September 10 movie: A Stolen Life. I love this movie. Bette Davis plays identical twins: the good twin falls in love with Glenn Ford, then the bad twin steals him just because she can. The bad twin dies but everyone thinks it was the good twin. Who decides to maintain the deception so she can get Glenn Ford back. But then she finds out that the bad sister was badder than she knew, and she doesn't really want to inherit her life. But it all turns out right in the end.
The special effects -- pasting the two Bette Davises together -- are extremely well done. I've seen movies made decades later with clumsier effects. Also great supporting work by Charles Ruggles as the two sisters' cousin/father figure, and Dane Clark as an angry starving artist. I looked up Dane Clark on imdb.com. He made dozens of movies and over a hundred TV episodes, but nothing I remembered seeing. I'll have to look for his other movies.
Now, I said that I love this movie and I do, but I have to raise one complaint. I really dislike it when a movie hinges on a love triangle, and the "point" of the triangle -- the person for whom the other two people are competing -- is treated as having no responsibility whatsoever for their behavior. It's usually two women (one virtuous and one vamp) competing for a man who acts like a hapless object. But I've seen it go the other way too.
I mean, yes, the bad twin is clearly the villain, but she couldn't have taken Ford if he hadn't let her. Actually I don't think a person can "take away" someone else's partner, the way a possession can be stolen. What is he, a robot? He had a choice. He abandoned the real connection he had with the good twin, and let himself be seduced by the bad one.It would have been nice if he had apologized for that at the end. But then again, Davis doesn't apologize for impersonating his dead wife. So maybe I'm being unfair.
1 Comments
I watched this movie years ago, but I remember nothing of it. I should watch it again. Bette Davis is awesome. Never seen her in a bad movie.