The Great Impostor

I genuinely dislike these smooth-talking narcissistic psychopaths. They're like the guy who pushes in front of you in a long line and offers a charming but false explanation. Great for him but everybody else is deprived of the place in line that they've earned. Very amusing to see DeMara in all these high-status positions -- doctor, researcher from Yale, prison warden, monk. Suppose he'd killed someone on the Canadian destroyer? It doesn't help that he looks heavenward and mutters, "God, please don't let me kill anybody." He should have thought of that before. And his settling down with a straightforward love of his life who reforms him is unbelievable.

That gets the bad stuff out of the way. Tony Curtis is near his best, jaunty when it's called for, sweaty and nervous when necessary. His meeting with Mickey Kellin in the dark prison cell is pretty spooky. We can believe that Curtis is scared. We can also believe that Kellin is anxious to cooperate in some scheme that saves both his neck and his face.

The scene in which Curtis, as a Canadian doctor must remove the abcessed tooth of Captain Edmund O'Brien could not be improved upon. I can't watch that scene without busting up. O'Brien frozen in this awkward position, an agonized expression on his face, like an exhibit in Madam Toussaud's Wax Works.

I'm glad he finally got caught before he caused too much damage. Speaking of the damage we don't see much of it here. It's all pretty lighthearted, which is one way of approaching exploitation. An example of what I mean by "damage." I would feel sorry for the Naval officer who falls in love with him and redeems him, if she existed. In real life, these stimulus-hungry anti-social personalities are easily bored. They tend to attract women, use them, and blow them off. I would expect DeMara to have left a lot of hurt women along his madcap trail.

Tony Curtis portrays "Ferdinand Waldo Demara Jr.," who faked being a doctor, warden, monk and teacher. When I saw this at the theater 45 years ago, I thought it was fascinating. Much older and seeing it on tape about 10 years ago, it wasn't as interesting as I had remembered. I guess when you're a kid, everything on the big screen is impressive.

Humor helped in this film, giving it some life here and there as it's a bit slow-moving but still entertaining. I've usually found Curtis entertaining to watch, a man who played a lot of interesting characters. I still think he is/was an underrated actor, too.

It was nice seeing the main character, although being a fake, still asking for God's help in certain situations, inside knowing he was not doing the right thing. Those parts would be edited out if the film was re-made today. I agree, too, with a fellow reviewer that faking being a surgeon is not something to be laughed at, especially if he was doing his operating on you or me!

This very interesting film was based upon a book of the same name, in turn, based upon the extremely unorthodox life of Ferdinand Demara.

Watching this film naturally leads us to the question of what motivated Demana to lead this semi-criminal life? Is he a compulsive snake?: one who must periodically shed his skin because he needs new types of challenges periodically to avoid boredom? Or is he playing a cat and mouse game, periodically testing whether he can, once again, beat the system in assuming the identity of someone else? I suspect some of both. Unlike as shown in the film, he actually joined a monastery for several years when he ran away from home at age 16. I would think it extremely unusual for a restless teen to do so. I think that should tell us something about his psychological state.

There is always the problem of a few people who meet the bureaucratic requirements for a profession or advanced schooling but lack real life competency vs. those who are or show promise of being quite competent but lack the bureaucratic criteria for being accepted as an advanced student or as a professional.

The film dramatizes only a few of Demara's impersonations, albeit some of the most astounding. His attempt to reform the typical brutality in prisons was one highlight. However, his masquerading as a doctor in the Canadian Navy during the Korean war is the most unbelievable segment. Included is his historical surgery on several wounded Koreans while aboard ship.

I wonder if he had gotten married if he would have settled down? The fact that he tried to make it as a monk in his early adulthood may suggest that he didn't have marriage in his plans. Incidentally, Sue Anne Langdon sure was cute and vivacious as an aggressive man eater!

Demana is shown faking a suicide. This really happened.

I'm very surprised that this film was shot in B&W at this late date(1961), although Universal was a notoriously cheap studio.

If you haven't seen this movie, catch it for at least one reason: About an hour into it Tony Curtis is passing as a surgeon on a Canadian warboat with Edmond O'Brien as its captain. O'Brien comes down with an impacted molar, and Curtis has to remove it. What happens after that is totally unforgettable. They should make special awards just for scenes this funny!

I can not imagine why this movie has not been released on DVD. When it first came out I went to see it several times. When it is on TV I always watch it. Not only is the story and performance of Curtis great, the music score is memorable.