Bette Davis plays Bette Davis not once but twice in this over-the-top story of a sister who kills and then replaces her twin. The result is a thoroughly far-fetched and yet somewhat predictable thriller that succeeds in being a tremendous amount of fun.Karl Malden and Peter Lawford fill out the cast, but the film belongs to Davis, and she clearly relishes the film's every excess, owning the script like a tailor-made gown. Indeed, much of the pleasure in watching DEAD RINGERS is the fun of seeing Davis play with such little restraint, and the movie makes use of every Davis mannerism imaginable.
This movie will never make any critic's short list, and over her long career Davis certainly made a great many finer films and gave a great many more artful performances. But as a late-night popcorn fest for Bette Davis fans, DEAD RINGERS is hard to beat.
I enjoy Peter Lawford in anything, a truly underappreciated actor and a really nice man. He is enjoyably slimy in this role, and adds the right note for the jaded, rather tired boyfriend. Karl Malden is sad, and you feel sorry for him;; he was so devoted to the poor sister...the star of the show is Ms. Davis, and the fabulous house and grounds. Don't look for high, quality drama here, but rather, an enjoyable way to spend a Saturday night.
(NOTE: The Doheny estate, built in the early 1920s, is specatacular, and boasts several streets with signs for it's 25 acres of grounds, and it has a children's playhouse with fireplace and kitchen, etc., that rivals anything I've ever seen...and three guest houses, larger and more magnificent than most mansions! Also a bowling alley, a real movie theatre and over 30 bedrooms in the servants quarters. There was murder there, around 1929, the father caught his son with the butler, and shot and killed him; the son was put away in an asylum. Quite a history, and quite a setting...)I have to admit I am an ardent Bette Davis fan. The first film of hers I ever saw was "Whatever Happened To baby Jane?" on late-night TV years ago, and I fell in love with her. I can't say I admire her like I do Joan Crawford, but Bette comes pretty close.
I've been lucky to pretty much see all her films over the years, but I really like her 1960's stuff the best; perhaps its watching how Miss Davis tears up the scenery, as well as her co-stars that makes me such a Bette fan, but I do believe a lot of her later motion pictures are underated and often ignored. These films, often known by some critics as "hag-films", are true classics. Bette, along with Joan, had one of the longest careers in pictures, and how they managed to survive, in an industry that swallows careers and actresses at whim, is a testament to how good they were at their profession.
"Dead Ringer" is well acted, directed, and superbly cast. In it we see Bette playing twin sisters, one good, one bad. One sister steals the identity of the other in order to live her ellegant lifestyle to the fullest. There are many plot twists and turns to satisfy the most ardent viewer, and the film flys by fast. Karl Malden has a secondary role as one of Bette's boyfriends, and Peter Lawford plays one of the best villins in '60s films.
Sit back and enjoy a good Bette Davis potboiler.
The film is beautifully restored and the DVD features an informative documentary on the movie. Author Boze Hadleigh is interviewed and offers some insightful info on "Dead Ringer" and Bette Davis. If you think Bette was good in "Baby Jane" wait until you see her in this one!
Read Best Reviews of Dead Ringer (2012) Here
If ever there were a movie equivalent of what Susan Sontag called Camp many years ago...this is it. Bette Davis stars as twins: one the rich, Champagne-driven, mansion living Margaret DeLorca, the other "Injun Country" area of Los Angeles (really Echo Park) living, beer guzzling, Karl Malden (Hobbson) loving Edith Phillips. Margaret is the bad twin, Edith the nice. But Edith is still holding a grudge against Margaret for stealing her man many years before and she aims to set things right, twenty years later.Davis chews up the scenery as only she can when given full rein of her performance and her director, Paul Henreid, who starred with her in "Now Voyager" knew better than to get in her way.
"Dead Ringer" is a hell-of-a-lot-of-fun and the commentary from Charles Busch is appropriately outrageous. This is a movie that both you and your Mom can love: twist the top off a quart of Schlitz, bake up some Velveeta Mac `n' Cheese, get out two spoons and enjoy every morsel of this delicious movie.
Want Dead Ringer (2012) Discount?
