Among the Living

The plot to "Among the Living" is silly and impossible to believe. However, it does appear to be the inspiration for an episode of "The Simpsons"--the one where Bart discovers that he has an identical 'evil' twin who's been locked in the attic for many years! Homer and Marge feed Hugo fish heads and have kept his existence a secret for years! Who would have thought a film would have dared have such a bizarro plot?!

When the film begins, the family patriarch dies and his son John (Albert Dekker) arrives for the funeral. Little does John know that his identical brother, Paul (also Dekker), is STILL alive and did not die as a small child. The family doctor (Harry Carey) divulges the family secret to John...Paul is still alive and insane and has been kept hidden in a secret room in the family mansion! Coincidentally, at this same time, Paul kills his keeper and escapes! Now two identical looking guys are running about town...and one is on occasion unpredictable and homicidal. So it's up to the Doctor and John to try to find Paul...however the heartless Doctor soon tries to stop John from contacting the police by threatening to destroy him! However, Paul is not intend with only killing his keeper...and the bodies start piling up in town. And, soon John is assumed to be the crazed killer by mistake!

As I mentioned above, the plot for this one is just insane...so you really have to suspend disbelief in order to watch this one. Despite this, I did enjoy Dekker's performance as he played both characters, particularly Paul, quite well. Goofy and still very watchable.

Sharp, tightly paced low budget film is hard to categorize. There are definitely noirish tendencies but it's not a full blown film noir, there are also elements of horror contained within but neither is a horror movie. Even as a hybrid of different genres it is very involving and uses it short running time to full effect, actually so effective that it received quite a lot of critical attention in its day for a lower budget release and helped move its leading lady's career forward.

Speaking of the leading lady the film is also a study of two stars in flight. Susan Hayward whose full fledged stardom was still a few years away was still definitely on her way up, Frances Farmer, whose part is small, was most definitely on the descent. At one time considered an actress with the brightest of futures this was her second to last picture before descending into a decades long hell of mental illness and involuntary confinement.

The real standout though is Albert Dekker in a dual role of very different twin brothers. An excellent character actor who met a grisly end he rarely had the opportunity of the leading role but he takes his chance here and makes the most of it. His body language and vocal inflections makes the two characters recognizably different men and their struggles relatable. Not readily available and hard to find its definitely worth the effort to seek out.

Just what sort of movie is Among the Living? It's not that easy to determine. This short (67 minute) 1941 offering is part thirties gothic and part early noir; in any case it's fairly primitive but it has its moments. Albert Dekker (his screen debut) plays twin brothers, one of whom, presumed dead for a quarter-century, is an infantile psychotic. He's been sequestered away in the decrepit family pile all these years but manages to escape, taking up residence in a rooming house owned by the young Susan Hayward's mother. When it looks like the gibbering idiot has money to burn, Hayward sets her hat for him. The most interesting facet of the film is watching Susan Hayward play her speciality, an on-screen hellion, particularly since Frances Farmer, gets wasted as the proper and dutiful wife of the "good" Albert Dekker. Much mayhem ensues, revolving around the confusion between the brothers (the existence of one of whom, remember, has been a deep dark secret). Toward the end, the film develops an ugly energy as the townspeople coalesce into a lynch mob, but, beware: this is not Fritz Lang's Fury. By modern standards, Among the Living has become a curio.

'Among the Living (1941)' sits in the middle-ground between film noir and horror. The horror elements are obvious: the use of twins, representing the duality of man, recalls a more literal take on the themes of Stevenson's "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde." But even the "evil" twin himself is not a monster, as he is often described. Like Frankenstein's Creature, he is merely a social outcast, corrupted by the abuse of the true monsters, and who ultimately finds it impossible to assimilate into society. Like a frightened animal, Paul Raden struggles to understand the violent, cynical world in which he's been thrust, and the injustices knowingly done to him, combined with the years of abuse he endured at the hands of a dominating father, lead him to murder out of sheer terror. In many ways, Paul resembles the character of Lennie in Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men," a simpleton with a brutish strength that he can't reconcile with his own child-like desires.

