The Man with My Face

This is one of those films where premise is intriguing but execution is sloppy. Chick Graham (Barry Nelson) comes home on one day to find out his doppelganger has taken his place. The police shows up and his wife Cora (Lynn Ainley) and business partner Buster (John Harvey) confirm that doppelganger is real Chick and Chick is fake. Chick escapes and tries to prove his identity. The plot turns more and more ridiculous and implausible, but energetic direction, fast pace action and enjoyable double performance by Barry Nelson turn 'The Man with My Face' passable time waster entertainment.

When the whole issue of identity theft began getting increased visibility several years ago, this is where my pre-cyber world mind went. You come home one day from work and there's somebody that's you in your place. We get some hints that Nelson suspects that things aren't perfect at home as he leaves for work on that fateful morning. This initially plays out like a good Twilight Zone episode. The cops are called in to arrest the good guy, he's carted off, he somehow escapes; but then it's all ruined as the nefarious plot is disclosed. The remainder of the movie becomes a manhunt and an explanation of how and why. Nice shots of Puerto Rico help to relieve the routine. Nelson is very good in the dual roles. This is an okay time waster.

Barry Nelson comes home from a business trip. His wife doesn't pick him up. He calls home, but she does not recognize his voice. He takes a cab, and finds his wife, his brother-in-law (his business partner), his dog (who bites him) and his exact double, who insists he is Nelson. They call a cop, but his ID has the other guy's fingerprints. The cop takes him to the police station, but a Doberman Pinscher attacks him and he flees in the confusion.

It's a very nice done movie version of a novel by Samuel W. Taylor. Director Edward Montagne keeps things going along at a good clip, with the doubling handled by a skilled combination of editing and masking by cinematographer Fred Jackman Jr.; there's also some good location shooting of San Juan, Puerto Rico. It's also Jack Warden's first credited role; he had had uncredited bits in three earlier movies.

First thing I want to do with this review is state who femme fatale Lynn Ainley really was. This was a name used only for a few projects by actress Betty Lou Gerson. There were financial reasons why she had to be hired in Puerto Rico where this was filmed and they made it seem like she was "discovered" there by this name.

At any rate, this is an above average crime thriller based on a doppelgänger premise. Chick Graham is married to the blonde femme fatale Cora. He had a dog named Jiggs. They pretty much have a normal life in Puerto Rico. Then everything goes haywire when Chick finds his wife and brother-in-law don't recognize him and neither can his dog.

Everyday Everyman Chick Graham has an unrelated man who looks just like him, indeed, who could easily pass as his twin brother. That fellow is psychopathic Albert Rand who has cooked up an elaborate plot to commit a big time heist and then fade into the woodwork as Chick Graham. It turns out that wife Cora and her brother Buster are in on the nefarious plot. Most of the movie shows our hero trying to get things sorted out as he is on the lam from the cops who have him down as robber Rand.

It might have benefitted from being shot in color but the makers of the film do as much as possible in black and white with the lush setting of Puerto Rico. I think Barry Nelson did a fine job of playing nice guy chick vs. Route to the core psychopath Albert Rand. The other performers do well. Perhaps the canine performers deserve a special nod. There is the little one who plays Jiggs and then there is the doberman who plays the trained killer dog. Betty Lou Gerson/Lynn Ainley is attractive in a tough way as the femme fatale wife who suffers pangs of conscience and Carole Matthews is endearing as the forgiving ex-girlfriend.

"The Man With My Face" grabs and holds interest. It is a slightly above average crime drama.

Doppelganger topic features have always provided much suspense, have always grabbed you, stuck your attention to details, each move, each dialogue. This one is not widely known, it is not an Alfred Hitchcock's film either, but it is enough to be a little gem to discover again, at all costs. The director is totally unknown to me, so are the actors and the Puerto Rico settings are also unusual. It is a performance to shoot such a story, where an actor plays two characters, especially because of the confusion elements that may provoke this scheme for the audience. And above all, it is not long, it is not two hours length, so you can't get bored. Good little gem.