Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Absolutely Brilliant!

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

The magic here is trying to play two identical twins. Ultimately, Bette Davis did it at least twice. I'm sure de Havilland wanted to do it too. It is a challenge. For the viewer, one must pay careful attention to which one is which--- and when we know who is who---and how we figure it out. I can tell you that the twins names were Terry and Ruth, but "which is which" can only be deducted after seeing the entire movie. Another problem with the movie is Lew Ayres role. Did he actually love one of them or was that part of the rouse to discover their identity. The former would be highly unethical, in fact both may be unethical if it weren't a movie--but it is only a m-o-v-ie.

I hadn't seen this film in years until tonight, and I love it as much as ever. I had an acting teacher who used to say that Olivia de Havilland was held back because she played Melanie, that she was a fantastic actress and capable of so much more but had a hard time getting those meatier roles. But she did, and she truly was one of the great actresses of the classic era, not to mention one of the great beauties.De Havilland stars as twins, Terry and Ruth. When Dr. Frank Peralta is found stabbed in his apartment, two neighbors swear to the veteran Lt. Stevenson (Thomas Mitchell) that Ruth Collins is the murderer, as witnesses saw her leaving his apartment.Alas, Ruth has an alibi, and three witnesses confirm she was listening to a concert in the park the night of the murder. When Stevenson visits Ruth in her apartment, he discovers that she has an identical twin sister, Terry.The prosecutor discourages Stevenson from building a case, because how is he going to prove which one of the women did it? He decides to investigate on his own, and asks Dr. Scott Elliot, who knows the women, to help him. Scott has been studying twins for years.Scott gives the twins a series of tests. And he discovers that one of the twins is crazy.Psychology was a big thing post-war, and "Dark Mirror" is another example of a psychological story. Some of it to today's audience will sound a little lame, but that does not deter from the film being entertaining.Olivia de Havilland creates two distinct women in Terry and Ruth. People have been asking for years how the two Olivias intertwined on the couch. It probably was a cut and paste job, but it was fantastic - makes you realize what ingenuity filmmakers needed before computers.Lew Ayres as another doctor - well, that did seem to be his lot in life; he was even a medic in World War II. A delightful, easy actor with a sweet personality, he really rose out of the ashes after being a conscientious objector, even winning an Oscar. Thomas Mitchell is very good as the detective in charge.All in all, highly entertaining and a chance to see Olivia de Havilland at her absolute peak. Looking at her, I was struck by how good she would have been as Blanche Dubois in Streetcar, which would premiere on Broadway a few years later. A missed opportunity.

THE DARK MIRROR is a lesser-known entry into the canon of films noir that dominated Hollywood in the mid-Forties. Directed by Robert Siodmak (THE KILLERS), it is a psychological thriller focusing on the attempts of Lt. Stevenson (Thomas Mitchell) and psychiatrist Dr. Scott Elliott (Lew Ayres) to discover the killer of a well=established doctor. The only snag is that the chief suspects are a pair of identical twins, Ruth and Terry Collins, both played by Olivia de Havilland, who refuse to divulge any further information. Siodmak's narrative focuses in detail on the twins' psychology, by deliberately frustrating our desire to find out who is the 'good' and the 'bad' twin. The costume-designs apparently make this process of distinguishing quite straightforward - one wears white, the other black as the film unfolds - but the twins' responses to Elliott's psychological tests challenge our preconceptions. De Havilland has a rare chance to play the role of a 'bad' woman and grasps it with both hands; her Chicago accent is both harsh yet beguiling. It's clear that, as the 'bad' twin, she can seduce anyone she likes, even those men who proclaim their ability to see through any psychological games. Nunnally Johnson's script is taut and fast-moving (in the print I saw, the film lasts only eighty-one minutes), while Siodmak makes clever use of atmospheric lighting, especially shadows projected on the back will behind the twins, to suggest that they are somehow pursued by internal demons. THE DARK MIRROR might not be as celebrated as other films of similar genre, but it nonetheless captures some of the emotional uncertainties and moral that characterized the material of that period; its ending is particularly cleverly structured.

A blend of suspense and dark romance, The Dark Mirror is a well acted film which at most showcases the impressive acting ability of Olivia De Havilland.Starting as a darkly atmospheric piece after a murder is committed, the investigation quickly moves onto a suspect named Collins, a woman who was a known associate of the murder victim. However the apparently simple investigation goes into a tailspin when it's revealed Collins is one half of identical twins. It must have been a daunting task as a performer to take on the roles of protagonist and antagonist in the same film yet Olivia De Havilland pulls it off to great conviction. Playing the parts of Terry, a cunning and manipulative psychopath and Terry's twin Ruth, a shy and more naive woman. By changing her mannerisms, vocal tone and demeanour for both roles De Havilland showed to spectacular range of her acting ability.Although the acting on show by De Havilland and others in The Dark Mirror was top standard, the same cannot be said for the narrative. It starts off well with the dilemma of identical twins causing The Dark Mirror to become a gripping mysterious piece along with the wise cracking dialogue between Detective Stevenson and Terry adding to the film's aura. Yet when the narrative shifts from thriller to dark romance with the introduction of Doctor Elliot, a man who falls for Ruth yet bitters Terry into jealously, The Dark Mirror becomes tedious due to its predictability. Although the acting throughout the romantic portion of the narrative makes for emotional involvement it also makes the actions of Terry, Ruth and Doctor Elliot predictable resulting in being able to know the narrative's outcome before its reached.On a lighter note The Dark Mirror has a good amount of comic relief served up by Thomas Mitchell as Detective Stevenson, whose wise cracks create breathing space from the drama and earlier on has great chemistry with De Havilland as her more sinister character. Unfortunately this tense relationship is under developed due to relatively small role Mitchell plays here. The comic relief also comes in the revelation of Collins being an identical twin particularly for the witnesses who are dazed by this fact resulting in a few laughs on the audience's part.Although story wise The Dark Mirror is not the most superb of films, it does not get in the way of the fine acting on display which for a time entices us into the narrative.