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Best movie of this year hands down!

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

So much average

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Based on a Daphne du Maurier source-text, THE SCAPEGOAT is very much in the tradition established by Hamer's more famous earlier film KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS (1949), also starring Guinness. In this film Guinness plays two roles; that of a mild-mannered university teacher whose identity is stolen by a rakish French aristocrat. The university teacher takes over the aristocrat's life, and proves rather good at it; so much so that he does not want to recover his old life when the aristocrat asks him to. The climax is a violent one. Hamer's film, although set in France, takes a particularly English approach to death; the performances are quietly understated, and the atmosphere of menace restrained. Bette Davis seems rather out of place in a cameo role as the aristocrat's mother; her grande dame performance, complete with rolling New England vowels, contrasts starkly with that of Guinness. The ending is a bit peremptory, betraying the fact that THE SCAPEGOAT was not without its production difficulties, especially when scriptwriter Gore Vidal had to deal with an increasingly alcoholic director. Nonetheless THE SCAPEGOAT is definitely worth a view, if only for Guinness' versatility as an actor.

Alec Guinness is in top form here, playing dual roles: one a jaded, aimless teacher on holiday in Paris from GB (Barratt), the other an oily, manipulative French count (De Gue). His performance in both roles is understated; one can imagine that in preparation for this film he read du Maurier's book and easily slipped into character, as he did for so many of his other films. One can feel his delight at meeting his exact double in a Parisian bar, and he laughs and gets loaded in what must be the first time in years. He wakes up the next morning in a hotel room, where he is mistaken for his guest.At first he's annoyed and protests vehemently, even when driven all the way out to his twin's country château. Everyone thinks he's gone over the edge. Given a few days he makes a game of the whole thing, wondering how long he can fool everyone before he's found out. In a few weeks he has grown accustomed to his new life, develops a fondness for his "wife" and "child", and brings a social conscience to the family by insisting that a failing company remain open, so that dozens of people can keep their jobs. It's a life-changing transformation not just for the family but for Barratt, who realizes he has finally found what he's looking for.De Gue's dark motives are revealed later when he needs an alibi, and Barratt realizes he has been a patsy.This movie is kind of stiff and formal, but on the other hand the actors are playing people who probably act like that all the time. Bette Davis, in a weird cameo role, injects a dose of much-needed bitchiness as De Gue's mother, the drug-addicted matriarch of the family. Robert Osborne on TCM said that Davis hated working with Guinness, well big surprise there, was there anyone that she loved working with?

As part of a birthday celebration of the late Sir Alec, TCM placed this seldom shown character study in between two hilarious Guinness farces, "Hotel Paradiso" and "All at Sea." In combination with "The Malta Story," "Scapegoat" allowed Guiness to indulge both his more serious dramatic inclinations as well as play another double role, something for which he was a master. His "Kind Hearts and Coronets" is the tour de force of this genre of multiple identities.This adaptation of Du Maurier's novel has also the advantage of five strong female leads, three of them, Bette Davis, Irene Worth and Pamela Brown, known in their own right for their dramatic achievement. Actually, all of the supporting roles are excellently cast, even to the faithful manservant, Gaston, and especially the count's precocious and very articulate daughter. Bette Davis, as the matriarch, sets the tone for neurotic tyranny in this family; but it is a role that could have been less of a caricature if Dame Wendy Hiller had played it instead (See Dame Wendy in "Murder on the Orient Express" for the epitome of "noblesse oblige.") In the role of the wife, Irene Worth gains some of our sympathy as the high-strung and beautiful, sensitive but persecuted spouse unable to give the count a male heir. Her mobile and expressive face is a perfect foil to Guiness's stoic reserve. As the count's sister, Pamela Brown's natural reticence and grave air, her huge luminous eyes and rich voice (which can be savored in an earlier role in "I Know Where I'm going") made her a likely choice in the role of a sibling, however, the differences she shares with her brother are not resolved nor explained, neither is her motivation for being so antagonistic toward him. In other words, through the eliptical, somewhat ambiguous dialogue, there is a history or subtext of sibling rivalry of which we must remain ignorant. (Perhaps the novel delineated this more clearly.)Despite the strong and balanced cast, I found the ending a surprise and a slight disappointment. For me it failed to resolve Guiness's relationship with the other females save one, his lover. Therefore, despite the putative attempt to plumb his character, it remained an identity problem hardly more than skin deep. Still, all in all, it is a fascinating attempt and a rare chance to see Guinness in a noncombative drama with strong females, somewhat like a diamond set among a ruby, emerald and pearl.Of four stars, definitely a strong three*** for the excellent cast.

I was lucky enough to see this movie during a TCM Bette Davis Marathon. Although her part is relatively small, I was thrilled to see Sir Alec Guinness in a very unusual story. He encounters a man that is for all purposes identical to him. They drink, go to his apartment, and in the morning one is gone leaving the other one to fill in his shoes at home. At first of course he protests- saying he is John Barrat. But the Count has made sure that no one will listen by telegraphing his doctor that he's been having delusions that he's someone else. Being a man that really had no one that cared about him to begin with, he decides to go on with the charade. The plot thickens from there on. Good story & a fine supporting cast make this an interesting murder mystery. Enjoy it if you can find it. (TCM is short for Turner Classic Movies cable station.) It is worth note that this story is by the same author of Hitchcock's Rebecca- another murder mystery worth viewing & much easier to find.