Strange Fascination (1952) User Reviews

First but not best collaboration between Hugo Haas and Cleo Moore

[XhcnoirX · 6/10 · 2 March 2018]

Hugo Haas is a famous European piano virtuoso who's brought to the States by wealthy widow Mona Barrie. Haas goes on a concert tour where he meets dancer Cleo Moore, and they end up getting married. As Haas struggles to break thorugh in the States, he also struggles to keep both Moore and Barrie happy. But Barrie isn't crazy about Haas's marriage and cuts off her financial support. And when Moore is also thinking about going back to her old dance partner, Haas gets desperate and thinks about collecting the insurance on his hands, somehow...

This was director, writer, actor and producer Hugo Haas ('Pickup') and Cleo Moore's ('On Dangerous Ground') first of 7 collaborations. Moore is far less of a femme fatale in this one than their subsequent movies, but Haas plays essentially the same role as in most of the other ones (ditto in his movies with Beverly Michaels), a 'simple' man who gets involved with the wrong woman and ends up in a downward spiral. Noone can accuse Haas of having too much talent as a writer, director or actor, but as with the title of this movie, he's strangely fascinating to watch. In some close-up's it almost as if you can see him thinking about how to portray emotions. In any case, and for whatever reason, with Haas I don't mind it, I find him very likeable somehow.

Haas's movies are almost invariably low budget affairs, but he does a nice job here with limited means, with a surprising high amount of sets. And experienced DoP Paul Ivano ('The Shanghai Gesture', 'Black Angel') also added a bit of noir aesthetic to this movie, unfortunately not a lot tho. But this is not one of Haas's best efforts, also because Moore's character is nowhere near the sultry and sleazy characters she would portray in her later movies under Haas. It's a decent noir-ish melodrama, but no need to go out of your way to see this one.

Good characters, good performances

[eospaulding · 7/10 · 22 April 2020]

I won't belabor you with plot details -- other reviewers have done that just fine.

I do disagree with most of the ratings that precede mine. Greatness here? No. But definitely watchable with two very real characters (that's scripting) and two solid performances.

I have no idea what the cost of making Strange Fascination was. It seemed low-cost but not corner-cutting. I'm no high-brow musically, I never heard of Hugo Haas and barely knew of Cleo Moore. I didn't enter with great expectations. I came away pleasantly surprised. I found a good mix of on-screen chemistry, despite the characters' wide variance in background and age.

Directors who act in their own films would probably want to be their own lawyers. (This means you, Heywood Allen.) Here, Haas comes out OK both in front of and behind the camera. Moore is appropriately attractive, as well as being effective.

Good, tight, well executed B-plus film. Worth your while. Mine, anyway.

Possession/Obsession

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 26 August 2019]

I happen to find these Hugo Haas-Cleo Moore films entertaining.

Haas was a famous actor in his native Czechoslovakia until he had to flee the Nazis. Once in America, he became a director and a writer of B movies usually starring a gorgeous blond.

The gorgeous blond in this case is Cleo Moore. Paul is an up and coming concert pianist with a sponsor (Mona Barrie). One night he drops into a bar while a dance routine is in progress, and makes too much noise as far as the female dancer Margo (Moore) is concerned. So, similar to the last film I saw them in, she sets out to ruin his life.

She attends one of his concerts and instead becomes enamored of his music. Slowly but surely she wields her way into his life, and the two marry.

Margo goes along with Paul on his concert tour. It's highly successful until it abruptly stops due to a flooding situation. Unfortunately, in part thanks to Margo, Paul is flat broke. And he can't depend on his female sponsor to help him.

This is where the film for me goes off the rails. The guy hits the skids in like five minutes. If this were Van Cliburn, would the cancellation of one concert cause total destruction? Suddenly he's a big nobody. When Margo tries to work, he becomes jealous and possessive and refuses to let her, mainly because she's a flirt.

It goes on from there. Haas is a very warm actor, and he gives us a sympathetic if unreasonable character.

