O Homem Que Não Era

Pre 007 Roger Moore plays a City businessman who finds himself being haunted by his doppelganger following a near fatal car crash. Very well made supernatural thriller which proves that you do not need gore or jump scares to make a film scary. It moves at a fast pace & kept me enthralled throughout. Good cast including a fine performance by Moore. Love the old Lamborghini that his duplicate drives around in!

Harold Pelham gets in a freaky car accident, but survives.After that he believes there's a duplicate of himself messing up his life.The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970) is directed by Basil Dearden.This was actually his last movie and he died in a car accident near the spot Pelham is supposed to have crashed his car in the beginning of the film.Roger Moore proves here he really is a great actor.All those James Bond films may not give the biggest challenge as an actor, but here he really has to act.His wife Eve is played brilliantly by Hildegard Neil.Olga Georges-Picot is fantastic as the doppelgänger's lover Julie Anderson.Freddie Jones is terrific as Dr. Harris- Psychiatrist.Also great job by people like Gerald Sim (Morrison) and John Carson (Ashton).This is a really fascinating film.It has been called underrated, and that is very true.There's that psychedelic feeling going there.Like when Pelham is escaping his duplicate and he breaks the mirror and we see many Pelhams laughing there.The music is one element that helps create the atmosphere.And it is really a joy to see two Roger Moores in the same room.

A collector's item this one - you very rarely see a film as absurd yet enthralling as this. The plot is fabulously illogical, but it provides an opportunity to see Roger Moore in a role far more interesting than James Bond, as pin-striped executive Harold Pelham. Except that he plays TWO Harold Pelham's - one nice, dull, and sexually inadequate; the other a cavalier and sinister Romeo. This means a lot of Moore chasing round London insisting "I'm Harold Pelham!", and a climactic and weirdly psychedelic car-chase involving nice Pelham and nasty Pelham. If this hasn't yet acquired a cult following, it ought to.

if ever a cumulative rating for a movie was insane it is THIS one! 5.3? yeah right. It's a 7 - end of story!

Long before Moore's incarnation as 007, this is arguably near the top of Moore's filmography. After Harold Pelham has a near-death experience following an auto accident, he makes what appears to be a stoic recovery. It is only with the passage of time that he begins to notice subtle occurrences that don't seem to dovetail with his own personality. Either he is losing his mind or there is something remarkably rotten in the state of Denmark. Friends and business acqaintances swear they have interacted with him, moments BEFORE he arrives at work...his wife notices a radical change in him and ultimately the inescapable truth presents itself - he has a doppelganger!

Call it far-fetched..its about the only weak point in the flick. Moore is just brilliant as he unravels in the face of his doppelganger's one-upmanship. The final scenes where he confronts his "twin" are riveting and should silence the tidal wave of critics who insist Moore could never act!

A few years ago it was rumored that the film was to be re-made in New Zealand (Peter Jackson?) as DOPPELGANGER, with no less a personage than Travolta in the lead, and he would certainly do the role justice. Since then, heard nothing.

This flick is well worth your effort finding somewhere, even on video.

With its 1970s chic cheese and swagger and Roger Moore's excellent performance, The Man Who Haunted Himself has a considerable cult fan base. Directed by British legend Basil Dearden, plot finds Moore as Harold Pelham, who after being involved in a serious car accident, comes around from the trauma to find that his life is being turned upside down. It seems that somebody is impersonating him, people he knows swear he was in places he hasn't been, that he has been making decisions at work that he knows nothing about, and that he has a sexy mistress that threatens to destroy his marriage. Is he going mad? A victim of a collective practical joke? Or is there really something more sinister going on?

Don't be a slave to convention!

So yeah! A cult gem waiting to be rediscovered is The Man Who Haunted Himself, it has a plot that positively bristles with intrigue. As the doppleganger motif is tightly wound by Dearden, who smartly sticks to understated scene constructions as opposed to supernatural excess, there's a realistic and human feel to the story. The makers are not going for jolt shocks, but taking a considered approach that has the pertinent mystery elements lurking in the background, waiting for their chance to reveal themselves for the utterly thrilling finale. A finale that is bold and special, obvious but not, and definitely tinged with cunning ambiguity.

With Moore drawing on talent from his acting pool that many thought he didn't have (two different characterisations smartly realised here), and Dearden pulling the technical strings (love those off-kilter angles and multi mirrored images), this is a film that has surprises in store all across the board. 8/10