La double énigme

A murder is committed , and identical twin sisters , Ruth and Terry (Olivia de Havilland) are suspects . A prominent psychologist (Lew Ayres) and a detective (Thomas Mitchell) investigate the deeds to determine which good-bad siblings killed the mysterious corpse , because one of whom is a psycho and nutty woman .

This noir film contains suspense , tensions , psychological drama , a love story and is quite entertaining . Excellent actress Olivia De Havilland gives a completely convincing tour-de-force as a dual role as good and bad girl . Good and fine support cast as Lew Ayres , Thomas Mitchell, Gary Owen and Richard Long . Startling finale climax with an amazing plot twist . Nice special effects perfectly adapted , enabling De Havilland to play two diverse characters , FX are stunningly made by Deveraux Jennins . This psychological thriller has an interesting screenplay brilliantly written by Nunnally Johnson , also producer. Atmospheric musical score by Dimitri Tiomkin based on classic music and evocative cinematography in lights and shades by Milton Krasner . This was first film produced by the new joint venture Universal Pictures-International Pictures . The motion picture was well directed by German director Robert Siodmak who realized his best films during the 40s . His movies reflect a world of desperation , of dark , of threat and killing . The Siodmak's best films are¨ Phantom Lady¨, ¨The spiral staircase¨ and especially : ¨Criss Cross and ¨The killers¨-both starred by Burt Lancaster-, now acknowledged as a classic noir films in which Robert Siodmak set the pattern of the rest of his Hollywood's work, and of course ¨Dark mirror¨.

The film is a little bit light, with a bumbling detective played by Thomas Mitchell and vintage Freudian psychoanalysis presented by Lew Ayres, but the twin sister role, one a good girl the other very bad, played by Olivia De Havilland has its moments. Her soft voice can go either direction, sweet and innocent or cold and devious, and the scenes where she is playing both parts, essentially talking to herself, convey a split personality, which might not have been such a bad idea, instead of making two distinct persons. It reaches a zenith in one scene in their dark bedroom with the innocent twin tormented by the mean one, who's telling her to take her sleep medication, and who in fact would like to see her overdose. Freudianism and bungling detective work win out in the end, making this all seem too convenient, and dodging a lot of the possibilities, but the central part, or parts, is DeHavilland at her best.

A man is murdered, and a woman called Ruth Collins is seen at the scene of the crime.The case gets tricky, when is found out that Ruth has a twin sister, Terry.They both have to then go see a psychiatrist, Dr.Scott Elliott.The doc falls for the normal sister, but which is which? The other one of them is capable of committing a cold blooded murder, but which one? Robert Siodmak's Film-Noir The Dark Mirror (1946) takes some Freudian turns as it goes on.Olivia de Havilland shines in a dual role.She's terrific as the psychotic sister as well as the normal one.Lew Ayres is great as the Shrink.Character actor Thomas Mitchell does very fine job as Lt.Stevenson.This movie was very fascinating to watch.It gave some challenge finding out which one did it.60 years has done no harm to this film.

Okay, with my background as an ex-therapist and psychology teacher, I was quick to notice that there was a lot of psychological mumbo-jumbo in this film. The whole notion of a "nice twin" and an "evil twin" just seems like a silly cliché.

However, if you ignore the improbability of the film, you will be rewarded with a pretty exciting and original film. Olivia DeHavilland plays identical twins and the split screen and other tricks were done pretty seamlessly. Her acting, as usual, was lovely to watch. The film also starred Thomas Mitchell as the cop and Lew Ayers as the psychologist--and both were at about their best.

The story excels in regard to how it portrayed the sociopathic sister. She was pretty realistic, as she was a good example of an Antisocial Personality Disorder--having no conscience and being highly manipulative.

Some other things that I found interesting were the excellent plot twists and suspense elements. Also, I was surprised when I noticed that at least some of the Rorschach cards (for the "ink blot test") were real cards--these are NOT supposed to be shown to the general public and are to only be used for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. And the responses the women gave were pretty realistic. I guess someone slipped up, huh?

THE DARK MIRROR is a lesser-known entry into the canon of films noir that dominated Hollywood in the mid-Forties. Directed by Robert Siodmak (THE KILLERS), it is a psychological thriller focusing on the attempts of Lt. Stevenson (Thomas Mitchell) and psychiatrist Dr. Scott Elliott (Lew Ayres) to discover the killer of a well=established doctor. The only snag is that the chief suspects are a pair of identical twins, Ruth and Terry Collins, both played by Olivia de Havilland, who refuse to divulge any further information. Siodmak's narrative focuses in detail on the twins' psychology, by deliberately frustrating our desire to find out who is the 'good' and the 'bad' twin. The costume-designs apparently make this process of distinguishing quite straightforward - one wears white, the other black as the film unfolds - but the twins' responses to Elliott's psychological tests challenge our preconceptions. De Havilland has a rare chance to play the role of a 'bad' woman and grasps it with both hands; her Chicago accent is both harsh yet beguiling. It's clear that, as the 'bad' twin, she can seduce anyone she likes, even those men who proclaim their ability to see through any psychological games. Nunnally Johnson's script is taut and fast-moving (in the print I saw, the film lasts only eighty-one minutes), while Siodmak makes clever use of atmospheric lighting, especially shadows projected on the back will behind the twins, to suggest that they are somehow pursued by internal demons. THE DARK MIRROR might not be as celebrated as other films of similar genre, but it nonetheless captures some of the emotional uncertainties and moral that characterized the material of that period; its ending is particularly cleverly structured.