Chained for Life

Director Harry L. Fraser, who gave us the unforgettable "I Accuse My Parents," went over the top with Hollywood's first (and, I suspect, lone) drama of the travails of two women who truly were, both in the film and in real life, inseparable.

Teen actresses and major merchandising mavens Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen have been described as joined at the hip. That was the reality for former vaudevillians Violet and Daisy Hilton, the Siamese twins starring in this crime film. Violet is Vivian and Daisy is Dorothy, not that it matters much.

The twins, a bit long in the tooth when the movie was made, reprise their old hoofer routine in a show that includes a master marksman and his gal, a beautiful on-stage assistant. Having Vivian get married is a publicity idea which she accepts enthusiastically, her close sibling less so. But she comes around hoping for her sister's connubial joy. The intended groom is the show's Dead Eye Dick. His motive: money to go through with the wedding.

Complications arise including the refusal of a number of states to issue marriage licenses on the tenuous, indeed unsustainable, grounds that a marriage by one of the twins would constitute bigamy. Nonsense. In fact Siamese twins in the nineteenth century, never mind later, got married in the U.S. Vivian is jilted on her wedding night so we don't get to see any conjugal maneuvering (not that we would have seen much in a 1951 feature).

Vivian and Dorothy watch the marksman do his act and Dorothy casually shoots the guy dead. The film begins with a judge asking, from his desk, for help from moviegoers in deciding whether to find the homicidal woman guilty, the sentence then either requiring that the other also be executed or, if a lesser charge was sustained, both would go to the slammer. I imagine conversations going on long into the night by folks who viewed the film and couldn't stop talking about the jurist's dilemma. This is a film with a question about justice-unfortunately it's too arcane for any serious discussion.

Court scenes alternate with recounting of the tale. The courtroom is as fake as the plot. And the Alpha Video DVD cover's posters from the original release promise licentious tidbits that never come close to surfacing. "Joined Together How Can They Make Love?" "What Happens in Their Intimate Moments?" That's what I wanted to know and why I forked out $4.99 for the disc. Phooey.

4/10 (for its curiosity value)

Unique film poses the question "How do you punish the guilty without violating the rights of the innocent?" A Siamese twin is charged with murder. In flashback style, the facts leading up to the murder, and subsequent trial are presented. the case is presented before only a judge. No jury is involved. He alone must decide how to punish only the guilty sister, without violating the innocent sister's rights. How will he decide? How would you decide? Definitely low budget, but worth viewing as an oddity. Definitely at the top of the list as far as Siamese twin murder mystery films go! Film will also hold the interest of vaudeville / circus side show fans.

If you've missed "Chained for Life," you haven't missed much. Based loosely (very loosely) on Siamese twins Daisy and Violent Hilton's lives, Chained For Life is low melodrama at its lamest. The starring ladies did, however, sing very sweetly, and their musical performances are worth sitting through the rest of the movie.

The movie opens with a judge begging the audience for help in resolving a terrible dilemma. The action moves to a courtroom, where conjoined twin Vivian Hamilton is on trial for the shooting death of her sister Dorothy's two-timing husband. The story unfolds in flashback as various characters are called to testify about how a publicity stunt turned to cruel heartbreak and eventually murder.

With a premise close to the sisters' real-life romances, "Chained for Life" could have been compelling drama in the hands of competent writers, a competent cast, and a director capable of pulling adequate performances out of Daily and Violet. We're left with a pure exploitation film, memorable only for its novelty.

Chained For Life (1951)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

The Hilton Sisters of FREAKS fame were brought back to the screen in this, at the time, controversial film that tries to take a closer look at their lives. The two sisters are part of a theater group and to make money their manager sets up a marriage. When the man hurts one of the sisters the other kills him and it's up to a judge to see how this should be handled. Unlike FREAKS, this caught me off guard because it wasn't simply an exploitation film, which is what I was expecting. The film shows the personally lives of these Siamese twins and it's all rather interesting. I think it would have been better had the film not started in the courtroom and then replayed the events as they happened. Either way, those fans of the Browning film should certainly check this one out.

"Chained for Life" is the story of two Siamese twin sisters, who at this point appear to be in their late 40s, as one sister falls in love. The film stars real life Siamese twins Daisy and Violet Hilton. The twins are connected at the lower back, and are able to function as normal people except that they are connected. It makes one wonder that if they were to have been alive today, would they have been able to be separated? The sisters made a living as vaudeville singers, not actors, and the best parts of this film are the musical numbers, both sisters had beautiful voices. When the sisters act, well lets just say its very fake and stilted.

The plot is simple, as a publicity stunt a trick shooter in the same vaudeville show as the sisters decides to marry one of the sisters, only to divorce her the next day. As revenge the other sister shoots to death her ex in law, and the film is told in flash back as a courtroom trial.

It is an interesting question posed to the audience, and one that I wonder how it would be answered in real life. If one conjoined Siamese twin commits murder, a crime punishable by death, the other sister will die too, meaning the state is committing murder. An interesting questions, and one that the audience is asked to answer. Sadly, its one answer I don't have.

The film is not quite exploitation, as the sisters are not exploited as freaks. This film is in the public domain and is available on VHS and DVD.