the audience applauded

Let's be realistic.

It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

William Pine and William Thomas -- Paramount's B producers who took sturdy projects and turned out decent movies on modest budgets, earning them the appellation of "The Dollar bills" -- have a fine one-hour flick in this movie. Nancy Kelly gets a photography gig at a New York magazine, with wolfish Chester Morris as her boss; she totes along would-be fiancé Philip Terry, claiming he is her brother, to stand off Morris. She's smart, hard-working and they gradually fall in love, with many a quip, when a murdered woman pops up -- and it looks exactly like the picture of Miss Kelly that she posed for the magazine; her alibi is Mr. Terry, but he's been shipped out on a convoy to Russia and lost at sea.Richard Gaines is along as the health-nut publisher, and there are a lot of good gags for the first three-quarters of the picture, until the murder mystery takes over. Dewey Robinson as a cab driver also has a few good lines.

What starts off looking fairly formulaic for movies of the period, turns into an interesting flick with some different twists. I won't say more because much of the enjoyment is seeing the twists unfold. While Paramount was part producer and distributor of this film, it's obviously of a lesser grade – B or something else. The cast doesn't have any big names. The technical quality is low-grade, and the writing and directing could have been much better. But, the acting is mostly quite good with a plot that soon develops beyond the usual fare. So, I'm surprised that Paramount couldn't build this one up a bit more. Still, it was the middle of World War II and many of the top actors, writers and technicians were off at war. There was a lot of interest about this time in stories about the war, so the studios can be excused for not putting their all in many of their smaller films. I do think that labeling this a comedy as well as a crime film is misleading. The comedy is so little and quickly overshadowed by the mystery. But, it's fine as a drama and crime or mystery flick. The quote in my heading is a line from the film.

Double Exposure casts Chester Morris as the editor of a photo journalistic magazine called Flick who on the strong suggestion of the owner Richard Gaines hires Nancy Kelly as a new staff photographer. Chet likes her, but she comes as a package deal along with Philip Terry whom she says is her brother.The film is from the budget school of Pine-Thomas who did the B films for Paramount. It moves at a nice clip and abruptly changes from comedy to murder mystery as Kelly is arrested for the murder of Jane Farrar the latest in a long line of wives for playboy Charles Arnt. Arnt's been giving Kelly the three times over and wouldn't mind adding her as yet another trophy wife.The editor part fits Morris well and it was a break though not much of one from Boston Blackie. Farrar until she turned up dead was one hot tempered wife who was not in a mood for explanations. It's part of what gets her killed. Gaines is also memorable as the boss who makes all his employees take part in his physical fitness regimen.Not a bad film as a second feature, probably to some Crosby or Hope film Paramount was featuring in 1944.

Larry (Chester Morris) hires photographer Pat (Nancy Kelly) for his magazine. They fall in love but there is a problem - her boyfriend Ben (Phillip Terry) back home. At first, as an excuse to fend off any advance from Larry, Pat pretends that Ben is her brother and that he is staying with her. The situation is made worse when Ben actually turns up and is forced to go along with the charade for the sake of Pat's job. This makes for a good comedy scene at a nightclub where Ben is given another date, Mavis (Roma Aldrich) to whom he shows absolutely no interest. Larry discovers the deceit just as a murder is committed and Pat is to stand trial for the crime. It's all in Larry's hands.....This is a quick moving comedy that throws us a mystery towards the end. There are many good scenes and the dialogue is funny. The whole cast perform well in this enjoyable, tongue-in-cheek story and it is worth keeping onto to watch again. One criticism is the quality of the film. It's a story about the publishing business and it's no surprise to learn that photos were being faked to sell newspapers in those days just as they are today (especially on the fashion pages!). In this instance, they are even faked to solve a crime.