This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

(Flash Review)Not sure if the poor quality Amazon picture transfer degraded or distracted my enjoyment of this as the picture was far from sharp. Anyway, this has a clever little plot for a Film Noir. The film opens with the heroine standing over a man she has just shot and then wishes she could rewind the past. Poof, the story rewinds back one full year yet she can remember what will happen in the future year. Will she be able to avoid last year's life choices that lead her down the path of murder? I may need to try a Netflix DVD for a rewatch but at first pass the film didn't have enough suspense to feel gripping and the pacing felt slower without enough tension to keep me fully engaged.

Joan Leslie stars with Louis Hayward, Tom Conway, Richard Basehart, and Virginia Field in "Repeat Performance" from 1947.I actually saw what I thought was a very good TV movie version of this - "Turn Back the Clock" with Connie Selleca, David Dukes, Jere Burns, Gene Barry, and Dina Merrill. Leslie plays a stage actress, Sheila Page who, at the very beginning of the film, on New Year's Eve, shoots her husband. Panicked, she meets up with a close friend, William, and heads for a New Year's party at her producer's (Tom Conway) apartment. She says she wishes she could do the whole year over. When she turns to her friend, he's gone, she's in last year's gown, and the New Year's Eve party is for the previous year. She's gotten her wish.Well, we know how these things usually turn out -- but the way it turns out is interesting, to say the least.This is a noirish film, and everyone is very good - Leslie is glammed-up and appropriately confused. Hayward is effective as an obnoxious drunk, Field an arch femme fatale, and Basehart as a good friend. I have to admit, in "Turn Black the Clock," things are a little more fleshed out, especially the Basehart and Field roles, and I actually liked that aspect better.Nevertheless, this is a fascinating film from the '40s.

I just saw this film play in a 16mm copy last Friday night ~Jan 25 '08. The brochure stated that there were no usable 35mm prints good enough for playing on a big screen.It played at The Castro Theatre in San Francisco. Also playing with another unreleased to DVD Joan Leslie movie "The Hard Way"This well thought out movie has it all. It doesn't sell out the possibilities that could go wrong or against you if you were living it.The main actors in this stylish film noir romp all were credible in their motives and actions. Seeing Natalie Schafer from Gilligan's Island fame was funny playing a scheming and controlling diva of the arts world. Tom Conway as "everybody's big brother" had a part that he owned. Louis Hayward as the cheating husband and Virginia Field who was playing along with the dangerous and cheating fun. You could tell that there were sparks between them. Those same sparks were missing in the married relationship with Joan.Basehart was great in his first film role. There were some outrageous corny lines of dialogue that had the audience laughing along with the scene when it wasn't supposed to be funny on screen. But, overall he nailed it in a crucial part.I hope that this comes to DVD soon while Joan is still around. It would be even more astounding if she herself gave a running commentary to it!!!

This movie was featured on A&E Network numerous times around 1986-87. It was an excellent print and I was led by it to believe that it was on videocassette. Nik at nite also featured it numerous times during the same period. Unlike other subscribers I felt that Joan Leslie's per- formance was a little hammy and saccharine. Richard Basehart gave an interesting performance. Also interesting to see Natalie Schaefer from Gilligans Island. Eagle-Lion was an interesting "b" studio, and produced some films of real quality and memorableness. When I say this, I am especially thinking of "Hollow Triumph(the SCAR). Very interesting performance by Joan Bennett.