Dead Ringer

Margaret and Edith are twin sisters. Margaret married a wealthy man and lived rich. Edith runs a small bar and cannot pay her rent. They have not seen each other for years. Margaret's husband dies and the two meet at the funeral. Edith learns something there: her sister took the man from her years ago by saying she was pregnant, and it was a lie. Edith invites her sister to her home and kills her. Then she changes her appearance and takes her place. She moves into the rich house. But there are things in Margaret's life she does not know. Paul Henreid directs. Bette Davis plays both sisters; Karl Malden and Peter Lawford are in the cast. Henreid was an actor and had played with Davis before; here he is in the director's chair. Ernest Haller is the cinematographer; he had worked on films early in Davis's career too. What the narrative builds is substitution; Edith has to learn her sister's life and every day is a test. Davis plays the two characters differently; the narrative lets you tell which is in frame by posture and voice. The double role scenes were prepared with the optical methods of the period. The narrative gives no character sympathy and the ending saves nobody. Its limit is structure; the plot rests on coincidence and the last section speeds up. Who it is for: viewers who like classic melodrama thrillers and Bette Davis. Who it is not for: the premise is strained, the pace slow, and the ending cold.