Back in the day, the dual role of twins that Olivia DeHavilland did for The Dark Mirror was something she could never get Jack Warner to assign her. At Warner Brothers the pecking order was first Bette Davis and then Ida Lupino. It wasn't a question of settling for crumbs, all Olivia got from Warner Brothers were the wife and girl friend of the hero, mostly Errol Flynn. According to the Citadel film series book the Films of Olivia DeHavilland, she wasn't even behind the other two actresses because Jack Warner couldn't see her in these parts.
With a whole lot to prove and now free of Warner Brothers, Olivia did this independent film for the short lived International Pictures before it merged with Universal. This is a player's delight, twins, one good and one evil. Her friend and friendly rival at Warner Brothers, Bette Davis was doing a twin role in A Stolen Life the same year.
Olivia was entering the high point of her career, she would be nominated for three Best Actress nominations resulting in two Oscars in the next three years. The Dark Mirror proved to be quite the appetizer for what was coming up.
A doctor in a medical building filled with doctors winds up a homicide victim and it turns out he's been dating the girl over at the news stand for some time. But when Thomas Mitchell as the assigned homicide cop investigates he discovers there are two twins who occasionally spell the other at the stand, a kind of private joke only available to twins. One's got an alibi, one's really circumstantially close to the scene of the crime, but which is which.
As Mitchell says he hates the thought of one of these women beating the rap. But as it turns out in that same medical building there is a psychiatrist played by Lew Ayres who's done research into twins. Ayres becomes a police consultant, but he gets compromised himself by falling for whom he feels is the good Olivia.
Not to take anything away from Olivia DeHavilland who did a marvelous job in both parts. She said that this was the most taxing role of her career, especially the homicidal twin. But there are two problems. I don't think the law would have been that squeamish then, both would have been arrested, one is clearly covering for the other after the fact. A smart prosecutor would have convicted them, but for the fact Lew Ayres's testimony would have been tainted in any trial by his involvement.
Ayres is fine as well as the tweedy psychiatrist. The role is a dress rehearsal for the part of the doctor he played in 1948 opposite Jane Wyman in Johnny Belinda.
DeHavilland does a great job, but the story which interestingly enough got an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Story for the screen which I can't understand since it is too much to swallow.
With a whole lot to prove and now free of Warner Brothers, Olivia did this independent film for the short lived International Pictures before it merged with Universal. This is a player's delight, twins, one good and one evil. Her friend and friendly rival at Warner Brothers, Bette Davis was doing a twin role in A Stolen Life the same year.
Olivia was entering the high point of her career, she would be nominated for three Best Actress nominations resulting in two Oscars in the next three years. The Dark Mirror proved to be quite the appetizer for what was coming up.
A doctor in a medical building filled with doctors winds up a homicide victim and it turns out he's been dating the girl over at the news stand for some time. But when Thomas Mitchell as the assigned homicide cop investigates he discovers there are two twins who occasionally spell the other at the stand, a kind of private joke only available to twins. One's got an alibi, one's really circumstantially close to the scene of the crime, but which is which.
As Mitchell says he hates the thought of one of these women beating the rap. But as it turns out in that same medical building there is a psychiatrist played by Lew Ayres who's done research into twins. Ayres becomes a police consultant, but he gets compromised himself by falling for whom he feels is the good Olivia.
Not to take anything away from Olivia DeHavilland who did a marvelous job in both parts. She said that this was the most taxing role of her career, especially the homicidal twin. But there are two problems. I don't think the law would have been that squeamish then, both would have been arrested, one is clearly covering for the other after the fact. A smart prosecutor would have convicted them, but for the fact Lew Ayres's testimony would have been tainted in any trial by his involvement.
Ayres is fine as well as the tweedy psychiatrist. The role is a dress rehearsal for the part of the doctor he played in 1948 opposite Jane Wyman in Johnny Belinda.
DeHavilland does a great job, but the story which interestingly enough got an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Story for the screen which I can't understand since it is too much to swallow.