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The Strange Woman

Play trailer Poster for The Strange Woman 1946 1h 40m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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40% Tomatometer 5 Reviews 52% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
Isaiah (Gene Lockhart), a 19th-century businessman, has his eye on the beautiful and very young Jenny (Hedy Lamarr). Finally of age, she accepts his marriage proposal, but their love affair quickly turns sour. Ephraim (Louis Hayward), Isaiah's college-age son, comes for a visit, immediately striking up a chemistry with Jenny. She promises marriage -- if he murders his father first. But Jenny also swoons for John (George Sanders), the fiancé of her best friend, Meg (Hillary Brooke).

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The Strange Woman

Critics Reviews

View All (5) Critics Reviews
Phil Hall Film Threat The production is strange, but for the wrong reasons. Rated: 2/5 Aug 8, 2014 Full Review Fernando F. Croce CinePassion Despite its higher budget and starrier cast, the tale is no less mad than Ulmer's Skid Row hallucinations Feb 11, 2013 Full Review Michael E. Grost Classic Film and Television Grim look at an evil femme fatale and the men she lures into murder, it is far from Ulmer's best. Jul 6, 2010 Full Review Emanuel Levy EmanuelLevy.Com Rated: 3/5 Jul 21, 2005 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews Should suit the many fans of Hedy Lamarr. Rated: C+ Jan 16, 2005 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (19) audience reviews
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 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 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 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 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 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review Audience Member Hedy Lamarr plays a femme fetal 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 swing 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 set her sights on her 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 an amazing femme fetal 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 a LA Noir type of 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 got a A-list cast this time around and bring a lot of style to the film. Overall, this is a pretty solid little thriller that's elevated by Ulmer's direction and a gorgeously seductive Lamarr, but is sadly saddled the the trappings of a costume drama instead of a seductive contemporary (or at least 1940s) noir setting. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Strange Woman

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis Isaiah (Gene Lockhart), a 19th-century businessman, has his eye on the beautiful and very young Jenny (Hedy Lamarr). Finally of age, she accepts his marriage proposal, but their love affair quickly turns sour. Ephraim (Louis Hayward), Isaiah's college-age son, comes for a visit, immediately striking up a chemistry with Jenny. She promises marriage -- if he murders his father first. But Jenny also swoons for John (George Sanders), the fiancé of her best friend, Meg (Hillary Brooke).
Director
Edgar G. Ulmer
Producer
Jack Chertok
Production Co
Hunt Stromberg Productions, Mars Film Corporation
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Jun 30, 2016
Runtime
1h 40m
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