11 December 2024
Dead Ringer (1964)
116 min.
Directed by Paul Heinreid.
With Bette Davis, Karl Malden, Peter Lawford, Philip Carey, Jean Hagen, George Macready, Estelle Winwood, Cyril Delevanti.
Post-Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? thriller vehicle for screen legend Davis.

La Bette plays a sister who murders her twin in order to take over her supposedly 'better' life.

But...it turns out the dead sister had committed a major crime (murder) and now her new impersonator must pay the price.

Grand guignol irony is in full effect here while hardworking Davis chews up the scenery and proves herself watchable (as always) in this rather implausible thriller.

Part of a string of entertaining 'Bette-on-the-loose' thriller/horrors from the 1960s and would make an enjoyable double feature alongside Hammer's 1965 The Nanny.

Interestingly enough, this one was directed by Bette's sometimes co-star Paul Henreid, who appeared alongside her in such gems as Now, Voyager (1942) and Deception (1946).

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