The Strange Woman

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Allan C If this film had been a contemporary film noir instead of a period costume film, it would have been Hedy Lamarr’s greatest film. She plays period femme fatale, but how great would it have been to see her seducing men in a slinky Rita Hayworth GILDA cocktail dress? Lamarr is so gorgeous she could lead the best of men to their doom, which she does repeatedly in this film.  1-8-17 The Strange Woman (1946) ***1/2 Hedy Lamarr plays a femme fatal of the first order in this costume drama that plays out more like a film noir plot. The film starts with Lamarr’s character as a child pushing a boy into the river, who she knows can’t swim, and only saves him after an adult sees the boy drowning. Cut to an adult Lamarr, who is equally manipulative and callous, set out to marry the richest man in town. But wait, after marrying him, she sets her sights on his son. (SPOILER ALERT) But wait, after seducing the son and convincing him to murder his father, she then seduces another businessman, George Sanders, in order to get more money. Lamarr is a fantastic femme fatale, and I would LOVE to have seen her in a contemporary noir like “Out of the Past” instead of a costume drama. If this film had been set in an LA Noir setting, I think this film would have been a classic. Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer, who spent most of his career making memorable B-pictures, he got an A-list cast this time around and brought a lot of style to the film. Overall, this is a pretty solid little thriller that’s elevated by Ulmer’s direction and the gorgeously seductive Lamarr but is sadly saddled with the trappings of a costume drama instead of a seductive contemporary (or at least 1940s) noir setting.  Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 11/30/24 Full Review Martin B Only one woman could have played that role and she did. Hedy Lamarr, married so many times briefly the reason being she was too complex and too brilliant for most men to keep up. In this roll she was as strange as she was in life. Sensitive and generous one minute, then snaps into the iron willed calculating woman sure of herself in another. A cauldron of different emotions and behaviors manifesting as different people at different times with different motives but each authentic at the time it's displayed. They had to make her regretful and die in the end for the sake of the plot but Heddy Lamar would never be regretful and certainly would never have died young being reckless over a man. Movie goers in that era did not particularly like complex, ambiguous characters. This character was not all good nor bad. This movie under rated mainly because people don't understand the complex woman Lamar was and how much she resembled her character in real life excluding the last part. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Jack S A slow moving melodrama that benefits from a strong turn by a luminous Lamarr, who clearly relishes portraying such driven, manipulative characters. A great supporting cast provides typically solid support, but it's unfortunately all in the service of a rather dreary and depressing soap opera. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review Audience Member While this film doesn't necessarily feel like a film noir, Hedy Lamarr is a revelation as a femme fatale and the film kept me guessing until the end. Terrific hidden gem. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/16/23 Full Review Jessica C This woman is not strange, this woman is straight up rude and vile. She was really getting on my nerves. Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 10/07/20 Full Review Audience Member Hedy Lamarr is so irresistible and twisted in the movie that fulls it completely. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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