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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!

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.

DEAD RINGER stretches credibility, but is an enjoyable little thriller. The story opens in 1964 Los Angeles where financially struggling Edith (DAVIS) goes to the funeral of wealthy twin Margaret's husband, Frank DeLorca. The two sisters have not seen each other for 20 years because Edith had originally been dating Frank, and Margaret stole him away from her claiming pregnancy. Margaret invites Edith back to her home after the funeral and once there, insults her by offering her cast off clothing. A quarrel ensues where Edith accuses Margaret of never having loved Frank and therefore denying both Frank and Edith of true happiness. In a huff Edith leaves in Margaret's chauffer driven Cadillac. While talking to the chauffer during the ride home, Edith learns that the pregnancy ploy that Margaret had used years before was a lie. When Edith arrives at her small bar in a seedy part of town, she is confronted by her rental property agent, who informs her that since she is 3 months behind in rent, he wants her gone. The one bright spot in Edith's life is the friendship that she has with Sergeant Hobbson (KARL MALDEN). In fact he remembers her birthday and gives her a watch, but Edith is so consumed with her problems that she is almost oblivious to his being there. In her apartment above the bar, now angry at her sister and somewhat irrational, Edith devises a plan to have Margaret visit, at which time she will murder her and take on her identity. Edith phones Margaret and orders her to come to her bar with the ruse that she "knows everything". Margaret goes, believing that Edith has some other knowledge. In an interestingly filmed manner, Edith manages to shoot her sister, change clothes, and make it look as though "Edie" has committed suicide. She now leaves in "Margaret's" chauffered car and steps into a grand life. Only now, she'll have to contend with pulling it off. Physical resemblance aside, Edith must now adopt "Margaret's" lifestyle. She must also convince everyone in "Margaret's" orbit from household servants to friends to Tony Collins (PETER LAWFORD), Margaret's lover, that she is Margaret. Worse, Sergeant Hobbson starts snooping around and unearths alot of things. Things that were not intended to come to light...... Former DAVIS co-star PAUL HENRIED stays within the guidelines with his job as the film's director. He should not have used daughter MONIKA HENRIED as Margaret's maid. Her delivery is flat, and apparently in her early twenties looks more like a young woman of means than a personal maid. JEAN HAGEN is light and airy as shallow friend Dede Marshall, ESTELLE WINWOOD is very good as annoying relative Dona Anna. PETER LAWFORD is also very good as the suave and slimy aging stud muffin Tony Collins. KARL MALDEN is tender in his early scenes, then all business in his latter ones. BETTE DAVIS is excellent playing 2 very different sisters. Her mannerisms and delivery are clearly separate depending on which role she is in. She's down to earth and practical as the down on her luck Edith. As the frivilous Margaret, DAVIS is coy and somewhat flighty, dismissing away what displeases her with a wave of her hand. This is a signature performance of DAVIS, and she runs with it, pulling out all the stops along the way !!!

Nobody in film has yet portrayed evil bitch, and sometimes crazy evil bitch, as well and as often as the late great Bette Davis, as evidenced by such films as "Of Human Bondage", "Whatever Happened To Baby Jane", and "The Nanny", just to name a few that come immediately to mind. Capable of spitting out lines such as "Ah'd luv tuh kiss yuh, but ah jus' washed mah hair" (from "Cabin In the Cotton", 1932), "Every time you kissed me, I had to wipe my mouth! Wipe my mouth!" (from "Of Human Bondage", 1934) to "But Blanche, yuh ahhh in that chair, yuh ahhhhhhh!" (from "Whatever Happened To Baby Jane", 1962), Bette Davis made a lucrative living with her hip-swinging sashaying stride and her mannerisms that still make her a favorite of drag queens everywhere.

In "Dead Ringer", Bette was once again cast in the dual role of good sister/bad sister (Edith Phillips/Margaret DeLorca) similar to her dual roles in "A Stolen Life" (1946, with Glenn Ford). Paul Henreid, her co-star in "Now Voyager" - remember him in the classic scene that involved his lighting two cigarettes and handing Davis's character one of them - directs. "Dead Ringer"'s premise is simple: good sister impulsively tries to step into shoes of deceased bad sister in an ill-conceived move to improve her own quality of life, without thinking of the inherent consequences. In this case, as in the case of "A Stolen Life", Davis inherits the dead bad sister's myriad mix of self-imposed problems, but with worse consequences.

And as veteran filmgoers have realized for many years, the family dog always knows who's who.

Karl Malden, as Davis' earnest boyfriend (and cop) Sgt. Jim Hobbson is basically re-enacting his earnest boyfriend characterization from "A Streetcar Named Desire", and Peter Lawford, who was a real-life playboy and drunk, (in addition to allegedly acting as a bit of a pimp for the Kennedys, circa the Marilyn Monroe/John F. Kennedy/Robert Kennedy liasons era), plays Tony Collins...the drunken playboy boyfriend of the dead bad sister, Margaret DeLorca.

"Dead Ringer" was made in an era of more rudimentary special effects, so Davis's two characters interacting almost face-to-face in some scenes was quite innovative for the time, well-done (better than the obvious stand-in used for some scenes) and still holds up well.

Fun times ensue for all. Classic Bette melodrama.

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.