to show up in any of the many close-ups. As a result, Jenny's deceit remains mainly in the script—the one performance flaw.

The movie itself is an atmospheric potboiler, thanks to stylist Edgar Ulmer and art director Remisoff. The scenes may remain stage-bound, but the overall effect is compelling, a triumph of b&w expressiveness. Note too how the scenes get steadily darker as the film progresses and Jenny gets closer to the expected reckoning. Even when the screenplay meanders, which does slow things down, the visuals remain smoothly engaging. Then too, the logging camp setting should have been rethought. The sophisticated Sanders is simply not an outdoor type. Still, wonder of wonders, two of cinema's favorite cerebral baddies, Sanders and Brooke, get sympathetic roles, for a change. Actually, I expected Sanders to break into a cynical sneer at any moment, and maybe Brooke to revert to type with an icy glare. Anyway, it is an interesting cast, down to Hayward as the weakling Ephraim and little Jo Ann Marlowe as the meanest girl since Patty McCormack's Bad Seed (1956).

I don't know if the film resulted in the kind of career break Lamarr was likely looking for, but it remains an entertaining morality tale, despite a spotty script and stage-bound settings.

Propelled by powerful performances, a good script and strong cinematography, The Strange Woman explores the life of a beautiful, headstrong, passive aggressive femme fatale in Bangor, Maine, during the early 19th century. Hedy Lamar leads an excellent cast and gives it everything she has. Jenny Hager is a deeply troubled woman who grew up in a dysfunctional relationship with an alcoholic father, and married into a rich family. Throughout her life before and after this marriage, she quietly and subtly plotted and schemed to get where, what and who she wanted, while keeping up the appearance of a good, honest country lady.

The film focuses almost exclusively on Jenny and her romantic entanglements, but is also satisfying as a rather odd example of an anachronistic film noir. As such, it is very original in both concept and story. The Strange Woman may be the best piece of directing accomplished by the very prolific B film-maker Edgar Ulmer (Detour). It is nicely shot and paced, and, unlike many noir films, contains a few positive messages in addition to the disturbing stuff.

Recommendation: Serious noir fans will appreciate this, but you have to give this film some time to breathe. It is fairly slow and contains only a few action scenes - which are not its highlights by any stretch. It is also very focused on gender stereotypes (not all of which are treated uncritically), so its appreciation takes a little more thought than the genre standard.

In the era of psychoanalysis we are forced to look at a figure like the one in this film in a different way. There was a time when villains were at the melodramatic best and we could see them as one dimensional. This young woman is the product alcoholism and manipulation. She has good and she has bad. The bad usually wins out, but then she withdraws into herself, trying to be an ideal. Her relationships with men are certainly influenced by the abusive father from whom she must escape. She toys with men like playthings. She is extraordinarily beautiful. I hadn't ever really seen a Hedy Lamarr film. She about as striking as one can be. It seems that in this era dark haired women were often cast as vixens. She has that role but overcomes it with an excellent performance. It is a nice period piece. It is a little predictable at times, but the wonderful cinematography really pulls it along.

Set in pre Civil War Maine, a young woman marries a rich older man, and then seduces his son. The relationships are established when she and the son are children, and she pushes him from a bridge into a stream and picks up again after she's married his father and he's returned from college in Boston. Between the three played by Hedy Lamar, Gene Lockhart, and Louis Hayward, I'd say best actor award would go to Lockhart, the husband, whose part gets tougher as the film goes on. Set in the timber town of Bangor, director Edgar Ulmer does it again as he presents a bizarre little society of haves and have nots. Lamar's character comes from the poorer, deprived and maybe even depraved background, with a drunk for a father, who in one scene whips her (as she's a young woman now) with his belt as she both smiles and grimaces. From this emerges this stunning beauty who unfortunately has the same qualities as a black widow spider. Having George Sanders enter later seems a bit much, as the story was piping along with Hayward eyeing Lamar and Lamar playing him along while the town's economy goes along with the loggers who come in a make a mess every pay day. The setting is a big part of this minor classic thanks to cinematographer Lucian Andriot with yet another great example of how evocative B&W photography really was.

