Weird Woman

1944 "WEAVING HER WEIRD DEAD SPELL OF VOODOO!"
6.2| 1h4m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 01 March 1944 Released
Producted By: Universal Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

After bringing his beautiful new wife Paula home to America from a remote island on which she was raised, Professor Norman Reed begins to feel the clash between his world of rational science and hers of bizarre dancing and freaky voodoo rituals. Norman's stuck-up friends also sense Paula's strangeness, and soon their meddling gossip and suspicious scheming push the poor woman to use her magic to defend herself and her husband – and maybe even to kill! Or is it just the power of suggestion...?

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Reviews

Inclubabu Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.
Protraph Lack of good storyline.
Ava-Grace Willis Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.
Brooklynn There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.
kapelusznik18 ***SPOILERS**** Where introduced to this weird movie by what looks like a talking head-David Hoffman-trapped inside a fishbowl that tells us to expect the worst in human depravity as well as murder in the tale that he, or it, is about to tell us. This has to do with Monroe Collage sociology professor "Handsome Norman" Reed, Lon Chaney Jr., who's wife Paula, Anne Gwynne, that he met married and brought back to the states from a far off south sea island has been acting strange lately on her midnight excursions in the wilds. It turns out that Paula has been practicing voodoo that if found out can have her committed as well as cost him his job.It turns out that and old flame of Reed's his secretary Ilona Karr, Evelyn Ankers, is out to expose Paula's strange behavior to the collage board and have Reed canned from his job as an act of revenge in him dropping her for the younger and far more prettier Paula. Ilona goes so far as getting 18 year old student Margaret Murcer, Louis Collier, who's got a crush on Reed to work as his new secretary. Ilona knowing that the love sick Margaret will end up making a pass at him and by the straight as an arrow Reed not responding to it will get a heart broken Margaret to charged him with sexual harassment for turning her down. To make things even worse for Prof. Reed Ilona spreads a rumor that he planted the story that his fellow professor Millard Sawtelle, Ralph Morgan, plagiarized his PHD thesis causing him to flip out and end up killing himself.***SPOILERS**** The last straw in this weird tale of the unhinged is Margaret's jealous boyfriend collage student David Jennings, Phil Brown, trying to get even with Reeed for stealing, and later kicking out of his office, his girlfriend who in a life and death struggle with Reed ends up getting shot and killed by his own hand with Reed, who was just defending himself, charged with David's murder! It was the supernatural that evened things out here with Ilona who felt that she was in control being cursed through Paula's voodoo rituals that ended with her not only being exposed in all the crazy things that happened in the movie but also paying for what she did with her life.
bkoganbing These Inner Sanctum stories that Lon Chaney, Jr. starred in over at Universal Pictures are the only ones out there where he actually gets the girl. He usually didn't star in parts that called for him getting the girl. But not only does he get the girl in this case Anne Gwynne, but he's got women falling all over the place for him including Evelyn Ankers, Elizabeth Russell, and even the Dean of Women in the college where Chaney plays an archeology professor Elizabeth Risdon gives him the old fish eye.Chaney tells this one in flashback as he describes bringing home a bride from the South Seas. It's Gwynne who is the daughter of a colleague, but was raised by the witch practitioner on the island and taught all the voodoo tricks of the trade. Not exactly material to be in the faculty wives club.Anyway Chaney gives the air to Evelyn Ankers and Evelyn ain't about to take being dumped lying down.No use in going through the rest of the film as bad things start happening to folks around the campus. It's pretty obvious who's responsible. In a camp sort of way Weird Woman is a whole lot of fun.
binapiraeus This second entry in the "Inner Sanctum" mystery series isn't quite as hauntingly gloomy and at the same time cruelly realistic as the first one, "Calling Dr. Death" - but it's certainly filled to the brim with jealousy, Shakespeare's 'green-eyed monster', that can bring MUCH more evil to people than any other feeling...It all starts when good-natured, popular and successful college professor Reed returns from a South Sea Island trip - with a brand new wife, a white girl that was brought up with the Polynesian superstitions; and although Reed is a strong believer in reason and has written whole books against superstition, he can't get Paula to give up her belief in those voodoo-like traditions... And his friends (most of all Ilona, his former girlfriend) see her as a dangerous intruder into the 'peaceful' world of Monroe College - and as a witch! And soon, tragic events start happening that seem to confirm everyone's suspicions about Paula - or perhaps there's ANOTHER kind of 'witch' at work here? Although it's a little bit over the top at some points, "Weird Woman" certainly gives us a VERY clear and merciless picture about what disasters negative emotions can create - and it also gives Evelyn Ankers, Lon Chaney Jr.'s co-star once more, a chance to show a QUITE different shade of her acting range; probably one of her best performances ever, along with an overall brilliant cast. A 'weird' picture maybe - but surely a MOST suspenseful and fascinating one!
bsmith5552 "Weird Woman" was the second of six "Inner Sanctum" mysteries adapted from the popular radio series of the day produced in 1943-45 by Universal and starring Lon Chaney Jr.In this installment we begin with the young wife, Paula Reed (Anne Gwynne) of College Professor Norman Ried (Chaney), returning home in the middle of the night from an unknown destination. Reed is concerned about her irrational behavior. We then flashback to their initial meeting on an unnamed tropical island. It seems that Paula had been raised by a group that were involved in some sort of witchcraft and voodoo.Norman and Paula marry and return to Norman's home in the US. They attend a welcome home party where Norman introduces the people to his new bride. Totally surprised is Ilona Carr (Evelyn Ankers) who thought that she had been the apple of Norman's eye. Others at the party who welcome Norman's new bride are Professor Millard Sawtelle (Ralph Morgan) and his wife Evelyn (Elizabeth Russell), the Dean of Reed's college, Septimus Carr (Harry Hayden), Ilona's brother and Norman's ally, Women's Dean, Grace Gunnison (Elisabeth Risdon).Scorned by Reed's rejection of her, Ilona begins to lay a plan for his destruction. Meanwhile, Reed has become a successful author and scholar. Ilona meanwhile convinces the wimpish Professor Sawtelle that Reed is planning to expose him for plagiarizing a thesis in order to write his own successful book. Sawtelle becomes despondent and commits suicide. His wife blames Reed for causing her husband's suicide.A young hero worshiping student Margaret Mercer (Lois Collier) goes to work for Reed and develops a crush on him. Her boyfriend David Jennings (Phil Brown) becomes insanely jealous and Ilona uses this to her advantage.Reed follows his wife on one of her late night outings to find out where she is going. What he finds out changes the whole course of the story and results in further tragedy.Chaney as always is excellent. He made even a low budget feature such as this better just by his presence. Anne Gwynne is lovely as Chaney's mysterious wife. Evelyn Ankers, Universal's Queen of the "B" horror movies stands out as the scheming Ilona. And yes you do get to hear her trademark blood curdling scream over the course of the film. Ralph Morgan has little to do and is killed off far too early in the story. The under appreciated Elizabeth Russell (who had appeared in several Val Lewton films of the same period) with her scary eye piercing stare also stands out in the supporting cast.Pretty good little mystery.