Man, give me two Bette Davises for the price of one and I could do much more with them than this movie does.
Bette plays twins, a good one and a somewhat naughty one, who find themselves caught up in some melodramatic angst when they both fall for the same jackass, played decidedly unwinningly by Glenn Ford. The good twin, Kate, initially has him, but the naughty one, Pat, eventually steals him. But then Pat dies, and Kate assumes her identity so that she can have him back, only to realize that Pat has made a complete shambles of her life, her relationship with this lunkhead included.
My wife and I kept waiting for what we were sure was going to be the money shot scene, Pat showing up at the last minute, not dead after all, to further complicate Kate's predicament. But that doesn't happen. Pat stays disappointingly dead, and Kate gets her man as Kate, though why anyone would want him remains the film's greatest mystery.
The fun in "A Stolen Life" is watching Bette act with herself through the help of some really impressive and Oscar-nominated special effects. She hands herself a cigarette, straightens out her own lapels, all of it visually seamless. But her acting is just as impressive as the effects. She does an impressive job not only making it look like she's interacting with another person but also at giving the two twins subtly distinctive personalities.
Dane Clark is also in the film, though I'm not sure why. He's yet another jackass who the film puts forward as a possible love interest for Kate, but then drops completely from the screenplay without telling us what the point was for him ever being there in the first place.
"A Stolen Life" is either a gender studies goldmine or nightmare depending on your point of view. On the one hand, the casual sexism and emotional indifference to women is nearly impossible to stomach from a modern-day standpoint. But on the other hand, the film is a fascinating if queasy time capsule of what the entertainment world thought of gender relations in post-WWII America, or at least what it thought audiences wanted to see.
Grade: B-
Bette plays twins, a good one and a somewhat naughty one, who find themselves caught up in some melodramatic angst when they both fall for the same jackass, played decidedly unwinningly by Glenn Ford. The good twin, Kate, initially has him, but the naughty one, Pat, eventually steals him. But then Pat dies, and Kate assumes her identity so that she can have him back, only to realize that Pat has made a complete shambles of her life, her relationship with this lunkhead included.
My wife and I kept waiting for what we were sure was going to be the money shot scene, Pat showing up at the last minute, not dead after all, to further complicate Kate's predicament. But that doesn't happen. Pat stays disappointingly dead, and Kate gets her man as Kate, though why anyone would want him remains the film's greatest mystery.
The fun in "A Stolen Life" is watching Bette act with herself through the help of some really impressive and Oscar-nominated special effects. She hands herself a cigarette, straightens out her own lapels, all of it visually seamless. But her acting is just as impressive as the effects. She does an impressive job not only making it look like she's interacting with another person but also at giving the two twins subtly distinctive personalities.
Dane Clark is also in the film, though I'm not sure why. He's yet another jackass who the film puts forward as a possible love interest for Kate, but then drops completely from the screenplay without telling us what the point was for him ever being there in the first place.
"A Stolen Life" is either a gender studies goldmine or nightmare depending on your point of view. On the one hand, the casual sexism and emotional indifference to women is nearly impossible to stomach from a modern-day standpoint. But on the other hand, the film is a fascinating if queasy time capsule of what the entertainment world thought of gender relations in post-WWII America, or at least what it thought audiences wanted to see.
Grade: B-