Strange Illusion

"Strange Illusion" was directed by the great B-movie director Edgar G. Ulmer, sometimes called "The Poet of Poverty Row" -meaning independent film and small studios, who is perhaps best known for making the famous and famously low-budget film noir "Detour" in 1946. "Strange Illusion" is more a conventional thriller than film noir, as it lacks film noir's introversion, alienation, and cynicism. It's a creepy but optimistic crime film that's well-conceived despite its shoestring budget and overstated acting. Ulmer's background in production design is evident in the thoughtful set design.

Paul Cartwright (James Lyndon) is a college student haunted by a dream in which an impostor, posing as Paul's deceased father, fools his mother and sister into accepting him into the family. Paul's father, an eminent criminologist, was killed in an unexplained car accident 2 years before, and left letters with his estate to be sent to Paul every few months. When Paul receives a letter from his father asking that he guard his mother and sister against unscrupulous associates, shortly after his troubling dream, Paul heads for home anxious as to what he might find. Paul's mother (Sally Eilers) is being romanced by a slick middle-aged bachelor named Brett Curtis (Warren William). When Curtis' words and actions recall his dream, and Curtis resembles a notorious criminal in his father's files, Paul becomes intent on finding out more about his mother's suitor.

"Strange Illusion" isn't subtle or multi-layered. It pretty much hits you over the head with these characters and their story. But this is a B-picture, probably part of a double bill, and it works as enjoyable, creepy, occasionally licentious entertainment. The film's flaw, looking at it from 60 years hence, is the character of Paul. He's an 18-20 year old man who has the speech and manners of a 12-year-old. In other words, he's annoying. Audiences at the time may have liked his boyish...um...charm. And he does contrast sharply with Curtis. As for me, I got used to Paul's demeanor and enjoyed the film in spite of it.

The DVD (This refers to the 2001 Roan Group DVD only.): During the opening titles, the picture quivers, and the sound quality is poor. Once the film starts, the picture is steady and sound is ok. About an hour into the film, the volume drops off, though, and I had to turn it up. The picture is watchable but has some white specks and scratches. Bonus features are a "film background" essay about director Edgar Ulmer and a list of credits for the DVD. No subtitles on the Roan Group DVD.

My never-ending search for Warren William movies eventually led me to "Strange Illusion", one of the last films of his career, in which he plays an honest to God creep!

Teenage Jimmy Lydon has been plagued by nightmares since his father's unsolved murder--and the latest one seems to suggest danger surrounding his mother. The next thing you know, mom announces she has a suitor, Warren William. Guess what? Uh huh, that's right. So this is partly David Copperfield/Mr. Murdstone and partly Hamlet/Claudius, as one reviewer made note. An unsavory twist is that Warren William has a fancy for underage girls, which doesn't bode well for Jimmy's girlfriend.

Still and all, I liked "Strange Illusion" because it is major camp on top of everything else--others in my family hated it, though. Ergo, I guess it's just one of those movies you have to make up your own mind about.

Review of the Alpha Video release.

Young Paul (James Lydon) isn't having a good time of it. His father has recently died, and, while on a fishing trip with avuncular family friend Dr. Martin Vincent (Regis Toomey), he dreams of his father's death. The dream convinces him that the death wasn't an accident, after all. Worried enough to cut their vacation short, they return home to find Paul's mother (Sally Eilers) engaged to the outwardly charming stranger, Brett Curtis (Warren William.) Before they leave Paul receives a letter from the grave. It seems the old man instructed his estate to send his son these epistles from beyond. The latest one warns against `unscrupulous imposters.' Cue a few bars from Schumann's Concerto (the score of the boy's premonitory dreams.)

Cross-cut to the manor - Paul's father was a judge and a `famed criminologist,' and if they sold the young man's house they'd probably be able to finance ten STRANGE ILLUSIONS. Famed criminologists did well for themselves back then, and the fatted calf he left for his young family sets oily wolf Brett Curtis off on the chase. Mother seems deeply in love, Paul is hesitant and then secretly opposed when Curtis repeats not only complete lines of dialogue from his dream but also tinkles a bar or two of Schumann's Concerto.

STRANGE ILLUSION borrows heavily from Shakespeare's Hamlet early on. The dead father communicating from the grave, the unavenged murder, the mother with the murderous beau. Being a big fan of suspense thrillers from the 40s I was salivating by the time Paul and the Doc stowed the rods and tackle and made for home. This was going to get weird.

Then, I believe, the movie remembered James Lydon, or Jimmy Lydon, was Henry Aldrich, Paramount's response to MGM's Andy Hardy. Oh, Warren's homme fatale was sinister enough, and Mother (distractingly referred to by her children as `Princess') was blind enough to his wicked, wicked ways, but our dauntless young hero is immune to corruption. The bad stuff stays Out There. STRANGE ILLUSION is a distressingly affirmative movie.

Director Edgar Ulmer may have borrowed a plot point or two from Hamlet, but his young hero is anything but a young man who cannot act. In place of a melancholy Dane our intrepid young hero embodies the soul and spirit of can-do Americanism. Rather than brooding over his beautiful young mother, for instance, he's mixin' with his vixen girlfriend - in a chaste, Judge Hardy approved manner, I hasten to add.

So, instead (alas) than a cast full of characters shaking their fragile libidos we have one deviant nutcase (Warren) and the Eagle Scout (Lydon, star of HENRY ALDRICH, BOY SCOUT, 1944), who is alone in seeing through Warren's veneer of normalcy and certainly seems more than capable of bringing him to justice.

You'll likely find STRANGE ILLUSION satisfying if you're a fan of Andy Hardy, or Nancy Drew, or the Hardy Boys mysteries, or any tale that features blunt-witted adults and clever adolescents. The film quality is choppy in spots, but overall quite acceptable.