Sick Product of a Sick System

Absolutely Fantastic

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

I have lost count of how many times I've watched this wonderful film. Each time I get something from it and i believe it is Bette Davis best work - which is a big statement ! Viewers will be hypnotised by Bette's amazing performance and the filmography is truly amazing. To watch this film through modern eyes, you often find yourself trying to work out how the director and editor managed to get away with the 'two bette' film sequences. This is no evidence of 'lines' in the film, or murky backgrounds and if you didn't know it was the same women, you would really think they were twins. The story line is terrific, Glenn Ford (very young) fits the role perfectly and Dane Clark's performance is very direct and well played. There really is something for everyone in this film and a must watch.

For painter Bette Davis, loving the brooding seaman Glenn Ford is worth the price of a ship in a bottle, as well as agreeing to sketch his grizzled pal Walter Brennan. But to him, she is like a cake without frosting-sweet but dry. He prefers cake with frosting, and that turns out to be her own twin sister. Yes, this means a dual role for Ms. Davis, and one that, seen in a double bill along with Dead Ringers, shows the difference between less and more. Here, more quality and less camp, the 1964 film doing the reverse. An old movie tag-line claimed Nobody's better than Bette when she's bad, but the truth is that you really shouldn't know she's bad until it is too late.The bad Bette is the supporting twin who lands Ford, her selfishness so subtle that it takes her own death for it to be revealed. She is a softly glamorous femme fatal, using her eyes rather than words to explain what she's thinking. The lead Bette wears less frilly clothing and speaks softly to explain her feelings. When her twin searches for her to toss the bouquet, she simply steps aside to purposely miss catching it. This is the art of Davis's genius. She always dares her audience to take their eyes off of her, and they never do. In the same year that he was seduced by Rita Hayworth's Gilda, Ford had an equally interesting character to play, and even though he has a double dose of Bette to react of, he does it convincingly.Rising film noir anti-hero Dane Clark has a John Garfield "Humoresque" like supporting role as a temperamental starving painter whom Davis's cousin Charlie Ruggles refers to as the Rasputin of the paint pots. He influences Davis to come out of her shell, basically telling her to put frosting on her cake. Davis gets that opportunity when fate steps in, resulting in the truth coming about both sisters. The Atlantic Coast scenery of New England adds moody atmosphere to the melodramatic situations which never become overwrought. The gripping sail boat scene during a sudden storm is extremely realistic. In fact, the whole movie is practically perfect and structurally sound. Iw doesn't fall into the category of a masterpiece, but it is a definite crowd pleaser.

This is without doubt a showcase for the Star but it failed to include the necessary nastiness of the Bad Twin. Almost all of her devious behavior takes place off screen and that renders this tepid and lacking any real tension.It is all handled with such lightweight soapiness it becomes soppy and what is left is a well mounted production. The split screen is flawless but that cannot be said of much else going on here. Actually there is very little difference between the Sisters displayed and it is pretty much left to the subconscious and the imagination.This is barely Worth a Watch and the only real energy is left to a supporting Character of a starving Artist. That burst of momentum if given to the supposedly dark Twin could have separated this from a standard and stodgy melodrama. The ending is completely contrived and forced on the audience with very little believability or explanation.

Fifteen years before the successful "Pocketful of Miracles," Bette Davis and Glenn Ford teamed up in this typical soap opera drama."A Stolen Life" has many similarities to the 1964 Davis film "Dead Ringer," where Bette killed her evil twin sister and assumed her identity only to be tried for murder of her sister's husband. In 'Stolen' Bette again loses the man she loves to an aggressive twin and when tragedy intervenes, she assumes her dead sister's life.Walter Brennan is completely wasted here as the head of the lighthouse. Dane Clark is absolutely terrific in the role of the embittered, difficult artist who Bette links up with after she loses Glenn Ford to her overbearing sister.The film is a good one thanks to Davis as always. She always knew how to pull out the stops in her never ending display of playing women with multi-emotions.