Loosely inspired by Hamlet, it was envisioned as a modern crime film.

It was directed by Edgar G. Ulmer and starred Jimmy Lydon, Warren William and Sally Eilers.

"[1] A college student has a recurrent dream that leads him to suspect there is something sinister about his widowed mother's suitor.

Film critic Dennis Schwartz liked the film's atmospherics but gave a mixed review to the production as a whole, writing, "The dark psychological thriller had an engrossing premise courtesy of Mr. Shakespeare and was influenced further by Freudian dream analysis, but it was unconvincing as a melodrama, the script was weak, the plot was full of holes and the acting was as lame as it gets...What's interesting is that the film is shot as an intense dream sequence in shadowy black-and-white hues and its sense of delirium powerfully filters through the story almost wiping away the unconvincing heavy-handed performances of the villains and the mummified acting by the leads.

Like his other great films, Strange Illusion is a shaggy quickie that takes fine shape throughout.