Rating: NR
Genre:
Drama
Release Date: 07/22/2003
Dubbed: English
Sound: DS
Run Time: 103 Minutes
Flags: Not For Children
Distributor/Studio: Republic Pictures
Ronald Colman won an Academy Award for his portrayal of an off-the-beam actor in
A Double Life. A beloved stage star,
Anthony John (
Colman), has problems with his private life due to his unpredictable outbursts of temper. This trait has already cost him his wife,
Brita (
Signe Hasso), and threatens to sabotage his career. Nonetheless,
Anthony makes his peace with
Brita, and the two actors star in a new Broadway staging of
Othello. The play is a hit, running over 300 performances, but the pressures of portraying a man moved to murder by jealousy takes its toll on
Anthony. In a fit of delirium, he strangles his casual mistress,
Pat (
Shelley Winters), but retains no memory of the awful crime. Press agent
Bill Friend (
Edmond O'Brien), unaware that
Anthony is the killer, uses
Pat's murder as publicity for
Othello.
Anthony becomes enraged at this cheap ploy, and attacks
Friend. At this point,
Anthony realizes that he has been living "a double life" and is in fact
Pat's murderer.
A Double Life was written for the screen by
Ruth Gordon and
Garson Kanin, who occasionally digress from the melodramatic plotline to include a few backstage inside jokes.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
;)
