Strange Impersonation (1946)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Anthony Mann

Writers:

Lewis Herman (story)
Mildred Lord (writer)

Release Date:

16 March 1946 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Film-Noir

Plot:

A research scientist conducting experiments on a new anaesthetic finds herself being blackmailed by...

Plot Keywords:

Scientist | Research | Experiment | Laboratory Accident | Anesthetic

Cast

Brenda Marshall	...	Nora Goodrich
William Gargan	...	Dr. Stephen Lindstrom
Hillary Brooke	...	Arline Cole
George Chandler	...	J W Rinse, plaintiffs' atty.
Ruth Ford	...	Jane Karaski #1
H.B. Warner	...	Dr. Mansfield, plastic surgeon
Lyle Talbot	...	Insp. Malloy, chief interrogator
Mary Treen	...	Talkative nurse
Cay Forrester	...	Miss Roper, interrogation witness
Dick Scott	...	Detective

Runtime:

68 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Company:

W. Lee Wilder Productions

Quotes:

Nora Goodrich: [after being groped passionately in her laboratory] Stephen, remember - science!

A flawed noir film

This film's chief recommendation is a superb performance by Hilary Brooke, who plays a mini-Iago, a woman so unremittingly wicked, scheming and grasping that Brooke's intense portrayal of her should really have been lifted from this B picture and inserted into an A picture. The film's main weakness is this: primarily, the entire plot depends on two women (Brenda Marshall and Hilary Brooke) being so infatuated with the leading man that they will stop at nothing to 'have him', but the casting for that part is William Gargan, who is wholly ludicrous. No one would 'have to have' Gargan, who is goofy-looking, weak, altogether lacking in any semblance of romantic charm, and frankly just a joke in the part. Two women fighting to the death over that blob of vaseline is ridiculous. The other fatal weakness to this film is an appalling plot development towards the end, which I shall refrain from revealing, but it is terminal to taking this film seriously. How could Anthony Mann have directed such an inferior work when only two years later he would produce the masterpiece 'Raw Deal' (1948)? It all goes to show that with a weak script and a hopeless leading man, everything can readily collapse into a heap of rubble. This film could have been something, but for reasons which we will never know, it was gutted from within. After all, the basic plot is strong and powerful if it had been allowed to happen without interference, and with the right leading man to make it believable. What a missed opportunity this was!