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Simply A Masterpiece

Great Film overall

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Man, give me two Bette Davises for the price of one and I could do much more with them than this movie does.Bette plays twins, a good one and a somewhat naughty one, who find themselves caught up in some melodramatic angst when they both fall for the same jackass, played decidedly unwinningly by Glenn Ford. The good twin, Kate, initially has him, but the naughty one, Pat, eventually steals him. But then Pat dies, and Kate assumes her identity so that she can have him back, only to realize that Pat has made a complete shambles of her life, her relationship with this lunkhead included. My wife and I kept waiting for what we were sure was going to be the money shot scene, Pat showing up at the last minute, not dead after all, to further complicate Kate's predicament. But that doesn't happen. Pat stays disappointingly dead, and Kate gets her man as Kate, though why anyone would want him remains the film's greatest mystery.The fun in "A Stolen Life" is watching Bette act with herself through the help of some really impressive and Oscar-nominated special effects. She hands herself a cigarette, straightens out her own lapels, all of it visually seamless. But her acting is just as impressive as the effects. She does an impressive job not only making it look like she's interacting with another person but also at giving the two twins subtly distinctive personalities.Dane Clark is also in the film, though I'm not sure why. He's yet another jackass who the film puts forward as a possible love interest for Kate, but then drops completely from the screenplay without telling us what the point was for him ever being there in the first place."A Stolen Life" is either a gender studies goldmine or nightmare depending on your point of view. On the one hand, the casual sexism and emotional indifference to women is nearly impossible to stomach from a modern-day standpoint. But on the other hand, the film is a fascinating if queasy time capsule of what the entertainment world thought of gender relations in post-WWII America, or at least what it thought audiences wanted to see.Grade: B-

Fifteen years before the successful "Pocketful of Miracles," Bette Davis and Glenn Ford teamed up in this typical soap opera drama."A Stolen Life" has many similarities to the 1964 Davis film "Dead Ringer," where Bette killed her evil twin sister and assumed her identity only to be tried for murder of her sister's husband. In 'Stolen' Bette again loses the man she loves to an aggressive twin and when tragedy intervenes, she assumes her dead sister's life.Walter Brennan is completely wasted here as the head of the lighthouse. Dane Clark is absolutely terrific in the role of the embittered, difficult artist who Bette links up with after she loses Glenn Ford to her overbearing sister.The film is a good one thanks to Davis as always. She always knew how to pull out the stops in her never ending display of playing women with multi-emotions.

This is a very unintentionally silly Bette Davis movie. The plot involves two identical twins--one evil and selfish, the other sweet and somewhat bland. The sweet one falls for a MUCH younger man played by Glenn Ford. Well, the evil twin being evil, she steals Ford and marries him herself--just to hurt her sister! Later, the evil one is swimming in the ocean and drowns. The younger one is the first to the scene and decides to take the place of the evil twin and be married to Ford! What happens next, you'll need to see for yourself.Okay, I KNOW that the identical twin thing is a MAJOR Hollywood cliché and the plot is silly. But, somehow it works and is worth watching. Of course it's not one of Davis' best films, but considering her amazing talent she was able to breath life into this moribund script.

Bette Davis plays twins. One is mousy and nice. The other is brassy and mean. The nice one establishes a rapport with shy Glenn Ford but the mean one steals him. The nice one has a show of her paintings at a rather improbable gallery opening where full meals are served on a table.Renegade painter Dane Clark sneaks in to get some grub. He disses the paintings and the nice Bette studies with him. They are a highly improbable couple and he disappears.Accident occurs. twins confused. Good Bette gets back with Glenn, also a fairly implausible beau.It's a women's picture with a gimmick but the gimmick wears thin quickly.Seeing Charles Ruggles, who has a small but sort of central role, is always a pleasure.Bette does little to differentiate between the twins. The dialogue is supposed to tell us whether it's the mousy nice one or the evil, conniving one.The best portrayal of twins ever in movies was by Jeremy Irons in Dead Ringers.