The Strange Woman

Locations
Call Number: DVD Drama Strange
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 1st Floor 1-week checkout	DVD Drama Strange	1-week checkout	On Shelf

Title from disc label.
"A Film Chest restored version"--Container.
"HD restoration from 35mm film elements"--Container.
Originally released as motion picture in 1946.
From the novel by Ben Ames Williams.
Hedy Lamarr, George Sanders, Louis Hayward.
Lamarr plays a shrewish woman in early 19th-century Maine who schemes for the favors of three rich men.
DVD, 4x3 aspect ratio, remastered in high definition.

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Lamarr's best as well as an essential Ulmer submitted by mr_hunchback on January 24, 2015, 9:57pm Hunt Stromberg Productions released a mere handful of films in the 40s, but most are among the best of the decade. Ulmer helms this mini-epic and it can easily sit among his best work. A "chick flick" filled with taboo subject matter, sadomasochistic lusts and gothic claustrophobia - a project made for the director of Detour, Bluebeard and The Black Cat. More importantly, this is the only role Hedy Lamarr ever played that utilizes all of her acting skills. The major studios wasted her on glamour shots. Here her beauty is highlighted by simple but effective costume and lighting, while her character, Jenny Hager, runs a huge gamut of emotions, silent and verbalized, often at the same time. She really is a strange woman. In Hedy's hands she is sympathetic and merciless by turns, never confused and annoying, playing overheated melodrama straighter, with less sap than even Stanwick. The rest of the cast is stronger than expected. Hayward and Lockhart put in some of their best work and Sanders is convincingly confounded by Hedy's talents. Ulmer's usual attention to set design, mood-specific lighting and dramatic composition spring many visual surprises on the viewer from beginning to end. The restoration is an revelatory improvement. As with many of Ulmer's small studio pictures it was once only available as a murky high contrast video dub. Film Chest has restored it to at least 95% of it's former glory which is far more than ever expected.