STRANGE ILLUSION

Jimmy Lydon and Regis Toomey

STRANGE ILLUSION (1945). Director: Edgar G. Ulmer.

Paul Cartwright (Jimmy Lydon of Henry Aldrich Plays Cupid), who believes his father was murdered, has been having strange dreams of death and disaster for his family. His widowed mother, Virginia (Sally Eilers of The Campus Vamp), has taken up with a smooth-talking man named Brett (Warren William) who wants to marry her and who has charmed Paul's sister, Dorothy (Jayne Hazard). Paul is afraid that Brett may be using an alias, and that he is really a man who murdered his first wife. Paul seeks help from sympathetic Dr. Vincent (Regis Toomey) but winds up in an institution run by sinister Professor Muhlback (Charles Arnt). Is his family in danger or is he losing his mind? You probably won't care because Strange Illusion is a pretty dull and terrible picture. It might have been one thing if the script tried to work up some suspense by keeping the audience in the dark about whether Brett was a good guy or a bad guy a la Hitchcock's Suspicion, but this lets the viewer in so early that there are absolutely no surprises and not a dollop of suspense, even at the ending. Although Lydon comes off like his character Henry Aldrich a few times, his performance is good, and William is as excellent as ever, but the movie is a real stinker. Leo Erdody's score helps a little. Sally Eilers had been in films since the silent era, but she had only two more film appearances after this. Now in his 90\s, Jimmy Lydon had many more credits after this, mostly on television, and worked as an actor until the late 80's before going into the production end. Strange Illusion got surprisingly good reviews at the time of its release, making one wonder if the critics were inebriated or in a particularly charitable mood. Nowadays some Ulmer fans go on about this film as if it were on a par with Hitchcock and suggest it was influenced by no less than Hamlet! Give me a break!

Verdict: Great to see Jimmy and Warren but they need a much better vehicle. *1/2.

THE CAMPUS VAMP

Sally Eilers and Matty Kemp

THE CAMPUS VAMP (1928). Director: Harry Edwards.

"If that blonde vamp takes Matty from Sally, I'll put garlic in her listerine!" -- Dora

Co-ed Sally (Sally Eilers of Reducing) has a big crush on handsome lug Matty (Matty Kemp), but she has competition from blonde cutie, Carole (an unrecognizable Carole Lombard). Dora (Daphne Pollard), a short, plain frumpy girl who is nevertheless loaded with personality and seems to do all the cleaning in the dorm, gives Sally advice. Dora has a boyfriend named Barney (Johnny Burke). Will Sally get Matty away from Carole's clutches, or is this just a failed romance? The Campus Vamp is a short, silent comedy which seems put together chiefly to show off the comedic skills of Daphne Pollard [Our Relations], who easily walks off with the movie. By the way the mouthwash Listerine (see quote above) has been around forever, was promoted as curing colds (which it was eventually prohibited from doing) and was practically seen as a magic elixir back in the day. This was produced by Mack Sennett [Tillie's Punctured Romance].

Verdict: Kind of cute if decidedly minor. **1/2.

PURSUIT

PURSUIT (1935). Director: Edwin L.Marin.

A mean old aunt wants to take a little boy away from his mother (Dorothy Peterson), so a man named Mitch (Chester Morris) is hired to spirit the kid away to Mexico. Involved in the action are a pretty gal (Sally Eilers) who teams up/clashes with Mitch, cops, gangsters, farmers and others who hope to claim the $20,000 reward for the return of the child. All of them take a back seat to the kid, as he is played by the talented and adorable Scotty Beckett (pictured) who positively steals the picture away from everyone else. The picture is very minor but it pulls one along, starting with the scene with a runaway plane wherein Mitch rescues the frightened boy who accidentally hit the gas pedal, until it runs out of steam somewhere along the way. There's a pregnant pooch, and an unfazed Beckett has to pretend to be a girl at one point. A lot of cute moments if little else.

Verdict: There have been worse. **.

REDUCING (1931)

REDUCING (1931). Director: Charles Reisner.

A very funny and engaging comedy starring the great Marie Dressler, teamed once again with the delightful Polly Moran. In this the two are sisters who haven't seen each other for many years. Divorced, Polly is now the wealthy proprietress of a health/reducing club for women, while Marie, married to unsuccessful Elmer (Lucien Littlefield) is down on her luck and has brought her whole family to Polly's townhouse at the latter's invitation. While basically good-hearted, Polly is also a bit of a snob (she pronounces her last name Ro-shay instead of roach, as Marie puts it) and tensions between the two women really come to a boil when Marie's daughter (a gorgeous Anita Page) begins dating the same man (William/Buster Collier Jr.) who's been going out with Polly's daughter (Sally Eilers). This brings out Polly's most condescending instincts and Marie's most terrible wrath. While the approach is humorous Reducing explores sibling rivalry and class distinctions in an intelligent manner. William Bakewell plays the nice boy from back home who has a yen for Anita Page.

Marie Dressler was a brilliant actress. In Reducing she doesn't seem to act -- she just is the character; she's not saying lines she's spontaneously saying whatever comes into her character's head. Her comic timing is faultless; there is never a self-conscious, awkward or untrue moment.

She's a genius.

Verdict: Wonderful! ***.