Whether or not she actually produced is questionable and more of a footnote in her career before the cameras, and after all, that is what really drew in the public. A STOLEN LIFE, a remake of an earlier movie starring Elisabeth Bergner (herself the subject a story that would bring life to Mary Orr's now classic story "The Wisdom of Eve", which would be made into what is known today as ALL ABOUT EVE) is a not-very plausible melodrama about twin sisters Pat and Kate Bosworth who engage in some interesting identity-swapping once one of them drowns in an unfortunate boat accident. Davis co-stars with herself and looks like two different people. Trick editing and a matting effect that would later be used to great effect in David Croneberg's male answer to this film -- his classic (and perverse) DEAD RINGERS -- is the real star of this movie; because of it, the interactions with the two sisters is a sight to watch instead of being hokey to a point where you would be able to see the split in the middle of the screen. It would probably have benefited more if at the time, dramas would be given the green light to explore the possibilities of twins as Kristoff Kieszliwski did in THE DOUBLE LIVE OF VERONIQUE instead of having the surviving sister be drawn into a more conventional plot of deception. But this wasn't the case and the result is a movie that has an implied lot to say about women who are loose in morals and the fate that befalls them. Equally implicit is the notion that the surviving sister cannot find happiness until she has to become the "bad" one and fool the bland man who was taken away from her by her "bad" sister. It's been the stuff of Spanish soap operas left and right, particularly Mexican soaps which have told this story over and over again with little variations on the title "The Usurper" ("La Usurpadora") and even "Vida Robada", virtually a literal translation of "Stolen Life". But then again, no one could do soaps better than Bette, and in this one, she's her only competition.
Review of A Stolen Life
