mark.waltz For painter Bette Davis, loving the brooding seaman Glenn Ford is worth the price of a ship in a bottle, as well as agreeing to sketch his grizzled pal Walter Brennan. But to him, she is like a cake without frosting-sweet but dry. He prefers cake with frosting, and that turns out to be her own twin sister. Yes, this means a dual role for Ms. Davis, and one that, seen in a double bill along with Dead Ringers, shows the difference between less and more. Here, more quality and less camp, the 1964 film doing the reverse. An old movie tag-line claimed Nobody's better than Bette when she's bad, but the truth is that you really shouldn't know she's bad until it is too late.The bad Bette is the supporting twin who lands Ford, her selfishness so subtle that it takes her own death for it to be revealed. She is a softly glamorous femme fatal, using her eyes rather than words to explain what she's thinking. The lead Bette wears less frilly clothing and speaks softly to explain her feelings. When her twin searches for her to toss the bouquet, she simply steps aside to purposely miss catching it. This is the art of Davis's genius. She always dares her audience to take their eyes off of her, and they never do. In the same year that he was seduced by Rita Hayworth's Gilda, Ford had an equally interesting character to play, and even though he has a double dose of Bette to react of, he does it convincingly.Rising film noir anti-hero Dane Clark has a John Garfield "Humoresque" like supporting role as a temperamental starving painter whom Davis's cousin Charlie Ruggles refers to as the Rasputin of the paint pots. He influences Davis to come out of her shell, basically telling her to put frosting on her cake. Davis gets that opportunity when fate steps in, resulting in the truth coming about both sisters. The Atlantic Coast scenery of New England adds moody atmosphere to the melodramatic situations which never become overwrought. The gripping sail boat scene during a sudden storm is extremely realistic. In fact, the whole movie is practically perfect and structurally sound. Iw doesn't fall into the category of a masterpiece, but it is a definite crowd pleaser.

EMME30 **** Spoilers!!! Don't read if you'd rather just watch the movie!**** This movie is about twins played by Bette Davis, who was wonderful in this duel role. Katie is the nice twin and Pat was the evil twin. Pat was very underhanded and stole Glenn Ford's character Bill away from Katie pretty much for the fun of it and married him. Years later Katie and Pat were out sailing when the accident occurred. They stayed out too long in bad weather and the boat hit a reef when they tried to get to a lighthouse. Pat drowned after being thrown from the boat. Katie tried to save her but couldn't hold her. Pat's wedding ring slipped off her finger into Katie's hand as she was pulled away by the undertow and Katie was knocked out. So, everyone just assumed Katie was Pat. It wasn't a planned thing by Katie.I like the movie very much. I saw it for the first time earlier this year during Oscar month on TCM. I just watched it on TCM again today during the Glenn Ford tribute. He was fantastic in his role as well! I think the performances were great all around. Extra kudos to the performances by Dane Clark as a starving artist & Charles Ruggles as the twins cousin and guardian. They were smaller parts, but very crucial to the storyline. You'll have to watch the movie to see what happens. Sorry, I never give out endings.

nycritic Whether or not she actually produced is questionable and more of a footnote in her career before the cameras, and after all, that is what really drew in the public. A STOLEN LIFE, a remake of an earlier movie starring Elisabeth Bergner (herself the subject a story that would bring life to Mary Orr's now classic story "The Wisdom of Eve", which would be made into what is known today as ALL ABOUT EVE) is a not-very plausible melodrama about twin sisters Pat and Kate Bosworth who engage in some interesting identity-swapping once one of them drowns in an unfortunate boat accident. Davis co-stars with herself and looks like two different people. Trick editing and a matting effect that would later be used to great effect in David Croneberg's male answer to this film -- his classic (and perverse) DEAD RINGERS -- is the real star of this movie; because of it, the interactions with the two sisters is a sight to watch instead of being hokey to a point where you would be able to see the split in the middle of the screen. It would probably have benefited more if at the time, dramas would be given the green light to explore the possibilities of twins as Kristoff Kieszliwski did in THE DOUBLE LIVE OF VERONIQUE instead of having the surviving sister be drawn into a more conventional plot of deception. But this wasn't the case and the result is a movie that has an implied lot to say about women who are loose in morals and the fate that befalls them. Equally implicit is the notion that the surviving sister cannot find happiness until she has to become the "bad" one and fool the bland man who was taken away from her by her "bad" sister. It's been the stuff of Spanish soap operas left and right, particularly Mexican soaps which have told this story over and over again with little variations on the title "The Usurper" ("La Usurpadora") and even "Vida Robada", virtually a literal translation of "Stolen Life". But then again, no one could do soaps better than Bette, and in this one, she's her only competition.

BumpyRide I found the first half of the picture dragged for me, with a lot of dark shadows, and meandering scenes at the light house. Once the story picked up, and the "evil" twins goes over the side of the boat, then I knew I was in for some good old fashioned Bette Davis fun. I was very impressed with the creation of the "twins." For 1946, I found the scenes quite convincing, and wondered how they did that. The sets were fabulous, I'd take any of those houses, but thought the costumes were somewhat lacking. No, "Now, Voyager" stunning outfits for sure. Glenn Ford was fine, and very young, however I didn't care for the struggling artist side story. I would like to have seen much more of Kate trying to pass herself off as Pat, for that was the fun part of the film for me.