STRANGE DAYS (1995)

Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett & Juliette Lewis

Director: Kathryn Bigelow

     The drug of choice in 1999 is a virtual-reality setup that allows people to relive their own or someone else's experiences. During the last 48 hours of the 20th century, a seedy former vice cop gets involved with two such "wiretrips"- one a grisly sex murder, the other the backstreet killing of a rap star by racist cops. 

     This feverish audiovisual orgy leers inot the future of virtual reality and greases it with sleaze. Rated R for graphic violence, sex, nudity and language. 145 mins.

My Rating: ***

THE STRANGE WOMAN (1946)

Starring: Hedy Lamarr & George Sanders

Director: Edgar G. Ulmer

     Lusty tale of a woman who conspires with her stepson to kill her husband. A strange adaptation of the Ben Ames Williams bestseller, mainly because Hedy Lamarr looks better than she acts. 

     She bought the rights to the book, selected cast and director, and listed herself as an associate producer. 100 mins.

My Rating: **

STRANGE ILLUSION (1945)

Starring: Jimmy Lydon, Sally Eilers & Regis Toomey

Director: Edgar G. Ulmer

     Following the mysterious dissapearance of his father, a teenager on a fishing holiday with the family physician is disturbed by a strange dream concerning his mother. 80 mins.

My Rating: ** 1/2

THE STRANGE LOVE OF MARTHA IVERS (1946)

Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin & Kirk Douglas

Director: Lewis Milestone

     Terrible title doesn't do this well-acted drama justice. 

     Woman-with-a-past Barbara Stanwyck excels in this story of a secret that comes back to threaten her now-stable life and the lengths she must go to in order to ensure her security. 

     Young Kirk Douglas in his film debut already charges the screen with electricity. 117 mins.

My Rating: *** 1/2

THE STRANGER (1946)

Starring: Orson Welles, Loretta Young & Edward G. Robinson

Director: Orson Welles

     Nazi war criminal (Orson Welles) assumes a new identity in a Connecticut town following World War II, unaware that a government agent (Edward G. Robinson) is tailing him. 

     Extremely well-done film, holds the viewer's interest from start to finish. 95 mins.

My Rating: ***1/2

SORRY, WRONG NUMBER (1948)

Starring: Barbara Stanwyck & Burt Lancaster

Director: Anatole Litvak

     Slick cinema adaptation, by the author herself, of Lucille Fletcher's famed radio drama. Barbara Stanwyck is superb-and received an Oscar nomination-as an invalid who, due to those "crossed wires" so beloved in fiction, overhears two men plotting the murder of a woman. 

     Gradually, Stanwyck realizes that she is the target. 89 mins.

My Rating: ***

RED HOUSE (1947)

Starring: Edward G. Robinson

Director: Delmer Daves

     A gripping suspense melodrama enhanced by a musical score by Miklos Rozsa. Edward G. Robinson employs Rory Calhoun to keep the curious away from a decaying old house deep in the woods. 

     

     But his niece and a young hired hand must learn the secret. 100 mins.

My Rating: ***