Bette and Bette share a stolen life

A STOLEN LIFE comes at the end of Bette Davis's great run of hits in the 1940s. This 1946 romantic drama though seems under-appreciated and hardly seen now. (I also like her DECEPTION that year and JUNE BRIDE in 1948, as she came to the end of her Warner years). Warners do her proud here, dressed by Orry-Kelly, music by Max Steiner, directed by Curtis Bernhardt, with Walter Brennan and Charlie Ruggles in support. 

The fascinating thing about A STOLEN LIFE is that Bette play identical twin sisters - nice Kate who paints, and more vivacious go-getting Patricia. Set in New England near Cape Cod, Kate arrives and meets nice guy Glenn Ford (GILDA was his next one after this - see recent review, Ford label) and the film takes its time setting the scene as they get close as we savour those New England lighthouses and boats .... the other sister does not appear until over 20 minutes in and the special effects are simply marvellous, for the 1940s - we really  believe she is two different sisters in the same scenes (just like Tom Hardy as the Krays now in LEGEND). Patricia of course makes a play for Glenn and gets him as gentle Kate backs off and won't fight for him. Pat and Glenn marry and while he is away the sisters go sailing and hit a storm. Pat is washed overboard and drowned and when Kate is rescued from the capsized boat everyone thinks she is Pat and she goes along with the deception .... when Glenn returns will he think she is Pat too? Can Kate go on with the deception?, will Glenn realise which sister he is now living (or sleeping) with? - it does not quite come to that as things are not as they seem for Kate (now Pat) - Pat and Glenn were on the rocks due to her infidelities and he wants a divorce as it was Kate he really loved all along before being dazzled by the shallower Pat; then at their house which is her bedroom, will her maid suspect, and Pat's dog does not recognise her ... kindly uncle Charlie does know though ... how is Kate going to resolve things?

This must have been just the stuff for mid-40s audiences coming out of the war years. It captures that 1940 dreamworld perfectly - roomy comfy houses with real fires, discreet servants in the background. Its almost as marvellous as Bette's NOW VOYAGER, THE GREAT LIE, OLD ACQUAINTANCE - those favourites we like here at The Projector.

Bette of course returned to playing sisters in the 1964 DEAD RINGER, (right) that delirious farrago we love - that was a souped-up Trash Classic. A STOLEN LIFE is a much classier affair. Bette and Glenn were re-teamed in Capra's 1961 sentimental POCKETFUL OF MIRACLES - where Glenn was the star and Bette doing a cameo small part, but then BABY JANE came along the next year ...

People we like: Glenn or Gilda ?

I had Glenn Ford pegged as one of those new post-war guys who came along after World War II - like Peck, Lancaster, Douglas, Mitchum - but, like his pal William Holden, Ford stole a march on them as he and Holden were in movies by the late 1930s - by 1946 Ford, after a busy time in genre movies, had worked his way up to co-starring with not one but two Bette Davis sisters in A STOLEN LIFE - then, came GILDA !

GILDA is a noir riot now - a fusion of sexual heat, jealousy, fear and hatred - terrific stuff!
Johnny Farrell is a gambling cheat who turns straight to work for sinister casino owner Ballin Mundson. But things take a turn for Johnny as his alluring ex-lover Gilda, whom he has come to hate, appears as Mundson's wife, and Mundson's machinations begin to unravel.

Ford's Johnny Farrell comes over like a sleazy punk on the make, down Argentina way, as he falls in with nightclub owner and racketeer George Macready - the two men seem to have an odd almost homoerotic relationship, and then Mundsen returns from a trip with his new wife: Gilda, an old flame of Farrell's and the sexual tensions build up, to that delirious climax. Rita is in her element here, and Glenn matches her all the way. It remains a key film noir set in that mythical 1940s world of nighclubs and casinos.

