Der schwarze Kreis

...even when some of those small things are not so small. 20 years ago Edith Phillips was going to marry wealthy Frank DeLorca. The wealth didn't really matter to Edith, but it mattered to her twin sister Margaret. It mattered so much that she slept with Frank and then announced she was pregnant, so Frank married Margaret out of obligation. There is still a shred of production code left, so I am explaining more than the film does. Edith has never forgiven Margaret for taking Frank away from her, but I'd say Frank does share some blame too since he must have slept with her.

So in modern day, which is where the film actually starts, Frank has died and Edith goes to Frank's funeral. This is where she finds out by the offhand remark of the DeLorca chauffeur that there never was a child. Margaret lied to both Frank and Edith to get the life of ease she wanted. In Edith's personal life she is about to lose the bar she runs because of back rent. She does good business but she is too generous for her own good. But that generosity does not extend to Margaret. Margaret, not knowing that Edith suspects the fake pregnancy business, goes to visit her in her apartment. After making double doggone sure that there never was a baby by getting Margaret to confess, Edith kills Margaret, changes outfits with her, dumps a suicide note in Margaret's lap that is supposedly written by Edith, and goes to take up Margaret's life as a DeLorca where she left off.

The thing is, what she really wanted that Margaret had - Frank - is dead, and the rest of it is rather empty without him. Plus there are any number of things to trip her up, starting with the fact that she knows none of the servants, does not know her way around the DeLorca mansion, and does not know Margaret's routine or friends. On top of this Margaret had a boyfriend on the side who is not exactly a catch - an obvious fortune hunter played by a rather fat and flabby Peter Lawford. And he is blackmailing "Margaret" and for good reason. Complications, some very ironic, ensue.

Davis still has it as she convincingly plays the working class Edith, the pampered Margaret, and Edith masquerading as Margaret quite convincingly. Karl Malden is quite touching as Edith's cop boyfriend. He has two possible endings to Edith's story, neither which is flattering, and he doesn't know which to believe. The jazz band playing over Edith's killing of her sister and covering it up adds to the tension of the scene.

I'd recommend this one.

Bette Davis plays twin sisters, one glamorous, the other homely, in this tale of deception, betrayal, and murder. What makes the story so fascinating is its delicious irony, as the homely sister, Edith, becomes ever more ensnared in her own tangled web.

The story is marred slightly by some obvious contrivances and plot holes. But it has lots of twists and turns. And Bette Davis, with her memorable voice, her gestures, and those Bette Davis eyes renders the Edith character engaging, as she realizes something important that she had not foreseen, and then makes an effort not to be found out. It's all about the internal tension of faking a false identity.

Much of the plot is consumed in detail, as we watch Edith squirm and fret when confronted with small tasks like switching clothes with a corpse, faking a signature, or determining the combination to a wall safe. These action details are somewhat tedious. But they give Davis lots of opportunity to act.

The film's B&W cinematography is fine. The split screen technology wherein both sisters appear together in the same scene is rather self-conscious, but was quite advanced for its time. Rear screen projection is another technique that is used, but seems primitive by today's technical standards. The film's lighting is quite good.

The film gets off to a really good start with a snazzy, and very Hitchcockian, title sequence accompanied by Andre Previn's excellent original score. The film's supporting cast includes Karl Malden, Estelle Winwood, and Jean Hagen. But, though they are all credible in their roles, this film belongs to Bette Davis. It's her show. And a viewer's response to the film will hinge largely on their impression of Bette Davis and her ability to play two roles. Personally, I think she did a splendid job.

Nobody in film has yet portrayed evil bitch, and sometimes crazy evil bitch, as well and as often as the late great Bette Davis, as evidenced by such films as "Of Human Bondage", "Whatever Happened To Baby Jane", and "The Nanny", just to name a few that come immediately to mind. Capable of spitting out lines such as "Ah'd luv tuh kiss yuh, but ah jus' washed mah hair" (from "Cabin In the Cotton", 1932), "Every time you kissed me, I had to wipe my mouth! Wipe my mouth!" (from "Of Human Bondage", 1934) to "But Blanche, yuh ahhh in that chair, yuh ahhhhhhh!" (from "Whatever Happened To Baby Jane", 1962), Bette Davis made a lucrative living with her hip-swinging sashaying stride and her mannerisms that still make her a favorite of drag queens everywhere.

In "Dead Ringer", Bette was once again cast in the dual role of good sister/bad sister (Edith Phillips/Margaret DeLorca) similar to her dual roles in "A Stolen Life" (1946, with Glenn Ford). Paul Henreid, her co-star in "Now Voyager" - remember him in the classic scene that involved his lighting two cigarettes and handing Davis's character one of them - directs. "Dead Ringer"'s premise is simple: good sister impulsively tries to step into shoes of deceased bad sister in an ill-conceived move to improve her own quality of life, without thinking of the inherent consequences. In this case, as in the case of "A Stolen Life", Davis inherits the dead bad sister's myriad mix of self-imposed problems, but with worse consequences.

