Brilliant and touching

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Kate (Bette Davis) travels to stay with her twin sister Pat (Bette Davis) and meets Bill (Glenn Ford) en route. Kate and Bill spend their time together on evening dates and at his lighthouse home - yes, he is one of those freaks who live in a lighthouse. However, once Bill meets twin sister Pat, he falls in love with her and the two of them get married. Kate is devastated. A boating accident allows Kate another chance into Bill's life.....The storyline is just a heap of unconvincing nonsense and is quite slow. It drags on numerous occasions. Bette Davis does well in her two roles and is a class above the rest of the cast. Watch her reaction as both evil sister Pat and good sister Kate when Pat tries to throw her bouquet in Kate's direction. Top quality. Glenn Ford is OK, although he does resemble a gormless monkey on occasions. A mention for the character of the struggling artist "Karnock" as portrayed by Dane Clark - he is terrible - what an unrealistic performance. It defies belief but provides unintentional humour. The ending is a great example of pure Hollywood cheese. It's sappy and totally stupid but what we are all expecting to happen.The film is OK in that it passes the time. A better film containing the twins theme that was released in the same year is "The Dark Mirror", in which Olivia de Havilland plays good and evil twin sisters. A better film starring Bette Davis from the same year is "Deception".

"A Stolen Life", based on an obscure novel by Karel J. Benes (previously filmed in 1939 starring Elisabeth Bergner), has a whole lot going for it, but comes up short on dramatic fire. Pleasantly set on the East Coast around a seaside village and lighthouse, Bette Davis stars as a sort of spinsterish good girl, a Yankee "third-rate artist" who develops a big crush on lighthouse worker Glenn Ford. Unfortunately for her (and Ford!), the artist's identical twin comes into the picture, politely scheming away, and naturally the hunky dolt falls for the bad sister and marries her instead. The split-screen effect is very polished here, as are the performances, though this script is on the thin side. Davis and Ford make a somewhat odd romantic pairing (she seems a bit mature for him), and the final scene is unbelievably florid and fluttery-eyed. It doesn't convince for a minute, but the milieu and atmosphere are enjoyable regardless. **1/2 from ****

Bette Davis plays twins (she did the same in Dead Ringer) with a Patty Duke twist. A period piece right out of the 1940's and it looks it. I rather enjoyed the movie, but thought some of the plot and storyline rather unrealistic. Everyone seems to learn a lesson in this film and it seems to gravitate toward that point. The ending was rather sappy, but keeping in line with the story. I rather liked the Dane Clark character and felt bad that he was sort of left alone at the end. It is not really known if he knew the switch was made or not. Shows the posh life of the idle rich and seems to rub it in in the viewer's face. In any case, it is a interesting movie, well acted.

I just paid top-dollar for the 1990 VHS edition of this film. While the mono sound isn't bad, I couldn't believe the murkiness of the black and white picture. I find it hard to believe that this medium has endured as long as it did. Watching VHS is an act of faith. You have to believe, thanks to the music and the dialog, that there is actually a film lurking in there, somewhere between the shadows. It almost prevented me from enjoying this film which is the epitome of Bette Davis' two main groups of mannerisms: the reticent, idealistic virgin and the out-and-out two-timing, conniving bitch all rolled into one magnificent performance.Given that the script is of the women's pictures, "True Romance" and Harlequin school of female psychology, it is also remarkably reeking with sex and very potent female fantasies, from the phallic, wave-battered fog-enshrouded New England lighthouse to the tweedy, pipe-smoking, rugged, low-IQ boyfriend (Glenn Ford) to the ever present able-bodied seamen to the thuggish personality of Davis's secondary love interest, the hairy, greasy, lower-class, oversexed painter who wants to make a "real woman" out of her by ravishing her right there over the paint tubes.Female porn it might be but it's very effective at what it intends to do: give its female audience the vapours!Now, if we could only see a little more of what goes on in there...