Ford has always been a person we like here, amiable (usually), unassuming, keeping busy shifting effortlessly between dramas, westerns, comedies - looking equally at home in a suit, military outfits or cowboy gear - but not in a toga or tights, like Bogart he just looked too modern for period films.  He seems curiously under-appreciated now, usually ignored by the fan mags, but was a busy actor right through the Fifties and into the mid-Sixties - and was effective as an ordindary, everyday hero.

Lang's THE  BIG HEAT in '53 and Brooks' THE BLACKBOARD JUNGLE in 1955 were two of the major dramas of the era, as well as more routine items like TRIAL, RANSOM, and the romantic INTERRUPTED MELODY. He and Gloria Graham were also back with Fritz Lang for HUMAN DESIRE in '54. His westerns included THE AMERICANO, JUBAL, THE VIOLENT MEN, 3.10 TO YUMA, COWBOY, THE SHEEPMAN, CIMARRON in 1960, and then there were comedies like TEAHOUSE OF THE AUGUST MOON (with Brando playing Japanese), two with Debbie Reynolds: THE GAZEBO and I remember IT STARTED WITH A KISS  being very funny.  He continued into the Sixties with two for Minnelli: the 1962 odd re-working of THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE and the charming THE COURTSHIP OF EDDIE'S FATHER in 1963. He was effective as the FBI agent in Blake Edwards' EXPERIMENT IN TERROR with Lee Remick, also 1962 - see Ford label, and the 1964 airline crash drama FATE IS THE HUNTER.  He was re-united with Bette Davis too (in a supporting role this time) in Capra's schmaltz-fest A POCKETFUL OF MIRACLES in 1961, before BABY JANE revived her career.  
I did not get a chance to see Delbert Mann's DEAR HEART in 1964, it played the lower half of double bills here, but it seems well regarded, with Geraldine Page and Angela Lansbury. (I've just had to order it ....). Ford's later westerns like THE ROUNDERS also ended up as the lower part of double features.  There were also several more with Rita Hayworth, though not quite in the GILDA class: AFFAIR IN TRINIDAD, THE LOVES OF CARMEN, and THE MONEY TRAP in 1965 - poor Rita did not last long in that one.  

Ford (1916-2006) lived to be 90, had a long career, with over 100 credits - his last major role being Superman's earth father in SUPERMAN in '78. His first wife was dancer Eleanor Powell and it seems he romanced a lot of hollywood ladies .... and was a decorated war hero too - receiving the French Legion of Honour medal.
Next: The Hardy boy .... and then "Mitchell Leisen - Hollywood Director"

1962 again: Experiment in Terror

Back to one of our favourite years (I was 16 and seeing all these movies on the big screen) for a terrific, taut thriller: Blake Edwards' EXPERIMENT IN TERROR.  It has that early '60s vibe, its in glittering black and white (lensed by Philip Lathrop), it has a great Henri Mancini score, and it stars two dependables: our favourite, Lee Remick, and Mr Dependable - the oddly undercherished (these days) Glenn Ford. 

It starts with Kelly Sherwood (Remick) driving her thunderbird (or is it a cadillac?) though dark San Francisco - then she arrives home and is terrorised in her garage by the Mystery Man .... Kelly is a bank cashier and he wants her to steal $100,000 from the bank for him, or else she and her kid sister (Stephanie Powers) gets it, and she must not contact the police. He ups his game of terror but Kelly contacts the FBI - enter Glenn Ford as agent Ripley. 

There is no romance here - he is the guy on the case and she is the terrified victim. The plot twists and turns for all of its 1.58 running time to the exciting climax at a basebal game when the killer (who has managed to kidnap the sister) is finally cornered ..... Remick of course is marvellous and Glenn is his usual solid self. I liked it a lot. Lee said in her 1988 "Films In Review" interview, where she looked back at her career: "That movie still looks good. It's well made, tightly knit."

Lee, Blake and Mancini teamed again that year for the even better DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES - more on that at Lee labels