Ensofter Overrated and overhyped

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Rexanne It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

blanche-2 From PRC productions, "Strange Illusion" from 1945 is directed by Edgar Ulmer, a man known for making a low-budget film look it isn't. He succeeds.Paul Cartwright is a young man still mourning the death of his father, who was once Lieutenant Governor of California. He died while looking into the drowning of a wealthy woman. While away at school, Paul dreams that his mother (Sally Eilers) is in love with someone who is a danger to her; the dream also shows an image of his father's automobile accident that doesn't look like one.After consulting a family friend, a psychiatrist (Regis Toomey) he decides to go home, especially after a couple of things happen similar to his dream. When he arrives, he realizes his dream was spot on -- his mother is in love with Brett Curtis (Warren William), and Paul is immediately suspicious of him. Paul begs his mother to wait to get married. He wants to look into Curtis a little more. Curtis, however, a maniac living as an outpatient in a sanitarium, is in a big rush to get his hands on Virginia's inheritance. In cahoots with him is the doctor who runs the sanitarium.This film is in the public domain, so I may have seen a heavily edited version. It may have been released as an A movie - hard to tell. The story is compelling and holds interest, and one really cares about the characters. This is partly because Warren William is as oily as a gusher, and Sally Eilers seems to vacillate as to whether or not she will adhere to her son's wishes.The dream sequences were very good and atmospheric. However, there were a couple of problems with the film. I'm not sure why Sally Eilers (born in 1922) was cast as the mother of Jimmy Lydon (born 1923) and Jayne Hazard (born in 1923). They were all pretty much the same age! I know Paul's father married a younger woman, but from looking at his portrait, she could have been in her forties. Though the acting was okay, Jimmy Lydon is slightly miscast as the son. This is basically the plot of Hamlet, so someone a little less sunny would have been good and would have given the film more gravitas.As it is, it's very good. Lydon, still alive as of this writing, acted through the '80s and helped create the series 77 Sunset Strip and M*A*S*H. He also produced the television adaptation of the film Mister Roberts.

kidboots Certainly, quite early on in his career, Jimmy Lydon was "trapped" in the Henry Aldrich series and while "Life With Father" may have been his most prestigious film, "Strange Illusion" gave him his best role.Paul Csrtwright (Jimmy Lydon) is troubled by recurring nightmares in which his dead father warns him about a stranger's evil intentions about his family. He is staying with his teacher Dr. Vincent (Regis Toomey) but feels he must go home at once to protect his mother and his sister. When he arrives home he finds his mother, Virginia (Sally Eilers) has been seeing a lot of Brett Curtis (Warren William) - a man who Paul feels uneasy about at first sight. His sister Dorothy has a great crush on him but Brett is a sinister villain with a weakness for young girls.Paul's dream starts to come true, Dorothy receives a bracelet from Curtis, he hears a very loud concerto and then faints. He decides to investigate Curtis, with the help of the family servant, Ben (George Reed), who has never liked Curtis. Before he died, Paul's father started to investigate a shocking unsolved crime involving the drowning of a wealthy young widow. Paul has a right to be worried, Brett has a grudge against Cartwright, whose meddling stopped his plans years before - he now wants revenge. Brett's first plan is to convince Virginia to marry him and then to have Paul committed to a sanatorium. Meanwhile Paul's friend Lydia confesses that she has had a confrontation with Brett at her family pool and has always felt uncomfortable around him. Paul is keen to go to the hospital - he thinks he will find out something there as Brett is very close with the head doctor.This was a really good movie with the dream sequences a bit of a twist on the tired old "why won't anyone believe me" style plot. Warren William made these type of roles his own - the icy exterior hiding deep feelings (in this case murderous). Sally Eilers looked lovely as the mother, caught in the middle of a suave conman and her son's concern. Both of these fine actors left the screen in the next couple of years. Again, it is a movie I would recommend.

MARIO GAUCI This one's basically a noir retelling of Shakespeare's "Hamlet", which actually anticipates Akira Kurosawa's obviously superior THE BAD SLEEP WELL (1960) by several years! I had expected the film to be a ramshackle effort in the vein of the same director's better-known noir, DETOUR (1945), but it looks fairly stylish overall – beginning with an astonishing dream sequence.The central plot, though clearly altered to fit the conventions of modern-day small-town America, retains its essential fascination (with the sequences in the clinic achieving genuine suspense and the whole given a commendably fast pace) – thanks also to modest yet effective casting: Jimmy Lydon is the youngster suspicious of mother Sally Eilers' new boyfriend, the reptilian Warren William; also on hand is Regis Toomey as Lydon's psychology professor, who becomes his co-conspirator in unmasking William (the man responsible for the death of Lydon's father). Even if Eilers doesn't look to be that much older than her on-screen son, William decidedly comes across as a lecher – since he also has his eyes on Lydon's girlfriend and sister throughout the course of the film! Incidentally, the youthful element present here is rather surprising but this actually lends proceedings a welcome quirky charm.Since the film has fallen into the Public Domain, there are several DVD editions of variable quality out there – the best value for money seem to be those emanating from the Roan Group and All Day Entertainment. As a matter of fact, I had long considered purchasing the latter for the accompanying documentary about Ulmer's tenure at Poverty Row studio PRC; thankfully, I was able to get to the film regardless via a recent late-night screening on Italian TV which I taped.In conclusion, I liked STRANGE ILLUSION well enough for it to join THE BLACK CAT (1934), BLUEBEARD (1944), DETOUR (1945) and THE NAKED DAWN (1955) among Ulmer's more interesting and satisfying work.

whpratt1 Enjoyed viewing this 1945 film and was surprised to see Jimmy Lydon,(Paul Cartwright), star of all the "Henry Aldrich Films of 1943", who gave an outstanding role as a young man who experienced dreams that could help his mother from getting involved with a man called Brett Curtis(Warren William),"Fear", who wanted so desperately to marry his mother and enjoy the great riches she possessed. Regis Toomey, (Dr. Martin Vincent),was the only person Paul Cartwright could turn to with all his troubling dreams and did his very best to find out the real mystery to his nightmares. Paul Cartwright was placed in a mental institution and notice there was two-way mirrors in his room and tried to hang his clothing over the mirrors to prevent his being spied on. If you like a good 1940's mystery from the past, you will enjoy viewing this great Classic Film!