For a generation hooked on special effects, and mostly shoddy updates of very old film cliches, 'Strange Woman' must seem like a very dated movie. Of course, that largely depends on generational film tastes. A good story; good if sometimes uneven performances, and of course Hedy Lamarr; one of Hollywood's best kept secrets. Poor Hedy usually got the short end of the stick, as most of the critical acclaim went to very over-rated actresses, who were not nearly as beautiful as Hedy. Critics could never get past her phenomenal beauty, and more often rewarded Bergman, Turner, Davis, and Crawford, because they looked like ordinary everyday people. Oh! the simple minded, one-dimensional critics who imposed their bland tastes on a public, that just craved good entertainment. Hedy as Jenny Hager represents a daring stretch for Hedy; and she delivers a somewhat hammy, but nevertheless engaging performance. George Sanders is excellent as usual, in one of his lesser roles, and the cinematography is first rate. This is a melodramatic melodrama folks! It represents a bygone era in movie-making; when movies were made to entertain, sometimes most effectively in black and white, very often with modest budgets, and without mindboggling effects, extremely loud soundtracks. This movie deserves a 7/10.

I only recently viewed this film and came to IMDb for some names of actors/actresses. The film was one which stayed with me for several days because of the 'strangeness' of Jenny, the beauty of Hedy LaMarr, and the ending. Another viewer likened Jenny to Scarlett O'Hara; I could understand Scarlett's reasons for the things she did. Not so with Jenny. 'Sadie Thompson' of TN made the statement that "She (Jenny)takes from her rich husband and gives to the poor church, but no reason is given for that." Actually the script does have Jenny telling her husband, Mr. Poster, who is almost apoplectic over her surprise generosity to the church, her reason for doing so. The donation was in response to the minister's desire to enlarge the church, to keep the town's young men out of the "grog shops and low houses (which) cover every inch of the waterfront". Jenny stated: "I gave the money because I hate grog shops and what they do to people", obviously thinking of her alcoholic father.

My interest in catching this movie was spurred by the fact the book of the same title, by Ben Ames Williams (which answers Gearhart of Iowa's question, which is probably no longer a question) has been on my bookshelf for 50 years. I have attempted several times to read it, but with no success. I have read enough, however, to see some great disparities in it and the movie.

An obscure film which, because of surprising creative touches in directing, acting and editing, should be shown more often: more than a potboiler, more than a "women's picture" that did not happen to star Bette Davis or Joan Crawford, it offers an engaging story, characters of substance and - except for a convenient and contrived ending - an honest portrayal of people caught in a web of circumstances and emotions they cannot control. Aside from the glitter and sweep, it has more similarities to than differences from "Gone With the Wind."

This may be Hedy Lamarr's most challenging role, and she acquits herself quite well. George Sanders appears infrequently as a sympathetic character, but even he is victimized by the Scarlett O'Hara-like wiles of Hedy. That both of these performers have accents that are not suggestive of born-and-bred Maine residents should not constitute more than a minor annoyance. The picture has more than enough offsetting merits.

Whenever I see a 1940s film which shows characters breaking the 10 commandments, I say "Here we go again, the villain(ess) will get their comeuppance before the film's end.It may seem perverse but I sometimes wish they could succeed with their aims, particularly when there is good in the character like here.A case in point is the character of Jenny Hager (Hedy Lamarr) who has a drunken father who beats her.Modern psychologists would have a field day with that one to explain adult motivation and her mental/sexual relationships with men.The transition from a young Jenny's face reflected in the local pond to a mature woman was effective.Unfortunately there is no getting away with her Bangor Maine accent and I was surprised Hedy got the lead role.She was obviously not a recently arrived immigrant from Austria as her father feigned a Scottish accent.I much prefer Hedy naturally playing herself in films with a believable cover story.One of my favourites is "Come Live With Me" (1941) co-starring with James Stewart where she plays a Viennese visitor who has overstayed on her passport.George Sanders is likewise too sophisticated to play a man who we are told prefers to work in a logging camp.He was likewise better cast in "Rebecca" and "The Portrait of Dorian Gray".

