Powerful

The first must-see film of the year.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Bette Davis is the whole show in this film that again recycles the "evil twin" plot. Two sisters, Margaret (rich, widowed, and condescending), and Edie (poor and slovenly) begin to talk again after years of estrangement. Because of a simmering grudge over Margaret's late husband, Edie kills Margaret and assumes her identity and lavish lifestyle. Margaret's boyfriend Tony (Peter Lawford) soon figures out the switch, tries blackmail, and is mauled to death by Margaret's huge dog. Karl Malden plays Edie's police detective boyfriend, and although he's good, Malden just looks confused all the time. Since no one could get away with crime in a 1964 movie, Edie is sentenced to death as Margaret for poisoning her husband!The movie moves along swiftly, aided by such old pros as Jean Hagen, Ken Lynch, and George Macready. There's a strange subplot about religion that really doesn't add very much to the plot. However, watching Peter Lawford wrestling with a stuffed dog head is worth the price of admission. There's also very good direction by Davis' old costar Paul Henreid. It's no classic, but this is wonderful for fans of Davis, who easily steals the show.

Dead Ringer (1964)From that crazy, Gothic, overblown, fabulous last decade of Bette Davis's career, another wild one. And we get not one, but two Davis characters, twins, and the scenes where they are both shown (seamlessly) it's a kind of Bette Davis gluttony. Luckily, she's a great actress, and she pulls makes the melodrama burn. The movie makes no secret of being over the top, the plot outrageous and engaging enough to pull along all the other unlikely and exaggerated scenes.The weakest link here is possibly the direction, under actor Paul Henreid's hand (most famous as the second male lead in Casablanca). As amazing as the plot is by nature (filled with double-crossing treachery and murder), it actually drags a little at times. But not for long. The cinematography is really amazing (the great Ernst Haller at work--he did so many truly stellar movies it's breathtaking), amazing enough to study, the camera arcing around a stairway, or playing with the light turning on and off. The music is an odd mix--the harpsichord jingles are both perfect in setting a creepy mood and tacky for seeming to cheapen the drama--and it's classical conductor Andre Previn (Mia Farrow's onetime-husband) in charge. But counteracting this is some great funky early sixties organ jazz in a few scenes (the two performers are uncredited), what you might expect from a Sam Fuller movie.As awesome as this movie seems as a bit of delicious excess, something to roar about, eyes glued to the visuals, it's also a little awkward, just a shade. Like Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte, The Nanny, and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane, it's in the pantheon of cult Bette Davis movies, an early 1960s attempt to keep both her career and the old-fashioned Hollywood drama alive. It manages to do both.

Amazingly enough, this is NOT the first or only film Bette Davis played herself and her evil twin sister! In fact, the film is highly reminiscent of the very enjoyable A STOLEN LIFE that Ms. Davis made with Glenn Ford back in 1946. Here, because she's quite a bit older, the romantic aspect of the film is changed, however. Instead of Davis hating her evil sister for stealing her boyfriend and impersonating her to get him back, the film begins with the death of this boyfriend--who the sister had apparently stolen two decades earlier. Filled with justifiable anger over this and the swell life the scummy sister now has (where she is quite rich, while the nice one struggles to make ends meet), the nicer sister decides to make up for lost time--killing the wicked sister and assuming her life. While the plot is clichéd and a bit silly (especially how they try to disguise the use of doubles in the beginning), the film is enjoyable and good for laughs--as it's often over the top. It's like a fun "bad film"--great for those who love watching Davis or Crawford in their juicy 1960s roles.The biggest difference in the two films is that in A STOLEN LIFE, one sister clearly was good and the other clearly was bad. The good one only stole her sister's identity after she died accidentally. However, the "good" sister in DEAD RINGER isn't exactly good--just not as rotten as her sister. Plus, unlike the previous film, she murders her sister in cold blood--feeling entitled to what her wicked sister has. And, interestingly enough, she was pretty much right--the nasty sister's life was by all rights hers--though killing her was a bit...um...extreme. The way that it's done and showing Davis stripping the corpse of her possessions is quite creepy--with more of a 1960s grittier style. Unfortunately for the surviving sister, her plan, though interesting, isn't completely thought out and soon comes to haunt her. How this happens and what happens next is something you'll have to see for yourself.Now this brings up the biggest problem with the film. Davis' plan is just too spur of the moment and dumb. There are just too many loose ends to make it a better film. Clichés such as the dog instantly "knowing" which sister is which and the fact that the twin would have different fingerprints aren't really addressed well. I would assume that when an identical twin dies it would be standard practice to ensure which of the two had actually died--especially in cases where foul play is suspected.Overall, this is a very improbable but very interesting film. You'll probably enjoy watching it--even if it is all very hard to swallow.

Bette Davis here excels in "Grand Guignol" version of melodrama.She looks intimidating and beautiful, has several lovers, and a life of deception. This is a must not miss film, which I watched with my mother as a child.Ms. Davis plays Edie, the understated down at heel bar owner who is in love with modest detective Karl Malden. She is tired of her life, and after owing a great deal of money, attempts to reconcile with her wealthy sister, Mrs. DeLorca.Mrs. DeLorca (also Davis) is an opportunist. Not happy, but wealthy. Somehow a change of identity occurs, and Edie ends up dead.Beautiful cinematography as Edie's sister in her Beverly Hills Mansion. Duke, the Great Dane ( great dog) adds a nice nuance to the story. There are also some amusing scenes with Peter Lawford as an ex-lover, now discarded.All in all this is a superior film which you will want to watch more than twice. Highly recommended. 9/10.