Though one would stop short of calling this a film noir, there are certainly traces of the necessary elements. Most prominent is the theme of hidden family secrets, of a shameful past coming back to haunt wrongdoers, as in 'The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946).' The corruptive influence of power is also referenced – as in the latter film, the primary sinner of 'Among the Living' (Raden, Sr., who is dead by the film's beginning) resides in a town that bears his name. The viewer can draw two conclusions: either that only through committing sin can a man attain power, or that from power itself is borne the desire to perpetrate crime, for he now has the means to conceal his misconduct. The latter is certainly true for the otherwise-respectable Dr. Saunders (Harry Carey), who – just once – compromised his professional integrity, and, twenty-five years later, finds that this one transgression has blackened his soul and destroyed his future.

John Raden (Albert Dekker) is the film's hapless protagonist, an honest guy who unwillingly stumbles upon his family's dirty secret. Via a succession of ill-fated coincidences, implying the forces of Fate that would later pervade the film noir movement, John finds himself on trial for murder, thrust protestingly into an ad hoc mob trial that recalls Peter Lorre's judgement in 'M (1931).' Dekker is excellent in the dual- roles of John and Paul Raden, with the "bad" half always distinguishable, not just by his grizzled beard and raggedy clothing, but by the way he carries himself: slouched shoulders, arms held awkwardly, innocent and perplexed eyes upturned at the eccentricities of this unfamiliar society. Susan Hayward plays Millie, a minor femme fatale. She's an angel when you first see her, but the way she knowingly toys with Paul's naivete is quite repulsive, and her nastiness during the courtroom trial is similarly brutal. Notably, director Stuart Heisler would progress onto full-blown noir the following year with the Hammett adaptation 'The Glass Key (1942).'

... 1941 that is. It boasts fine photography and a great score. It's part horror tale, part noir. John Raden returns for the funeral of Maxim Raden, his father and owner of all of the mills around town. It's obvious from the remarks of the average citizens outside the cemetery gates that their collective sentiment is good riddance.

Dr. Ben Saunders (Harry Carey) then reveals to John a terrible secret he's been keeping - that 25 years ago he forged a death certificate for John's identical twin brother Paul. Paul had become mentally disturbed and Maxim moved into a hotel in town and kept the insane Paul locked up in a room at Radin mansion with kindly and loyal servant Pompey as his keeper. Paul became disturbed probably due to a head injury received when his father threw him across the room when Paul came to his mother's rescue during one of the beatings Maxim was giving her. What did Dr. Saunders get in return? Maxim Radin endowed his clinic, but with Paul recently turning more violent, both Saunders' psychological and actual burden have become heavier and heavier. John, sent away to school before any of this happened, had no knowledge of any of this up until now.

Well, Paul kills Pompey, escapes his room, and finds some money at his father's grave. (It was unclear to me what money was doing there.) With this money and his misleading mostly gentle child-like demeanor he manages to rent a room in a rooming house and attract the attentions of the landlady's daughter (Susan Hayward as Millie Pickens). Millie teaches Paul to blend in - helps him find new clothes, gets him to shave - and now the town has an unpredictable homicidal maniac in its midst who only acts homicidal when the urge to kill strikes him but doesn't look the least bit out of place. Meanwhile, John Raden cannot convince Saunders to call the police because he doesn't want to lose the clinic he's worked so hard for. Of course the fact that the townspeople think Paul is dead and Paul and John are identical twins will eventually figure into this plot, but I'll let you watch and see how.

Albert Dekker does a great job of playing the dual role of sophisticated good guy John and child-like insane Paul, but it is Susan Hayward as Millie who steals the show. You can never quite tell if she really likes Paul because he's different - not pawing her all of the time - or if she's just after the gifts he can give her after she sees the wad of cash he keeps in his pockets. It's a great early role for her. Harry Carey gets to do more than he usually does late in his career, which were roles that usually entailed playing the wise old good guy. Here he is quite gray and not until the end are you sure just which side of his character will win. For those of you looking for a glimpse of Frances Farmer at work, that's all you'll get - a glimpse. She is barely noticeable as the wife of John Raden.

As for the atmosphere - it's perfect with thunderstorms, poorly lit rooms, cemeteries at night, and Paul's victims all found left with a terrified expression and their hands over their ears. Highly recommended for fans of old style horror. It's a shame this one isn't better known.