Strange Impersonation (1946)

A Poverty Row Trash Classic
This Republic B-pic is a cult noir film with a deserved following. It stars Brenda Marshall as a committed career woman in research chemistry who experiments on herself after hours to avoid the red tape at work. The experiment goes horribly wrong, leaving her face badly scarred. Her pretty lab assistant (Hillary Brooke) schemes to get her boss out of the way and marry the man that Marshall was putting off at the start of the film. The film follows Marshall's plastic surgeries and return to the same firm, where she figures out how the assistant managed to marry her former fiance. A subplot involves a woman she accidentally meets, whose identity she takes over in order to effect the deception. The whole thing is served up with a wicked twist at the end that I thought worked completely. The film proves you can do wonders on a low budget if you've got the script, right actors & director, and a lot of guts.

Strange Movie
This film was fairly interesting in parts, but the plot didn't make any sense. Brenda Marshall plays an interesting person- a woman scientist- which was rare in the 1940's. However, the film loses credibility when she has an accident and is disfigured. She has plastic surgery and changes identities. However, she looks the same as she did before, but no one seems to recognize her. That particular item spoiled the movie for me.

Ruth Ford plays a tough blackmailer and Hillary Brooke portrays a really bad lady. William Gargan is very ineffective as Brenda Marshall's love interest. His usual vibrant personality is really subdued here.

Anthony Mann is the director and he does a credible job, but the writing is amateurish and the whole production looks very shoddy.
The print itself is pretty good and there is a certain film noir feeling to it.

I liked the fact that Brenda Marshall played an intelligent scientist and that the women had very strong roles, but the overall impression that I went away with was disappointment

A NOTE TO CUSTOMER REVIEWERS...
Please warn readers about potential spoilers at the beginning of your reviews. The ending is revealed in one of the previous critiques. Thanks and happy viewing!