Die große Lüge

I found the first half of the picture dragged for me, with a lot of dark shadows, and meandering scenes at the light house. Once the story picked up, and the "evil" twins goes over the side of the boat, then I knew I was in for some good old fashioned Bette Davis fun. I was very impressed with the creation of the "twins." For 1946, I found the scenes quite convincing, and wondered how they did that. The sets were fabulous, I'd take any of those houses, but thought the costumes were somewhat lacking. No, "Now, Voyager" stunning outfits for sure. Glenn Ford was fine, and very young, however I didn't care for the struggling artist side story. I would like to have seen much more of Kate trying to pass herself off as Pat, for that was the fun part of the film for me.

The subject is not really new.In her last film "Two-Faced woman" ,Greta Garbo played "twins" (but actually there was only one woman) with different personalities.More interesting was Siodak's "the dark mirror" where Davis' good friend Olivia de Havilland played twin sisters too,one of whom was suspected of murder.

Twins were certainly trendy at the time since ,the very same year as De Havilland,Davis tried her hand at the subject,not in a thriller,but in a melodrama.Davis was as subtle an actress to portray two different women.One of them is an artist ,a romantic loyal woman ;the other one is a real bitch,who steals her sister's boyfriend (Glenn Ford).

There are scenes with an "accursed " anarchist artist who becomes Kate's teacher cause he thinks her painting is lousy.The reason,he says ,is that she was never a real woman (like sister Patricia ,maybe?)Those scenes with Karnock are mostly filler,and the film becomes interesting again when Kate pretends to be Patricia,although these scenes show more than a distant resemblance with "Two-faced woman" by Cukor.

Not a major Davis movie,but interesting for her numerous fans.

Twin Sisters played by Bette Davis both have the hots for Glenn Ford although why I'm not sure. He's not a terribly ambitious fellow, wants nothing more in life than to be a lighthouse keeper, maybe succeed Walter Brennan as head lighthouse keeper when Brennan moves on.

Bad Bette is a selfish spoiled brat who traps Glenn into marriage simply to spite good Bette. Then both sisters are out sailing and a sudden storm, much like the one that swamped the S.S. Minow succeeds in drowning one of the sisters. You have to watch the film to decide which one.

A Stolen Life is a Bette Davis triumph. It's not easy for any player to do multiple roles in any film. For that alone fans of Bette Davis should make this a must see melodrama. Additionally the special effects with the storm are quite well done.

Glenn Ford got a big career boost just in co-starring with Bette Davis, it was a break from doing the potboilers he was doing at Columbia. Dane Clark plays a truculent artist in the best tradition of a John Garfield wannabe.

The twins gimmick makes the film worth seeing. Bette was in a post war career slump from The Corn is Green until she left Warner Brothers and did All About Eve with 20th Century Fox. A Stolen Life is not the worst film she did during that period and she's got some good moments. But it isn't Now Voyager or Dark Victory or The Little Foxes.

I have lost count of how many times I've watched this wonderful film. Each time I get something from it and i believe it is Bette Davis best work - which is a big statement ! Viewers will be hypnotised by Bette's amazing performance and the filmography is truly amazing. To watch this film through modern eyes, you often find yourself trying to work out how the director and editor managed to get away with the 'two bette' film sequences. This is no evidence of 'lines' in the film, or murky backgrounds and if you didn't know it was the same women, you would really think they were twins. The story line is terrific, Glenn Ford (very young) fits the role perfectly and Dane Clark's performance is very direct and well played. There really is something for everyone in this film and a must watch.

I was surprised that I liked this movie as much as I did. As an artist and someone who has worked with machinery, I found the budding relationship between artist Kate and lighthouse engineer Bill easy-going and authentic, plus I loved the scenes of sailing, boating, and the lighthouse in fog on a rocky island. I'm glad I stumbled upon it on broadcast TV one late night. The message that we should be true to ourselves was very hopeful. No movie plot with one actress playing identical twins will ever be plausible, but it makes for good fiction and is an interesting illustration of the actors' ability to stretch into unusual roles.