The juicy thriller "Dead Ringer", is a personal favourite of mine and is a classic example of that curious genre that involved veteran performers appearing in macabre stories which sprung up in the early 1960's as a result of the sensational box office success of "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?". The films made in the wake of Baby Jane's success were to provide many veteran actresses and actors such as Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, and Ray Milland, with meaty leading roles in lower budgeted thrillers and horror stories for the rest of that decade. Whatever failings these films may possess critically they are still immensely entertaining and certainly gave the veteran actors involved a new lease of life career wise at the time. I believe that "Dead Ringer", starring the legendary Bette Davis in the dual roles of two long estranged identical sisters caught up in a web of envy, intrigue, deception and finally murder is one of the best of the cycle. Produced by Warner Bros., the studio where Davis was once the undisputed Queen in the 1930's and 40's, "Dead Ringer", has an irresistably expensive look to it and is the ultimate star vehicle for the ageing Davis where she gets the unique opportunity to act opposite herself. "Dead Ringer", and "Baby Jane", began a flurry of work for Davis for the next ten years in films of varying quality such as the Grand Guignol gems "Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte", in 1964 and "The Nanny" in 1965 through to the truly bizarre "The Anniversary", in 1968. "Dead Ringer", however is one of the more intriguing efforts in this genre and Bette Davis as always gives her all in her dual roles.Based on a story by Rian James, "Dead Ringer", stars legend Bette Davis in the dual role of Margaret DeLorca/Edith Phillips, two long estranged sisters who are suddenly brought together at the funeral of Margaret's husband Frank. It is far from a happy reunion as the sisters have a long smouldering emnity for each other ever since Margaret stole Frank away from Edith on the excuse that Frank had got her pregnant. Not helping the situation is the fact that while Margaret went on to lead a glittering life enjoying the DeLorca millions , Edith remained unmarried and struggled to earn a living running a heavily in debt cocktail lounge in a seedy part of San Francisco. Margaret makes some very patronising amends by offering Edith cast off clothes back at the house after the funeral however the bitter Edith begins to form a deadly plan of her own when she discovers from the family chaffeur on the drive home that there was no child and that Margaret had deceived her to get Frank fo rherself. Enraged over having her whole life ruined by her sister Edith calls Margaret to her home that evening and then murders her sister and cutting he rhair and taking her clothes assumes her sister's identity back at the DeLorca mansion. However things dont go as smoothly as Edith first thought as she has to get used to strange surroundings, new people, and worst of all a very unexpected and eventually troublesome "boyfriend" in Margaret's secret lover Tony Collins (Peter Lawford). Edith finds herself drawn further into a frightening world of black mail when she discovers that Margaret and Tony actually murdered Frank and that Tony has discovered her masquerade and wants to be paid off. Edith's beau, well meaning Sergeant Jim Hobbson (Karl Malden), also begins to become suspicious and when Frank's body is exhumed and he is discovered to have died from poisoning the net closes in around Edith. Edith is successful in getting Tony out of the way when he is savaged by the family dog but her problems escalate when Edith then finds herself up on a murder charge for the crime her sister had commited. Not wanting to ruin Jim's loving impression of her Edith keeps up the charade of actually being Margaret who is condemmed to die in the gas chamber at San Quentin and she kindly allows Jim to believe it was Edith who died back at the house and not Margaret as she goes off with the police to be executed.
"Twice the terror as murderous twins!", cried the trade papers about Bette Davis at the time of the release of "Dead Ringer", however never could this film be termed a true horror effort as it is more a psychological thriller with Gothic overtones to it. Despite the time period it was made in "Dead Ringer" closely resembles one of those old star vehicles from the 1930's which had the lead actress centre stage throughout the proceedings. Despite it's short comings in the story department this is a Bette Davis show all the way and Davis handles the work where she is seemingly acting with her double very well. This was the second time she had played identical twins involved in murder, the first time being back in 1946 in "A Stolen Life". She manages extremely well in giving both Margaret and Edith very distinct personalities and mannerisms and her scenes where she is playing Edith after she murders her sister and is trying to adjust to Margaret's lifestyle at the mansion are especially good. Considering the Davis powerhhouse at centre stage it is amazing that there are some other interesting performances in this film especially Peter Lawford as the boozy, black mailing boyfriend of Margaret's who cottons on to Edith's deception and wants his share of the goodies. His work with Davis as he begins to blackmail her character is especially noteworthy and creates alot of the dramatic tension in the second half of the story as Edith's plan begins to unravel. Karl Malden as Edith's ever loyal fiancee who by his investigation unknowingly signs his beloved Edith's death warrant thinking she is Margaret is also effective in his playing and both Jean Hagen as flighty socialite Dede Marshall and especially veteran actress Estelle Winwood as the religious zealot Dona Anna make great impressions with their limited screen time. "Dead Ringer", boasts very high production values which gives this "B" grade story a style which is quite unexpected. The use of the luxurious Doheny Estate for the exterior shots is a superb choice and gives those scenes shot there an expensive look and feel so important in creating the vast difference in the fortunes of Edith and Margaret. The musical score by Andre Previn is also a great favourite of mine and is excellently chosen and incorporated into the action creating alternately eerie and oppressive feelings through the course of the film. Interestingly "Dead Ringer", is directed by Bette Davis' old "Now Voyager" co star Paul Henreid. While he might seem a strange choice for the directing duties his direction here is spot on as he lets the action move along at a leisurely pace building in tension and complexity as the story develops. He wisely allows the characters of the two sisters to be fully mapped out which allows much of the drama of when Edith pretends to be Margaret to have its own built in tension.
Glossy star vehicles for ageing actresses really are an extinct species in present day Hollywood where no one ever seems to be over 35 years of age. Thankfully the fluke success of "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?", allowed many actresses from the 1930's and 40's to keep working in similiar roles. Regardless of how the material in these films was viewed critically Bette Davis was never less than compelling on screen and she certainly displays all of her star quality here in "Dead Ringer" turning a fairly ordinary little thriller into something you can enjoy time and again. Passed off by many as camp fluff never to be taken seriously I instead enjoy the film and Bette Davis' performance in particular more from the point of it being from that last period of the fast disappearing studio system in he early 1960's that still saw studios tailoring vehicles for particular actors and actresses and managing to give even relatively low budget efforts such as this a gloss and sheen unheard of in the "New Hollywood", of the 1970's onwards. Enjoy Bette Davis playing twin sisters on a collison course of hatred, deception and murder in the stylish Grand Guignol thriller "Dead Ringer".
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