And as veteran filmgoers have realized for many years, the family dog always knows who's who.

Karl Malden, as Davis' earnest boyfriend (and cop) Sgt. Jim Hobbson is basically re-enacting his earnest boyfriend characterization from "A Streetcar Named Desire", and Peter Lawford, who was a real-life playboy and drunk, (in addition to allegedly acting as a bit of a pimp for the Kennedys, circa the Marilyn Monroe/John F. Kennedy/Robert Kennedy liasons era), plays Tony Collins...the drunken playboy boyfriend of the dead bad sister, Margaret DeLorca.

"Dead Ringer" was made in an era of more rudimentary special effects, so Davis's two characters interacting almost face-to-face in some scenes was quite innovative for the time, well-done (better than the obvious stand-in used for some scenes) and still holds up well.

Fun times ensue for all. Classic Bette melodrama.

Bette Davis essayed twin sisters twice. The first was A STOLEN LIFE, one of her last good Warner Brother films in the late 1940s, wherein the good sister watches helplessly while her bad sister steals Glenn Ford from her, but she gets a second chance at Glenn when the bad sister is killed in an accident and the good one can take over her life (hence the title).

Then there was this film made nearly two decades later. Despite some far out plot twists, most people think that DEAD RINGER is the better film.

By 1964 Davis had discovered (like her rival Joan Crawford) that their career could survive playing in "grande guinol" films. WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? and HUSH, HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE, were followed by DEAD RINGER, THE NANNY, and THE ANNIVERSARY (my personal favorite - and actually the least bloody of these films). DEAD RINGER and THE NANNY tie for being the most sympathetic roles for Bette in these films.

In DEAD RINGER, Edith Philips is the twin sister of wealthy widow Margaret De Lorca. Edith owns a run - down bar, and it is going into bankruptcy, and she is facing eviction. Her closest friend (closer if she would watch his signals) is Police Sgt. Jim Hobbson (Karl Malden). But she is consumed with anger and jealousy at her sister because Margaret married the man who Edith should have married. So Margaret's current security is due to her stealing Edith's boyfriend (similar to the plot in A STOLEN LIFE). So she invites Margaret to her home, and shows Margaret a letter that she has written. It is Edith's suicide note, and as Margaret reads it she realizes that she is about to become Edith permanently.

Edith has planned this a bit, but she does not plan for two problems. Sgt. Hobbson is in a bad state because he loved Edith, and he keeps visiting her identical twin "Margaret". This is upsetting to Edith, who did not plan to hurt her boy-friend. Secondly she discovers Margaret had her secrets too. The late Mr. De Lorca may have died in too timely a fashion (wink, wink), and Margaret had a boy - friend too who helped her, a playboy named Tony Collins. Tony is curious about "Margaret's" lack of interest (or even awareness) of him, until he begins to put two and two together, Then he becomes very demanding to his supposed lover.

The climax of the film is quite twisty, if predictable after awhile. But the final moment between Davis and Malden is sadly touching in it's way. The film may also have the best dramatic performance by Lawford as a villain in his film career (finally he cuts loose and shows what he could do). Not one of Davis's greatest films, but an interesting one, and worth viewing.

Among her contemporaries Bette Davis is the only one I know who managed to carry off playing twin sisters twice in films. The first time was in A Stolen Life and in 1964 she did it again in Dead Ringer. The first time she was a good and a bad twin, but in Dead Ringer both twins commit evil acts during the course of the movie.

Bette's former co-star Paul Henreid directed her in Dead Ringer with co- stars Karl Malden and Peter Lawford. Back in the day one twin stole the man the other was in love with because he was rich, prosperous, and part of old California society. That one got rich, the other never married and now lives owning a bar that she's way behind in debt with.

When the husband dies the bar owner learns that back in the day he was tricked into marriage with a false pregnancy story and as the family was Catholic he married her and couldn't divorce. That sets the bar owner into a murderous frenzy and she kills the widow and then assumes her place while she also fakes a suicide story.

With a few bumps along the way Bette settles into the other Bette's life. Then a lowlife boyfriend played by Peter Lawford comes back in the picture. Lawford is a gigolo/golf pro and he and society Bette have some deep secrets. The rest you can see for yourself.

Oddly enough A Stolen Life also involved a twin taking another's place and as for the rest of the story, if you know what happens in The Postman Always Rings Twice you know what happens here.

With the possible exception of Whatever Happened To Baby Jane, Dead Ringer maybe Davis's best film of the Sixties. She throws herself into both roles so well that it like watching twins in action. She also has a nice group of supporting players in roles they are well cast in. But this one is Bette's show.

Watch her steal another life.