Strange Impersonation **** (1946, Brenda Marshall, William Gargan, Hillary Brooke) – Classic Movie Review 13,509  

‘Hell hath no fury as a woman scalded by acid.’ Anthony Mann’s 1946 Republic Pictures film noir thriller Strange Impersonation stars Brenda Marshall, William Gargan and Hillary Brooke.

‘Hell hath no fury as a woman scalded by acid.’

Director Anthony Mann’s 1946 American film noir B-picture cult film thriller Strange Impersonation stars Brenda Marshall, William Gargan and Hillary Brooke. It is made by W Lee Wilder Productions for release by Republic Pictures.

The brilliantly preposterous plot is handled with stupendous, cast-iron conviction by the whole cast and crew, in an extraordinarily entertaining, wonderfully overheated movie.

Brenda Marshall stars as a blonde, bespectacled, distinguished research scientist called Nora Goodrich, who is conducting experiments on a new anaesthetic. Crucially, she is postponing her marriage to her amiable, agreeable fiancé, Dr Stephen Lindstrom (William Gargan) in favour of her more important work, though her research assistant and best friend Arline Cole (Hillary Brooke) tells her to get married at once, as he asks. 

Going home from her lab, Nora backs out of her parking space and accidentally knocks down a slightly tipsy woman named Jane Karaski (Ruth Ford), who walked behind the car.

Jane is unhurt in the very slight traffic accident and agrees it was her fault anyway (‘I hope you’re not hurt’, ‘No I’m OK’), but sleazy ambulance-chasing lawyer J W Rinse (George Chandler) gives his card to Jane and tries to stir up a lawsuit.

Next Nora’s scheming, jealous research assistant and best friend Arline Cole (Hillary Brooke), who covets Nora’s fiancé and colleague Dr Stephen Lindstrom (William Gargan), treacherously arranges for an explosion of Nora’s volatile new anaesthesia mixture in the laboratory, burning and disfiguring Nora’s face. Afterwards, in the hospital, Arline works hard to sabotage Nora’s relationship with Lindstrom.

Then Nora finds herself being blackmailed by Jane, whose greed is being encouraged by the scheming, snooping lawyer. Jane shows up at Nora’s place to demand $25,000 for her ‘accident’, pulling a gun and grabbing her jewellery, engagement ring too and papers. Nora tries to get the gun, which fires. Jane is shot and falls off the balcony, leaving Jane’s face so mutilated she is unrecognisable. The crowd below sees the body and thinks it’s Nora because of the ring and papers. Nora slips away, deciding to play dead and start a new life impersonating Jane.

So Nora then has facial plastic surgery to make her look like Jane. Recuperating later, she reads that Arline has married Stephen, and determines to get back her boyfriend and punish her scheming assistant Arline. When she presents herself to them as an old friend of Nora’s, Lindstrom offers her a job in his lab, and he quickly falls in love with her, saying that she reminds him of Nora and that his marriage to Arline was a mistake.

Ah, yes, this really is a Strange Impersonation! You couldn’t make it up, could you? Yet three rather clever people did. The story is by Lewis Herman and Anne Wigton, and the screenplay is by Mindret Lord.

Preposterous plotting it may be, but it is all very logical, in its own weird and wonderful way. Though the twist ending is perhaps a tame let-down, the film is unusually engrossing and engaging, with all this plot packed in to a fast moving 68 minutes.

The highly estimable, and under-estimated Brenda Marshall and Hillary Brooke are absolutely admirable, and Ruth Ford is strongly effective too. All three command respect and attention. The striking Hillary Brooke is particularly intimidating, really rather chilling as she looms over the heroine Mrs Danvers-style, though the much smaller, prettier Brenda Marshall is very much the commanding star. Both of them are exceedingly smartly dressed. It is a woman’s picture, after all.

Anthony Mann made many more illustrious movies, but he can be celebrated nicely with this one too, a woman’s noir picture of the Crawford/ Davis/ Stanwyck type, but of a very B movie type, with cast and crew making the best of every opportunity it affords. It says much that they make the film’s cheapness a virtue. The noir photography by Robert Pittack makes the most of the cramped sets, giving it an exciting veneer.

William Gargan’s passive role isn’t very interesting and the actor understandably can’t do much with it. Men of course don’t have a good time in woman’s pictures. Except the support cast male actors, that is. George Chandler as W Rinse, H B Warner as the plastic surgeon and Lyle Talbot as the police chief interrogator all make an indelible impression.

Republic Pictures released the film on 16 March 1946.

The cast are Brenda Marshall as Nora Goodrich, William Gargan as Dr Stephen Lindstrom, Hillary Brooke as Arline Cole, George Chandler as plaintiffs’ attorney J W Rinse, Ruth Ford as Jane Karaski #1, H B Warner as plastic surgeon Dr Mansfield, Lyle Talbot as chief interrogator Inspector Malloy, Mary Treen as talkative nurse, Cay Forester as interrogation witness Miss Roper, and Dick Scott as Detective.

W Lee Wilder was born Wilhelm Wilder on August 22, 1904 in Sucha, Galicia, Austria-Hungary, now Sucha Beskidzka, Malopolskie, Poland. He was long estranged from his younger brother Billy Wilder, who called him ‘a dull son of a bitch’. He directed Once a Thief (1950), The Big Bluff (1955) and Killers from Space (1954). 

Brenda Marshall (born Ardis Ankerson; September 29, 1915 – July 30, 1992) 

Hillary Brooke (born Beatrice Sofia Mathilda Peterson; September 8, 1914 – May 25, 1999

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,509

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