Tags:
Film: Weird Woman
Year: 1944
Director: Reginald Le Borg
Writer: Brenda Weisberg and Scott Darling
Starring: Lon Chaney Jr., Anne Gwynne and Evelyn Ankers
Review:
This was a movie that I found when searching out horror from 1944. I didn't realize until searching this out that it is an Inner Sanctum Mystery from Universal. Then seeing Lon Chaney Jr., Anne Gwynne and Evelyn Ankers starring piqued my interest. This was watched as a Foray through the Fours.
Synopsis: while on a South Seas trip, a professor falls in love and marries an exotic native woman. What he doesn't know is that she was raised by superstitious natives who believe her to be a supernatural being.
This begins with Paula Clayton Reed (Gwynne) walking outside at night. She is seen entering her home and sneaking up to bed. Her husband is Prof. Norman (Chaney). He's writing a book about superstitions. There’s a phone call, saying that his wife is out walking so he goes to check. He finds her 'asleep'. We'll learn that he is the professor from the synopsis and she is the new bride. It doesn't confirm which island, but it is from the Pacific and they have pagan beliefs.
I want to include here that they met while he was watching a ritual. There is a shooting star right as they're finishing, which they believe was their magic working. Norman is stopped, told that if he steps over a line then he will be sacrificed. This is relayed to him by Paula. He is smitten with her and that causes issues because of it. That leads up to them being married and her moving to the United States.
This is much to the chagrin of Illona Carr (Ankers). She's in love with Norman. She has a party to which the newlywed couple attends. It is here that he reveals his new bride to their social circle. Illona does what she can to separate the two. This is just the start of it. There is a student who is in love with Norman, Margaret Mercer (Lois Collier). She worked for him before his trip as an assistant. In his absence, she started to help Illona. She uses this infatuation to her advantage, letting Margaret go back to work for Norman. He seems oblivious to her feelings toward him. This upsets Margaret’s boyfriend, David Jennings (Phil Brown), as well.
Now there's another issue here. Prof. Millard Sawtelle (Ralph Morgan) is in line to take over the sociology department. He is pushed by his wife, Evelyn (Elizabeth Russell), to get this position. With Norman being back and with the success of his new book, it seems he's stealing this position away. That is until he learns that his wife is doing rituals. She believes that she is protecting him where others are doing what they can to cause harm. He burns the items and scolds her, believing that she is preserving ideas that are archaic and holding back the advancement of society. Bad things start to happen though that could ruin his career. It then begs the question, did her ritual truly help protect him?
That is where I'll leave my recap and introduction to the story. Where I'll start is that I noticed this based on a novel by Fritz Leiber Jr. I also picked up on coincides to another movie, Night of the Eagle. What I didn't realize is that they're both based on the same source material. It makes sense now.
With that out of the way, I want to delve into the main story idea here of pagan ideas vs. organized religion. I find it interesting that Norman is a professor who has researched the rituals on this island. He even married a woman from there. It doesn't shock me that she is clinging to her beliefs, as she should. I don't necessarily believe them myself, but I won't tell anyone else how to live. That is a negative I have toward our lead. He has the normal imperialistic idea of thinking he's right without considering her upbringing. It seems that he finds them fascinating to research and that’s where it ends.
Then to shift from there, let’s delve into this dichotomy. Norman doesn't believe that this ritual helps as I said and scolds Paula. I don't think that is fair to be honest. He believes that his success is all thanks to his hard work. I do agree there. In the world of this movie though, by destroying her talisman and other items, bad things start to happen. It makes you wonder if that is the cause, or could it be a self-fulfilling prophecy? I do believe in karma to an extent that if you put bad energy in the universe, negative things seem to come back. Using this in the film was a positive way to allow the viewer to consider if this is supernatural or if there's a logical explanation. I lean into the latter personally.
I'm going to shift slightly to discuss Norman more in-depth. He comes off condescending and misogynistic. I'll reiterate that he came to this island and met Paula. She didn't ask to come here. She grew up with her beliefs. It is then her coming to the US that she is looked at negatively by Illona who is jealous. She is meddling in different ways to ruin Norman to steal him away. She is the villain, but I don't find Norman to be the hero. I will acknowledge the era this was made and his beliefs were normal for the time. It doesn't age well, but I won't let that completely ruin the experience.
Let's then discuss the acting performances. Chaney is good here despite me not liking his character. That is more of how it was written and the era that he was as an actor, as far as I know. He has a good presence and performance. Gwynne is good as this outsider who is trying to find her way in a place much different than what she's used to. I hate that she is the woman who is referenced with the title though, it feels condescending as well. Ankers was good as this villainous, jealous woman. It is interesting she's out to ruin the man that she is in love with. I did like Morgan, Elisabeth Risdon, Collier, Harry Hayden, Russell and Brown to help round this out for what was needed.
All that is left then is filmmaking. The cinematography was fine there. It is still early so the techniques and technology available don't allow too much here. This isn't a film that needs much in the way of effects. It is more about the characters and their psyche to understand what is happening around them. I liked the sound design to hear the inner thoughts of Norman. Other than that, the rest of the cast rounded this out for what was needed.
In conclusion, I thought that this was another solid entry in this Inner Sanctum Mystery run with Universal. We have an interesting story that is still relevant today. We have the idea of luck, both good and bad, with the concept of a pagan ritual vs. Christian beliefs. There are issues here with misogyny and not respecting others. Both aren't necessarily negative though. The acting was good. Chaney, Gwynne and Ankers lead the way with the rest of the cast rounding this out for what was needed. This is one of the better films from this run that I've seen, so if you like this era of filmmaking, I'd recommend it.
My Rating: 7 out of 10