Teringer An Exercise In Nonsense

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

AutCuddly Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

Myriam Nys An actor has reached theatrical stardom thanks to his deeply sensitive grip on his characters. Sadly, this works both ways : his own vulnerable psyche is influenced by whatever role he's currently playing. Let him play in a nicely polished comedy and he will become witty, debonair, charming in real life ; put him in a soul-crushing drama and he will suffer from melancholia. This is not good news, especially when the actor becomes the protagonist in Shakespeare's "Othello"... An excellent noir with an emphasis on psychological tension, "A Double Life" is also a fine homage to the dark power of Shakespeare's tragedy. Nearly every aspect is outstanding : the casting, the directing, the writing, the acting (with special thanks to Ronald Colman and Signe Hasso, who are both spell-binding) and so on. The plot contains a beautifully ironic twist which doubles as a comment on the venality of a certain kind of press. ("Pay us enough and we'll write whatever you want, even if this means interfering with police business or trivialising the life and death of random citizens.") Sadly enough, this comment from the year 1947 has lost none of its real-life pertinence - on the contrary.The production values are through the roof, allowing such luxuries as lavish sets and costumes for a fictional theatrical run of "Othello". It needs to be said that the excerpts from the play are well worth a watch, too - I have seen worse "straight" performances. Have you noticed how many films and plays bear the title "A double life" or "Double life" ? As a Belgian I can tell you that there exists a recent Flemish television series called "Dubbelleven", about the fall-out left by the accidental death of a man who had both a long-time female partner and a legitimate wife. And this is but one example out of many...

gavin6942 Anthony John is an actor whose life is strongly influenced by the characters he plays. When he's playing comedy, he's the most enjoyable person in the world, but when he's playing drama, it's terrible to be around him. That's the reason why his wife Brita divorced him; although she still loves him and works with him, she couldn't stand living with him anymore.As far as noir goes, I don't think this one is very well known. You would think that with George Cukor directing, it would have some sort of resonance, but apparently only in the right circles. Ronald Colman, somehow, never seems to have been as big of an actor as he obviously should have been. He's not one of those household names.At least the DVD comes with an intro by Martin Scorsese to give the film its proper respect, but this is one of those titles that would benefit from a deluxe edition if you were able to find a scholar to talk about it.

calvinnme Actor Tony Johns (Ronald Colman) gets wrapped up in every role he has on stage, at least since Brita (Signe Hasso) came into his life. At some point in the past, she got him to take his career seriously - advice he took a little too much to heart, the two married, and then divorced. Brita's encouragement resulted in Tony immersing himself in a role, which was OK when he was playing a comedy, but the darker the role the darker Tony John's alter-ego would get, which is what caused the divorce in the first place. When Tony Johns decides to play Othello, his darkest mood yet comes over him, focusing upon the jealousy he has for the relationship between his ex-wife and a journalist (Edmond O'Brien) who is in love with her.Colman plays his role superbly as he is a complex villain with whom you can very much sympathize. Instead, woman-to-woman, it is Hasso's Brita that I would like to slap around in a room for about half an hour - she is leading an emotionally troubled man on and being a great big tease when, for her, the relationship is forever over. It's never clear why she still hangs around giving the guy hope and acting all lovey dovey when she's got to know how Tony still feels, plus she knows his trouble distinguishing reality from the plays in which he stars. If she's the accomplished actress she appears to be, she could get other roles and clear out of Tony's life, yet she just won't make a clean break of it and let the guy heal. Thus she's shocked...shocked I say!...when her "I'm just out of your reach" routine almost turns to murder one night with a confused and enraged Tony/Othello staggering off into the night saying "must..not...hurt...Brita". Who does he hurt? Watch and find out.Although this was a great role for Colman and surely worthy of a Best Actor Oscar, he had so many other roles that were superb too. From the silent era, to his adventurous early sound years when his voice boosted his fame considerably, on to more serious roles in the later 30's and 40's, it's almost like the Academy wasn't sure what Colman's last film role would be and didn't want to lose an opportunity to reward him. This is one film I don't get tired of - it's one of my personal favorites. It has great performances by the entire cast, a couple of big names just starting out, Colman winding down in a superb film career and basically going out on top, and an atmosphere that fits the film's complex mood like a glove. Highly recommended.

moonspinner55 Ronald Colman won a Best Actor Oscar for showy performance as a popular stage thespian who completely loses himself in his roles, particularly as Shakespeare's Othello. Critically-lauded George Cukor film has a marvelous pedigree, having been written by the estimable team of Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin. Unfortunately, the witty banter comes off as self-conscious here, and the backstage business is overripe. Miklós Rózsa also won an Oscar for his score, and Shelley Winters has a few fine moments a tough waitress (when theatrical Colman breathlessly addresses her, she asks him, "What are ya? Some kind of nut?"). Otherwise, this scenario is awfully obvious, surprisingly draggy, and not very funny. *1/2 from ****