Moore does a good job and looks very glamorous. It's hard to decide if she loves Paul or was just using him all along. I think she does care about him, but they're both suffering.

Very nice ending.

Hey why don't you play something great ya bum!

[kapelusznik18 · 7/10 · 19 December 2016]

***SPOILERS***Incredbely touching performance by the great Hugo Haas-who stared as well as directed and produced the film- as the once great and now, towards the end of the movie, down in the dumps and washed up concert pianist Paul Marvan who finds his way back to society and sanity in a most unusual place! In a local homeless shelter on skid row where he ended up. That's when Paul's whole world collapsed when his blond and fussy wife Margo, Cleo Moore, walked out on him and his sponsor from America who paid his way there from Europe to find fame & fortune Diana Fowler, Mona Barrie, cut Paull out of her life.

A big success at first earning as much as $10,000.00 a concert Paul's life fell apart when his wife Margo started cheating behind his back with her former boyfriend calypso dancer Carlo , Rick Villin, whom she dropped when she married Paul. A meek and gentle man Paul knew that Margo was cheating behind his back and draining his bank account but still stayed with her hoping that he'll turn her around and get Margo to see things his way. It soon became obvious that Margo was nothing but a gold digger and had no use for him when he hit rock bottom and was unable to get any gigs playing the piano even in local bars where the customers are too drunk and out of it to listen or appreciate his music.

***SPOILERS*** The or it seems like the end comes for Paul when feeling he can't play the piano anymore tries to injure his right hand putting it in a printing machine and breaking his fingers before anyone could have stopped him. Unable to collect the $150,000.00 of insurance that he insured his hands for Paul walks into a Salvation Army homeless shelter looking far a place the spend the cold night and finds a piano there that he starts playing with his left or uninjured hand. It's then that a strange and unexpected thing happened with the shelter filled to capacity with people wildly cheering his performance! And at the same time giving the at first suicidal feeling Paul a reason for going on living as well putting his sad and tragic past behind him!

Old man.

[valstone52 · 7/10 · 3 December 2020]

Good movie, but why did Hugo haas always have to play the fool, all the time? He's always playing the patsy, always with a girl young enough to be daughter or granddaughter. All of his movies have the same theme.

Gone with the flood .

[ulicknormanowen · 6/10 · 2 March 2022]

Cleo Moore replaces Beverly Michaels ,but both actresses play the same role : to spark off the middle-age lust ; "pick up "took place in a seedy place which looked onto the railroad track whereas " strange fascination" is located in the chic artistic milieu .

Haas is a famous pianist whose career is flourishing ; it's the story of his downfall ,the story being a long flashback; Moore 's dancing act is marred by the star's noise and revenge is a dish best eaten cold ,although she's a go-getter too ; she's less crude than Michaels ' bad gal in "pick up " ,and anyway she's in love with her partner Carlo; the flood which ruins the musician's career echoes to another flood of desire : once Margo entered his life,the game is up ,and one sees the failed artist going at a peak of masochism (latent in "pickup")when he gazes at the press,and in the pathetic last ovation.

ups and downs of a concert pianist

[ksf-2 · 6/10 · 24 October 2023]

Euro pianist paul marvan (haas) is brought back to the united states by the wealthy diana fowler ( monie barrie). But marvan falls for another girl (cleo moore), and marries her, sabotaging his own career. Or at least his steady income from mrs. Fowler. And when he needs money, he comes up with a low-down, illegal scheme to raise money fast. Will it work? What will happen to them? It's a bit over the top, but probably plausible, maybe during the depression. Written and directed by hugo haas. Sometimes bad things happen when the same person writes, directs, and stars in a film. But in this case, it turned out okay! Produced by haas himself, for columbia pictures. Haas and moore made a whole bunch of films together, with very similar plots.

Below Average B noir

[mls4182 · 5/10 · 23 April 2021]

Entertaining run of the mill 1950s b movie brightened by the beauty and charisma of Cleo Taurus Moore.

Far from fascinating.