On the plus side, Hedy is given a chance to act instead of standing still and looking stupid.Gene Lockhart acts with his British born wife Kathleen, playing Hedy's first husband.These two appeared together in Hedy's first U.S. film "Algiers" (1938) in which she co-starred with Charles Boyer.In the latter film Gene played an informer who gets shot but in "Strange Woman" is given a slightly more sympathetic role as the town's richest man.On balance I did not think Hedy deserved her cruel, fatal accident but she was trying to run down her new husband George Sanders and his ex-fiancé!!If you like costume drama (1820s), you will enjoy this DVD which can be easily purchased.

Always enjoyed the great acting of Hedy Lamarr, (Jenny Hager) who plays a woman who has a very cruel and mean streak in her mind and soul. When she was a little girl she deliberately pushed a young boy in a steam knowing he could not swim and then proceeded to push him down deeper with her foot. Jenny grew up with a father who was the local town drunk and he use to beat her and abuse her until she finally got the attention of the town folk who rescued her from this horrible father. As Jenny grew older and turned into a pretty young girl, she decided to marry a man named Isiah Poster, (Gene Lockhart) much older than she was only because he had lots of money and that was what she really wanted out of life. Jenny manages to destroy many men and women until life catches up with her. George Sanders and Louis Hayward gave great supporting roles in this story that deals with a very evil woman.

Hedy Lamarr is "The Strange Woman" in this 1946 film also starring Louis Hayward, Hillary Brooke, Alan Napier, and George Sanders.

Hedy plays Jenny, an ambitious child who hates being poor and grows into a beautiful woman who hates it even more. Her father is an abusive drunk, and one night, to escape him, Jenny runs to the home of the richest man in town, Isaiah Poster (Gene Lockhart).

It's decided at a meeting of some of the townsmen that Jenny needs to get married, or else she'll be forced to return to her father. Isaiah has an obvious lust for Jenny and manipulates the conversation so that it's decided he would be the best choice, though he's old for her.

Now rich and the town benefactress, Jenny welcomes home Isaiah's son and her childhood friend (Hayward) and works the situation so that he stays in town, though, attracted to her, he feels it's best if he leaves. Then she meets her friend Meg's boyfriend (Sanders).

Set in Bangor, Maine, the accents are all over the place, though it's a minor concern. The atmosphere is dark and a smacks of being low-budget. Nevertheless, it's an absorbing film with a wonderful performance by Hedy Lamarr in a Scarlett O'Hara-type role.

Lamarr was such a great beauty that she's hardly ever considered a true actress, but she was up to the challenge of this role. With her now well-known intellectual abilities, she was obviously a very remarkable woman.

1840s Bangor, Maine is the setting for THE STRANGE WOMAN, by the author Ben Ames Williams, who also set his modern story of a jealous woman in the same sort of Maine setting for "Leave Her To Heaven".

This one does not have the production values of the Fox film, is directed by a less distinguished director, Edgar G.Ulmer, but gives HEDY LAMARR a stronger role than usual while at the same time permitting her to be her beautiful self. As Jenny, she's really the stock heroine of the sort of novels Williams wrote, centering around jealous women who destroy the men in their lives by their shallow nature.

Hedy first marries a wealthy man (GENE LOCKHART) for his money, then latches onto his weak son (LOUIS HAYWARD) whom she convinces to kill her husband during a boating accident, then sets her cap for a man she puts in charge of her husband's business (GEORGE SANDERS), never minding that he's already got a sweetheart (HILLARY BROOKE), and eventually coming between them in a less than subtle way.

In fact, all of Hedy's machinations are less than subtle, accompanied by some dramatic background music by Carmen Dragon, and enhanced by close-ups of the star flaring her nostrils and posing provocatively in shadow or light, never once looking less than rapturously beautiful. Despite all her physical charms, it's clear that her acting, while acceptable, at the same time has severe limitations. Her face remains a beautiful mask whether she's suffering nobly or expressing radiant delight that her multiple schemes are working.

