Una vida robada

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 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.

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.

Davis fans get to double their fun in this well-crafted soaper. At the same time, the plot remains something of a stretch. Can twin Katie finally find happiness impersonating identical twin Pat. As herself, poor Katie is lonely, timid, and searching for an identity. Most of the time she spends folding her need into art painting. At the same time, twin Pat is outgoing, self-assured and bold; in short, Pat's everything Katie isn't. Nonetheless, Katie's future brightens when she meets what appears her soul-mate, Bill (Ford), on a lighthouse island. But then Bill meets seductive Pat, and they marry leaving poor Katie alone again. Now Katie faces a bleak future until fate intervenes and she must suddenly impersonate her twin. As Pat, however, the timid Katie discovers abilities she didn't know she had. But will these come at the cost of losing the subtle appeal that first charmed Bill. In effect Katie now lives a life stolen from Pat, but at what cost.

What impresses me most is WB's craftsmanship- the howling seas, the ace photography, and especially the undetectable doubling of Davis in the same shot. In those technologically lesser days (1946), I thought doubling in the same shot could only be done by splitting the film so that some distance on screen had to remain between the doubles. Here, however, that distance is often erased. I wish IMDB had some info on how they did it.

Acting-wise it's a Davis showcase, but the studio backs up its star in fine fashion. Speaking of Davis, she's mostly without her sometime theatrics, conveying the twins' personality differences in fairly subtle fashion. Ford too is well cast as an apparently sensitive working man, who nevertheless jilts sensitive Katie for philandering Pat. But I have to wonder about Dane Clark's arrogant role that appears peripheral to the main plot. Perhaps it's the studio's effort at promoting a promising actor before the public.

All in all, the soaper remains a polished production from Hollywood's golden period, even if the story requires quite a swallow. Meanwhile, Davis fans get to double their fun.

Bette Davis is Kate and her twin Pat in "A Stolen Life," a 1946 film which also stars Glenn Ford, Walter Brennan, Charles Ruggles, and Dane Clark. We first see Davis as the artist Kate visiting the family's New England cottage (these people have homes everywhere). There she meets the drop-dead gorgeous lighthouse man Bill (Ford, in his first role after the war). She falls hard. Then we find out she has a twin sister who is much less reserved, sexier, and who goes after what she wants. On her way to a lunch date, Pat sees Bill, who mistakes her for Kate. One look at him, and she's ready to play along. But really, who could blame her? That day, Bill finds out that Kate is a twin, and that Pat turns him on - while he's only fond of Kate. Nature takes its course, and guess which Bette gets left out.

This is a very entertaining movie with Davis creating two different characters. In the very beginning, you don't know Davis has a twin. She returns home and enters her room with the light off, and her sister starts talking to her from the other side of the room - with a perkier voice, so not even that gives it away. Slowly, we realize they're identical twins, and that she hasn't let Bill into the house because her sister is a man magnet.

Glenn Ford is one film away from big stardom in "A Stolen Life" --next, he would romance Rita Hayworth in "Gilda." At 30, he was stunningly handsome with the easygoing, gentle, and sweet manner that would hold him in good stead for the next 45 years. Truly an ideal leading man. He and Davis get excellent support from Charles Ruggles, in a nice performance as the girls' cousin, and Walter Brennan, Ford's irascible lighthouse boss. Dane Clark's role is somewhat troublesome. In the John Garfield vein, he plays a rough, temperamental artist who teaches Kate to paint better and becomes interested in her, but his role drops off. The entire role could have been cut.

Davis was 37 when she made this film, which she produced herself. With three years left on her contract, it was sadly her last hit at Warners. Deservedly so, because she is terrific in the dual roles. She would repeat this device later on in her career with "Dead Ringer," and some of the plot points are reminiscent of that film.

Wonderfully entertaining and a must for Davis and Ford fans.