Voice from beyond

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title Voice from beyond
Original title Strange illusion
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1945
length 67 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Edgar G. Ulmer
script Adele Comandini ,
Fritz Rotter
production Leon Fromkess for
PRC Pictures
music Leo Erdody
camera Philip Tannura ,
Eugen Schüfftan
cut Carl Pierson
occupation

Voice from the Beyond (Original title: Strange Illusion ) is an American film noir by Edgar G. Ulmer from 1945. The plot is based on an idea by Fritz Rotter .

action

The respected judge Albert Cartwright came under mysterious circumstances in his car in front of a train two years ago. His son, college student Paul, dreams one night that his father's car was pushed onto the railroad tracks by a truck and that the killer is now trying to approach his widowed mother. The morning after, Paul receives one of the letters that his father had written with foresight before his death and that are now occasionally sent to him: The father writes that after his death it is Paul's responsibility that his beautiful and somewhat naive mother Virginia do not come to unscrupulous men. Paul is so upset by the dream and the letter that he returns home immediately. There it turns out that the mother has actually got a new admirer in the urbane, charming Brett Curtis. The businessman Curtis recently moved into the area, but most people are already taken with him. However, Paul soon becomes suspicious of Curtis because he gives Paul's sister Dorothy the exact same bracelet that she got in Paul's dream of the father's murderer. Curtis also says the same things the killer said to him in a dream.

Paul believes his nightmares are now becoming a reality. Dr. Martin Vincent, an old friend of his father's, appeases Paul, but still helps Paul in his endeavors to find out more about Brett Curtis. The next day, Paul finds a file in his father's records about the serial killer, dowry hunter and rapist Claude Barrington , who has always escaped justice and appears to have some similarities with Brett Curtis. His father had been a persistent pursuer of Claude Barrington. In fact, Paul's assumptions are correct, it is about the same man who killed Paul's father and now as a last act of revenge his widow - and her fortune - wants to marry and then kill. The unscrupulous psychiatrist Professor Muhlbach is in league with Curtis. Since Curtis is increasingly annoyed by Paul's interference, he suggests that the young man seek treatment from Professor Muhlbach in order to finally overcome his father's death. Paul agrees because he suspects an alliance between Muhlbach and Curtis and wants to collect evidence against them there. However, he is treated like a prisoner and is under constant control of the professor.

Meanwhile, Paul's mother and Curtis get engaged and he urges them to marry soon. Curtis and Muhlbach plan to get rid of the unpleasant Paul. The professor wants to push Paul off the roof and make it look like a suicide, but a visit from Dr. Vincent prevents his plan. During an excursion, Paul and Dr. Vincent found an abandoned barn near Muhlbach's mental hospital, very similar to the one in Paul's nightmare. In the barn, the two discover the remains of the truck that was involved in the death of Paul's father under mountains of straw. Dr. Vincent arranges for the prosecutor to conduct investigations against Curtis - Curtis' fingerprints are found on the truck. Professor Muhlbach wants to flee, but is caught by the police. Paul can escape the mental hospital that way. Meanwhile, Brett - who has a perverted tendency towards teenage girls and doesn't shy away from rape - takes Paul's sister on a trip to the lake where he molests her. With his friends Lydia and George, Paul rushes to his sister's aid at the last minute and can prevent worse. In a fight Brett can knock Paul down, but when he tries to grab a knife, he is shot by the arriving police. The unconscious Paul dreams again, but this time the dream has turned for the better.

background

Edgar G. Ulmer filmed a modern variant of the Hamlet theme with Strange Illusion, based loosely on the play by William Shakespeare . At the same time, the work , which is attributed to the film noir , is influenced by modern psychoanalysis and deals subliminally, for example, with an Oedipus conflict between Paul and his mother. The film was made on a relatively low budget at the Poverty Row film studio Producers Releasing Corporation , with whom Ulmer also shot the classic film diversion , which is also classified as film noir. Jimmy Lydon, who became famous in the early 1940s for the title role in the Henry Aldrich series of films, played the lead role in Strange Illusion . With Warren William and Sally Eilers two well-known stars of the 1930s were cast, who by this time had already passed the zenith of their careers.

Eugen Schüfftan , the important German cameraman, was cameraman for the film together with Philip Tannura . In the opening credits, however, only Tannura is mentioned, as Schüfftan was not allowed to join the cameramen's union - but this was a prerequisite for being mentioned in the opening credits. Ulmer and Schüfftan had already worked together in Germany in 1930 at Menschen am Sonntag before they both fled National Socialism. In the 1940s, Ulmer employed Schüfftan unnamed on some of his films. Schüfftan's handwriting can be seen, for example, in the shadowy images that are influenced by German silent film cinema and the cinematic expressionism of the 1920s.

Since the owners of the film failed to renew the copyright, Voice from Beyond is now in the public domain . In the United States it celebrated its cinema premiere on March 31, 1945, in Germany it was first seen on television in 1980.

Reviews

Spencer Selby described Voice from Beyond as "a stylish cheap film from the respected master of stylish cheap films". The lexicon of international film was also positive: "The melodrama of the B-Class impressively demonstrates the low-budget skills of director Ulmer (1904–1972)."

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Edgar G. Ulmer: A Filmmaker at the Margins by Noah Isenberg, at Google Books
  2. ↑ Voice from Beyond on IMDB - Release Dates
  3. ↑ Selby, Spencer: Dark City: The Film Noir ; Film number 391 on page 182; ISBN 0-89950-103-6 .
  4. ↑ Voice from the beyond. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed September 8, 2018 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used