LOUIS HAYWARD is a bit too old for the role of a man returning from college to live with his father and his step-mother, but acquits himself well in the role nevertheless. GEORGE SANDERS has a rather nondescript role for an actor of his brittle charm, obviously so enamored of Jenny that he overlooks all the puzzling elements that go into making her "a strange woman".

DENNIS HOEY is excellent as Jenny's drunken father in the early scenes and ALAN NAPIER is effective in a brief supporting role. Production values are less than luxurious despite the detailed sets and the B&W photography suffers from the under-lit lighting, not helped by the fact that the print itself being shown on TCM is not high quality and sometimes gives the film a harsh look rather than Gothic grandeur.

For Lamarr's fans, it's one of her better vehicles at a time when she was free-lancing away from MGM. At least the story gives her more of a chance to show some dramatic talent that was largely obscured in most of her MGM outings, although her range is clearly limited.

The Strange Woman is directed by Edgar G. Ulmer who also co-writes the screenplay with Hunt Stromberg and Herb Matthews from the novel of the same name written by Ben Ames Williams. It stars Hedy Lamarr, George Sanders, Louis Hayward, Gene Lockhart, Hilary Brooke, Rhys Williams and June Storey. Music is by Carmen Dragon and cinematography by Lucien N. Andriot.

I don't want the youngest. I want the richest!

Well well, what an intriguing little period noir this is. Story deals with Jenny Hagar (Lamarr), a strong and scheming woman who in 1840s Bangor in Maine, uses men for her own gains whilst exuding a double persona that shunts her into the upper echelons of the town's standings. But, as we become privy to Jenny's back story and psychological make-up, you can feel that cloud of pessimism closing in.

There will always be arguments put forward about if the likes of The Strange Woman should be classed as noir or not, but with Ulmer and Andriot cloaking the tale with claustrophobic shadows and low lights, the blacks and whites atmospherically used, thus the visuals are in place to marry up with the story, and what a story.

Jenny Hagar is a classic femme fatale, in fact fatalistic could be her middle name. We get a sneak peak of her deviousness as a child, and then we see her as a luscious older beauty, dangling men around her fingers and fully committed to marrying purely for money. What follows Jenny around is murder, suicide, incest, seduction, greed, violence and alcoholism! And of course, self-destruction.

Jenny has no qualms about who she tramples on to achieve her ends, but the kicker in her story is that she does have good in her fighting to get out, she can be charitable at times, and as we come to understand her upbringing she even garners a level of sympathy from the audience. It's this dual aspect of her make-up that intrigues greatly, but she's fighting a losing battle, more so as Bangor is the wrong place for her, itself a confused mess of unsavoury or spoilt characters.

There were problems behind the scenes, but so many conflicting reports exist it's hard to know what is true and who was pulling the main strings. What we do know is that Ulmer, armed with a bigger budget than usual, has crafted a moody and daring picture that strikes devilish notes without banging the drum too loudly. Striking scenes and imagery are many, thunderstorm seduction, lairy lumberjacks, river of death and the big finale are just some of the moments showing what Ulmer was capable off.

While Lamarr, for her pet project to move her into darker roles and be taken seriously as an actress, turns in a top performance. Unafraid of the material, she cuts loose with a blend of sexual dynamism and troubled soul. Around her are fine performances from Lockhart, Hayward and Brooke, though Sanders is a touch out of place. The pace sometimes sags, and motivations and actions of support characters could have been more fleshy, but in the main this is well worth taking a stroll down a dark alley for. 7.5/10

Though obviously dated, "The Strange Woman" continues to hold our interest and keep us in suspense till the last explosive frame. It is a good old Victorian melodrama in the tradition of "Maria of the Red Barn" and, with its stirring scenes of passion and thrilling action sequences, still excellent fare for those who love a good tale well told.

