This British director was known for quota films, i.e., quick ones to meet the British cinema requirement. "Strange Awakening" from 1958 is one of these. But it's a British B movie and I can't resist them.
The film stars Lex "Tarzan" Barker, a tall, blond, and handsome American actor, who is attacked by a hitchhiker and wakes up in a hospital with no I.D. and no memory. He finds out that he is Gordy Friend, the ne'er-to-do-well son of a wealthy man who has just died a month earlier. He finds out that he lives in a huge mansion in the Nice/Cannes area, has a wife, a sister, and a mother.
It's a little suspicious because in the first scene, the guy's wife, Iris, leaves on a trip. So we know this is a set-up from the beginning.
It drags its way to an incomplete end. I mean, we know why he is impersonating Gordy, but that's about it. He knows his real name but does he remember who he is? And what about poor Iris? There is no indication that this character regains his memory.
The acting isn't bad - Nora Swinburne, Lisa Gastoni, and Carole Mathews acquit themselves well. Barker wasn't much of an actor. He was a popular Tarzan and later on became a huge star in Germany, where he eventually made his home. Never let it be said Arlene Dahl and Lana Turner didn't know a handsome face when they saw one - they were both married to him.
The film stars Lex "Tarzan" Barker, a tall, blond, and handsome American actor, who is attacked by a hitchhiker and wakes up in a hospital with no I.D. and no memory. He finds out that he is Gordy Friend, the ne'er-to-do-well son of a wealthy man who has just died a month earlier. He finds out that he lives in a huge mansion in the Nice/Cannes area, has a wife, a sister, and a mother.
It's a little suspicious because in the first scene, the guy's wife, Iris, leaves on a trip. So we know this is a set-up from the beginning.
It drags its way to an incomplete end. I mean, we know why he is impersonating Gordy, but that's about it. He knows his real name but does he remember who he is? And what about poor Iris? There is no indication that this character regains his memory.
The acting isn't bad - Nora Swinburne, Lisa Gastoni, and Carole Mathews acquit themselves well. Barker wasn't much of an actor. He was a popular Tarzan and later on became a huge star in Germany, where he eventually made his home. Never let it be said Arlene Dahl and Lana Turner didn't know a handsome face when they saw one - they were both married to him.