[st-shot · 5/10 · 27 December 2016]

Brassy B movie siren Cleo Moore dismantles the career of a highly promising pianist in this threadbare second feature with Hugo Haas doing a Welles balancing act as writer, director and lead. A scenario used ad infinitum throughout the history of film this rendition is pretty far down the list but not without an incidental to give it the occasional jolt.

Classical pianist Paul Marvan (Haas) kills (his performance) in Salzburg one night bringing him to the attention of wealthy patron Diana Fowler who decides to bring the promising musician to the US. Marvin settles into a groove with his attention focused on an American concert tour when he runs into Margo a professional dancer at a tawdry supper club. More concerned with getting food in his stomach than taking in the floor show he disses Margo unintentionally who takes offense and attempts to return the favor the next night at one of his concerts but after watching him perform a Chopin prelude falls for the guy instead. She moves in, he goes on tour brings and they marry, (much to the chagrin of patroness Fowler) and go through cash like water when massive flooding cancels the tour leaving him busted. The career tanked he plays a Polish variety show when his wife's former dance partner and lover looks her up. In a desperate attempt to get some cash Marvan brutally maims himself to get some insurance money but even that plan goes awry.

With a production budget that looks like it might feed a family of five Strange Fascination has no time for detailed composition but director Haas offers up some original tidbits (a montage leading up to the film's climax, use of ambient laughter to emphasize his humiliation, a quick end to a deception in another language) to go along with his flawed character that likes to spend and drink especially when flush with success.

Haas, a bit of a rumpled Paul Henried conveys much of his anguish through facial expression and tempered outbursts without going too over the top. Peroxide blonde Moore has the look of a shameless gold digger seductress but truly cares for Marvan, even as she runs off with her ex- lover (Rick Vallin) who is more decent than mean to Paul. Moana Barrie as the patroness delivers the most measured if not flashiest performance, stoically enduring the deconstruction of her protégé.

Not a terrible B or exactly a good one Strange Fascination has a quirk or two in it to go along with a running time that won't take up much of yours.

First of Seven Cleo Moore/Hugo Haas Films

[HarlowMGM · 8/10 · 12 May 2006]

Hugo Haas was a middle-aged character actor who began writing, producing and starring in (though playing second fiddle to glamorous blondes) low-budget films in the 1950's. His first two films as "auteur" starred Beverly Michaels but it was his seven collaborations with beautiful Cleo Moore that are better remembered today. STRANGE FASCINATION was their first film together and one of the more conservative, less lurid of the bunch, a fairly conventional drama of a renown concert pianist (Haas) who becomes attracted to and marries a nightclub dancer (Moore) which starts him on the road to ruin. A few years later, Moore's character would have been a bad girl who took him for everything he had, here she's rather sweet girl who is really not responsible for his problems. Since the melodrama here is low key this is one of the duller Moore/Haas romps but Cleo looks close to her most beautiful with a pageboy hairstyle and cute clothes and for movie buffs there's 1930's starlet Mona Barrie in a featured part.

Worth it only for Cleo Moore

[christopher-underwood · 3/10 · 28 May 2013]

I was drawn to this by the 'pulp' artwork on the poster, the fact that it was from the same director of 'Pickup' and the fact it starred, Cleo Moore. Hugo Haas, wrote, directed, produced and starred in half a dozen films with the Jean Harlow like, Moore and this was the first.

The previous year he had made the superior 'Pickup' with Beverly Michaels and the final Moore film would be the effective 'Hit and Run'. This, however, is not very spirited at all and indeed is most predictable. Haas plays the naive concert pianist who falls for the younger woman while his sponsor lady (same age as he) becomes less keen.

Worth it only for Cleo Moore and still a bit of a drag.

