Frail and squeamish, the young Paul Cartwright (James Lydon) is haunted by dreams of his father, who died in a questionable car wreck. These aren’t just bad dreams, but visions that predict unfolding events. And, as predicted, along comes a shadowy man claiming to be Paul’s father, resolved into the form of Brett Curtis (Warren William). Paul gleefully sets out to solve the mystery of his dad’s demise and the truth of uncouth Curtis, committing himself to an asylum run by a conniving shrink (Charles Arnt). Strange Illusion dwells on the stuff of psychoanalysis with its dreamscapes, father figures, and compulsive motivations.
Written by Adele Commandini, based on a story by Fritz Rotter and on Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Photographed by Philip Tannura. With James Lydon, Sally Eilers, Warren William, Regis Toomey. (83 mins, B&W, 35mm, From the Library of Congress. Preserved by the Library of Congress)
(In conjunction with) Dark Past: Film Noir by German Emigrés
As Hitler’s influence grew in 1930s Germany, artists and intellectuals fled the country; whether because they were Jewish or held contrary political views, they saw their lives or livelihoods threatened by the emerging fascist reign. The German film industry was not immune to this flight and the decade witnessed the exodus of a host of important filmmakers—directors, cinematographers, screenwriters, and others. Hollywood became a haven for these hasty émigrés—by the early forties tinsel town had a thriving contingent of German-speaking filmmakers, including Otto Preminger, Max Ophuls, Douglas Sirk, Billy Wilder, Robert Siodmak, Fritz Lang, Edgar G. Ulmer, and many others. Grateful for any assignment, these veteran directors took on low-budget B-movies, turning them into highly effective, emotionally resonant, darkly dramatized mysteries and crime stories, later to be known as noirs. It’s said that the greatest contribution of this group of directors was the shadow-laden mise-en-scène with its brooding urban cityscapes distilled from German Expressionism. But as you shall see from these eight noirs by eight directors, much more than rain-spattered streets and crepuscular lighting links them. Many of these bristling features, from Max Ophuls’s Caught to Curtis Bernhardt’s High Wall, from William Dieterle’s Dark City to Otto Preminger’s Where the Sidewalk Ends, share a belief that authority is necessarily corrupt, that institutions are to be mistrusted, that what is worst in us will come to light, and, finally, that no one can shake their dark past.
Theater Admission Prices
Single Feature
$5.50 BAM/PFA Members, UC Berkeley Students
$9.50 Adults (18-64)
$6.50 UC Berkeley faculty, staff, and retirees
Non-UC Berkeley students
Senior citizens (65 & over)
Disabled persons
Youth (17 & under
Additional Feature $4.00 All Patrons
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Berkeley, CA 92027
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