Dead Ringer

Bette Davis is a poor bar owner and the wealthy widow who stole her sister's boyfriend in "Dead Ringer."

Davis played twins before in "A Stolen Life." This time, she's Edie and her sister, the recently widowed Margaret DeLorca. The two have been estranged for many years - Margaret slept with Edie's boyfriend, DeLorca, said she was pregnant, and married the guy. The baby, a boy, died.

On the way home from the funeral and a visit with her sister, Edie learns from the chauffeur that Margaret never had a baby.

Edie kills her sister and switches identities with her, leaving Margaret in her place, in her clothes. By taking Margaret's identity, she also leaves behind her boyfriend, a police detective played by Karl Malden.

Edie soon learns that Margaret's life was - well, complicated. For one thing, she's involved with Peter Lawford. And there's more!

Bette Davis does a great job as both sisters. This is an entertaining film that Davis fans won't want to miss.

Bette Davis essayed twin sisters twice. The first was A STOLEN LIFE, one of her last good Warner Brother films in the late 1940s, wherein the good sister watches helplessly while her bad sister steals Glenn Ford from her, but she gets a second chance at Glenn when the bad sister is killed in an accident and the good one can take over her life (hence the title).

Then there was this film made nearly two decades later. Despite some far out plot twists, most people think that DEAD RINGER is the better film.

By 1964 Davis had discovered (like her rival Joan Crawford) that their career could survive playing in "grande guinol" films. WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? and HUSH, HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE, were followed by DEAD RINGER, THE NANNY, and THE ANNIVERSARY (my personal favorite - and actually the least bloody of these films). DEAD RINGER and THE NANNY tie for being the most sympathetic roles for Bette in these films.

In DEAD RINGER, Edith Philips is the twin sister of wealthy widow Margaret De Lorca. Edith owns a run - down bar, and it is going into bankruptcy, and she is facing eviction. Her closest friend (closer if she would watch his signals) is Police Sgt. Jim Hobbson (Karl Malden). But she is consumed with anger and jealousy at her sister because Margaret married the man who Edith should have married. So Margaret's current security is due to her stealing Edith's boyfriend (similar to the plot in A STOLEN LIFE). So she invites Margaret to her home, and shows Margaret a letter that she has written. It is Edith's suicide note, and as Margaret reads it she realizes that she is about to become Edith permanently.

Edith has planned this a bit, but she does not plan for two problems. Sgt. Hobbson is in a bad state because he loved Edith, and he keeps visiting her identical twin "Margaret". This is upsetting to Edith, who did not plan to hurt her boy-friend. Secondly she discovers Margaret had her secrets too. The late Mr. De Lorca may have died in too timely a fashion (wink, wink), and Margaret had a boy - friend too who helped her, a playboy named Tony Collins. Tony is curious about "Margaret's" lack of interest (or even awareness) of him, until he begins to put two and two together, Then he becomes very demanding to his supposed lover.

The climax of the film is quite twisty, if predictable after awhile. But the final moment between Davis and Malden is sadly touching in it's way. The film may also have the best dramatic performance by Lawford as a villain in his film career (finally he cuts loose and shows what he could do). Not one of Davis's greatest films, but an interesting one, and worth viewing.

This movie could easily have become a sad and pathetic parody of the final stages of a great actor's career. Instead it marks another pinnacle in the history of one of Hollywood's greatest players, Bette Davis. There are not enough superlatives to describe her performance. Not only does Davis carry the movie, she is the movie. Her performance transcends the material. This movie is an example of where the actor succeeds in elevating the script. The story is cleverly written and beautifully photographed in a black and white context that sets the mood for the movie. But it is Bette Davis's performance as a twin which makes this movie not only watchable but fun to watch. Like Bette Davis herself, this movie has aged well. Davis has since departed us but her legacy lives on in her many wonderful movies, including this one.

Among her contemporaries Bette Davis is the only one I know who managed to carry off playing twin sisters twice in films. The first time was in A Stolen Life and in 1964 she did it again in Dead Ringer. The first time she was a good and a bad twin, but in Dead Ringer both twins commit evil acts during the course of the movie.

Bette's former co-star Paul Henreid directed her in Dead Ringer with co- stars Karl Malden and Peter Lawford. Back in the day one twin stole the man the other was in love with because he was rich, prosperous, and part of old California society. That one got rich, the other never married and now lives owning a bar that she's way behind in debt with.

When the husband dies the bar owner learns that back in the day he was tricked into marriage with a false pregnancy story and as the family was Catholic he married her and couldn't divorce. That sets the bar owner into a murderous frenzy and she kills the widow and then assumes her place while she also fakes a suicide story.

With a few bumps along the way Bette settles into the other Bette's life. Then a lowlife boyfriend played by Peter Lawford comes back in the picture. Lawford is a gigolo/golf pro and he and society Bette have some deep secrets. The rest you can see for yourself.

Oddly enough A Stolen Life also involved a twin taking another's place and as for the rest of the story, if you know what happens in The Postman Always Rings Twice you know what happens here.

With the possible exception of Whatever Happened To Baby Jane, Dead Ringer maybe Davis's best film of the Sixties. She throws herself into both roles so well that it like watching twins in action. She also has a nice group of supporting players in roles they are well cast in. But this one is Bette's show.

Watch her steal another life.

Many of the films of the 60s were boring as hell. It took a star like Bette Davis to bring the necessary fire to this double role as twins in "Dead Ringer." In other hands, this might have been unworthy, but with Davis' magical screen presence, you can't take your eyes off her (both of her!) Even in small scenes, she's real and radiant (when Jim gives her the watch for her birthday). Andre Previn's score is superb. I loved the music after Edith storms out of Margaret's bedroom in the beginning of the film when she sees the portrait of her sister's dead husband and HER former lover, followed by that tender moment with the butler.

With the performances that got Oscar nominations during the '60s, some were pretty dull. Compared to them, Bette deserved a nod for best actress. Davis was wonderful in this. Her years of acting experience before the cameras was on full display in every scene...she was the consummate professional.

Did you notice Perry Blackwell at the organ? She also appeared in the Doris Day/Rock Hudson hit,"Pillow Talk" as the nightclub singer a few years prior. The drummer in this was married to Nancy Wilson!