Hedy Lamarr plays a woman who can be extremely wicked and devilishly devious, but she is not thoroughly evil like the entirely despicable female played by Margaret Lockwood in the "Wicked Lady", but rather a mixture of good and evil like all of us. However, in her case both tendencies are taken to extremes, with evil predominating. In early life. she is very poor and suffers savage beatings from her inebriate father, with some provocation, it is true, but this may give her more justification than the spoilt, vandalistic and violent rich brats of "Rebel without a Cause" are entitled to for being a mixed-up kid.

The film is unfortunately marred a little (no pun intended) by a number of incongruous accents which no director could get away with today. Gene Lockhart's kind of Irish/Canadian is quite plausible in that location (Bangor, Maine), and even Dennis Hooey's broad drunken Scots is credible especially so close to Nova Scotia, but both George Sander's and Louis Hayward's (close friend of plum-in-the-mouth Noel Coward) dulcet tones would be more likely to be heard in an Oxbridge tutorial than a logging town. Admittedly, the Hayward character has been away studying architecture at university(at "Bawston", it seems, but shouldn't he then talk like JFK?), whilst on the other hand, Sanders claims in the accents of an Oxford don that he belongs not in an office but rather in the rough logging camps of "The Devil's Acre". Furthermore, and above all, there is the incongruity of the main character Jenny's accent, which mutates from standard girl-next-door American when young (played by Jo Marlowe), to the Viennese English of Sigmund Freud when Hedy takes over the rôle. I tend to think that dear Hedy never felt entirely at home in the States, yearned for her native Austria, and consequently, did not make sufficient effort with her diction coach.

Fortunately, in compensation for the above defects, the acting is otherwise fine for this material, and Hedy, the most beautiful of women, whilst Hayward and Sanders among the handsomest of men - all a joy to see in action.

It is hardly surprising that the late uxorious King Farouk of Egypt had a picture of a swimming Hedy, taken from "Ekstase", on the ceiling of his palatial bathroom.

Typical modest budget black and white film from director Edgar G. Ulmer. A tedious but interesting tale of a beautiful woman (Hedy Lamar) stalking man after man in the lumber country of Bangor, Maine circa 1820. Love 'em and leave 'em. The ravishing Lamar dominates her scenes. She is drop dead gorgeous and her lips are sweeter than wine. She is also alluring and fickle as hell. George Sanders is solid as they come. Gene Lockhart and Louis Hayward are hammy; while Morini Olsen is powerful as the brimstone preaching Reverend Thatcher. If you like costume dramas, you will enjoy this tale of love and lust.

Strange woman, indeed.

Leave it to B-movie genius, Edgar Ulmar, 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 a scythe through summer corn. It is the kind of part Joan Crawford or Barbara Stanwick specialized in with much better known films (Mildred Pierce and The Strange Loves of Martha Ivers for 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 Ulmar, 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 joy.

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.

One more little tidbit.

In a fit of conscience, Jenny Hagar, now married to a rich man, donates $1,000 to the church. Upon leaving the church, the reverend 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.

My oh my, good old Edgar Ulmar. –Mykal Banta

Hedy Lamar was beautiful and clever, but not a great actress. This movie is a melodrama (not a noir) in which she plays Jenny, a social climber ready to sell her assets to the best buyer. Consequently, most of her acting consists of pouting and flirting, without much subtlety.

Jenny marries a rich old man as a way to escape from her drunkard father, then proceeds to flirting with her stepson, only to "really" falling in love with a friend's boyfriend. Not to loose social status, Jenny tries to persuade her stepson to kill his father, while actually planning to dump him, once he would free her from the annoying old man.

Complications ensued, followed by melodramatic ending. It's funny, but also worrying that some reviewers think of Jenny as a tragic feminist heroine, because she "uses her sexuality" and - by the standards of the time - she should be punished. Jenny is actually conspiring to commit murder, planning to get rid of the man she is turning into a killer to seduce another one and deceiving a friend who trusted her. So much for feminist heroism.