Strange Fascination (1952)

[MartinTeller · 5/10 · 3 January 2012]

A European pianist comes to America and falls for a dancehall girl. Written, directed, produced and starring Hugo Haas, who doesn't do a particularly good job in any of those roles. The script is lifeless and poorly written (including a second act twist that doesn't make a lick of sense), a lot of very prosaic drama that never catches fire. The camera-work is entirely uninteresting, and borderline amateurish. The performances and characterizations are bland. This is the first of seven films that Haas did with pin-up gal Cleo Moore, which is odd because here they have little chemistry together. The film is categorized as noir, but that seems like a stretch by any definition of the genre. Only in the final 10 minutes do we get any compelling plot material, and I will say I quite liked the ending. But otherwise it's a snooze.

"I'm not the waiting type"

[evening1 · 4/10 · 20 March 2021]

I have gradually realized, through years of loving film, that it's never a good idea to write, direct, and star in one's own production. Unless you've got the genius of an Orson Welles, it's too big a job for most to do well.

Hugo Haas proves this point in this odd little movie from 1952, billed as a noir by the Movies! channel, but way too lame to merit the title.

"Strange Fascination" starts promisingly enough, with some weird dynamics between the Haas character, Paul, a Czech concert pianist, and Diana (Mona Barrie), a rich widow who wants to sponsor him in the States, and maybe get a little loving on the side. "My friends would die of envy," she confides.

The story goes way conventional when crude, sexy nightclub dancer Margo (Cleo Moore) sees dollar signs in Paul and decides to reel him in. There's zero chemistry in the pair, and we never quite believe that Paul is as dumb as he acts. The marriage breaks down when -- ready to yawn? -- Paul's money dries up.

Plot holes aside, the movie's biggest problem lies in its sketchily drawn characters. We see very little of the perverse Diana and her Bride-of-Frankenstein-style hair. And not nearly enough is made of Ms. Moore, whose looks and clunky acting style make one believe that she went on to cult-classic fame (check out her Wikipedia bio).

Befuddlingly, even Paul is a blur. So much is made of his insured-for-$100,000 hands, and yet, all that weirdness at the printing plant -- what a bunch of psycho-pop claptrap!

One little reward in getting though this film is its quality musical score, featuring piano by real-life concert soloist Jakob Gimpel.

From the top to the bottom of the American quagmire of vulgarity

[clanciai · 9/10 · 16 June 2023]

A well directed, well written and sad film like this calls to mind the works of Max Ophüls and Stefan Zweig, it's the same kind of deep melancholy pervading the whole work, giving it a dimension of bottomless despair. Josef von Sternberg's "The Blue Angel" bringing Marlene Dietrich to Hollywood also comes to mind, it's the same kind of story, an accomplished master in his field is brought down by his own strange fascination with a cheap nightclub dancer, who actually originally is intent on bringing him down and sabotaging his concert, but instead she gets a kick out of his fantastic Chopin interpretations although she understands nothing about classical music, and he commits the mistake of taking her seriously and falling for her, making of himself a self-destructive idiot. Of course he is foolish, getting carried away by his jealousy of a woman who could be his daughter, but he just can't help it, and Hugo Haas makes a very convincing character of a great man at a loss against his own weakness. Almost all Hugo Haas' films have the character of a sad pathetic self-revelation and self-confession, and here he plays the lead in his own film of such a case. It is extremely sympathetic in all its pathetic deplorability, but the case is saved by the fact that he actually keeps smiling. And the music, like in all Haas' films, is absolutely exquisite in its blend of the highest quality and the lowest vulgarity.

10/10

[exepellinglogin · 10/10 · 17 October 2021]

Middle-aged European pianist Paul Marvan (Hugo Haas) is brought to America by the wealthy widow Diana Fowler (Mona Barrie) and he meets and marries a canary blonde named Margo (Cleo Moore), who is a dance partner at a nightclub owned by Carlo (Mona Barrie). Rick Vallin). Margo's vague and flirtatious behavior fuels Marvan, who is also troubled by the increasing financial and professional difficulties, since Diana, his wealthy "sponsor," who was more a little troubled when Marvan married the little bum. He puts a hand into a printing press in hopes of collecting $50,000 insurance, but payment is denied when it is revealed that his accident was not an accident. Margo returns to Carlo and Marvan finds shelter in a Salvation Army shelter, where she now plays the piano with one hand.