Strange Impersonation (1946)

Does there exist a male baby boomer who grew up watching reruns of "The Abbott and Costello Show" during the 1950s and early '60s who was able to resist falling in love with Hillary Brooke? With her sexy blond good looks and sweet demeanor, no wonder Lou and all the other guys had a major "thing" for her. Viewers may be surprised to learn, however, that before "The A&C Show," Hillary excelled at portraying so-called "bad girls," as the 1946 potboiler "Strange Impersonation" so amply demonstrates. Here, she plays the assistant to anesthesia researcher Brenda Marshall (herself so memorable in one of my Top 10 films of all time, the 1940 remake of "The Sea Hawk"), as well as the best friend from hell. Hillary sabotages one of Marshall's experiments, leading to an explosive fire and the disfigurement of her boss. She then goes about stealing Marshall's fiancé, leading to a twisty story involving betrayal, plastic surgery, murder, blackmail and identity theft. All this in a brief 68 minutes, and topped with a surprise ending that some may find cheap, but that surprisingly explains away the many plot loopholes, inconsistencies and implausibilities that have preceded it; an ending, in addition, that is wholly earned and was set up in the film's opening moments. Yes, this IS another B cheapie made on the quick by Republic Studios, but it certainly is fun. And need I even mention that it is a must for all fans of Hillary Brooke?

Two things (and only two things) are worthy of notice here. The first is the simple noir construction - that of a manipulator who toys with the protagonist - here, to take over her role. Nora has no way out of the 'machinery', so the only escape is through a deus ex machina sort of release. Similar to the more harrowing (but ultimately, just as goopy)"The Big Clock".The second is the 'skeleton' of this movie, similar to the deconstructed anatomical model - it serves as a rough blank upon which much improved storytelling conventions have been added. This has been 'reconstructed' in the guise of "Angel Heart", "Johnny Handsome", "Abre Los Ojos/Vanilla Sky" and countless others.Otherwise, this is pretentious - poor acting, dull camera work, generic musical score, and shallow science...a B movie, pretending to be something well beyond its reach.

Heralded noir director Anthony Mann made his name in legendary collaborations with cinematographer John Alton (T-Men, Raw Deal, Border Incident). But his work in the cycle started earlier when it was still coalescing -- before its essentials had become codified.A 1945 Republic release (under an old, pre-eagle logo), Strange Impersonation comes in a compact package holding a lot of plot -- perhaps too much. Pharmaceutical chemist Brenda Marshall, anxious to test a new anesthetic she devised, goes home to do so. [On the way, however, she gets into an unpleasant traffic scrape involving a tipsy woman and an ambulance-chaser.] Finally ensconced in her luxurious penthouse, she injects herself and goes under, only to wake in hospital, suffering disfiguring burns from an explosion and fire among her bottles and beakers.The next year proves to be no picnic. During her convalescence, her rich fiance (who owns the drug company) drops her like a hot brick. She accidentally murders the accident victim -- see above -- who has resurfaces with a gun and a blackmail scheme. On the lam, Marshall assumes a new identity and buys a swell new face through reconstructive surgery. Then she returns to her old firm with a notion of settling scores.Cheeky, and with the courage of its conventions, Strange Impersonation draws us in by rapid and unexpected changes in its course. Marshall holds an especially strong hand as the brainy victim of outrageous fortune, and plays her cards well. But she's almost matched by Hillary Brooke as her duplicitous assistant/rival. William Gargan (later to become TV's first Martin Kane, Private Eye) remains no more than a plot point as the duped fiance.Mann plays fast and loose with themes and gimmicks that were to become staple ingredients later in the noir cycle, as if trying them on for size. There are elements here that recall or prefigure movies such as The Woman in the Window, Dark Passage, A Stolen Face and No Man of Her Own, to name just a few. And if they're not worked out with the ruthlessness of vision that was to shape the finest film noir, no matter. Strange Impersonation is a swift, dark funhouse ride.

This film literally illustrates that without expressionist shadows or dark, dreary streets, a film noir plot turns out more like a soap opera, no matter how dark the plot is. That doesn't take away from the nightmarish quality, however, as things go horribly wrong: betrayal, blackmail, disfigurement, murder. It is only because of this that the female lead becomes our heroine but her fairytale rebirth into beauty cannot erase her "guilt" of independence - as someone has already mentioned, the post-war message was encouraging women to return to the home. However, the film cannot indulge in grim fatalism either, preferring to be prescriptive rather than prohibitive, so it displays a 'whatif?' scenario, allowing for an upbeat ending. Philosophically it falls between the more contemporary sci-fi "Dark man," and the recent spanish fantasy "Open your eyes;" perhaps today these genres are the heirs of film noir.