Olivia de Havilland gives one of her greatest performances in a dual role as twin sisters, one of them a psychopathic murderess. At first glance, these two ladies (who alternate working at a newspaper stand, one pretending to be the other) seem so much alike, so at first her performance is difficult to make heads or tails of which character she is playing. But everything is not as it seems, and when detective Thomas Mitchell (her co-star from "Gone With the Wind") and psychiatrist Lew Ayres get involved, it will only be a matter of time before the psycho is exposed. In the meantime, the innocent one shows signs of mental illness herself and a clever scheme ends up exposing the truth, resulting in a truly shocking ending.
DeHavilland is one of those actresses who as she aged became "grander and grander", bringing in qualities of Melanie Wilkes into many of her performances with breathy lady-like qualities that made her sometimes too good to be true. But this performance is one exception, even though the manners and politeness are still there, qualities of the butterfly who spits acid are slowly revealed inside both characters. In a sense, this is close to her truly only other performance of this nature, the evil cousin in "Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte" who seemed all cream and sugar on the outside, but was filled with venom when all was said and done.
The slow road to revealing the truth about both personalities is worth the wait, the examinations of Ayres' psychiatrist revealing the neurotic nature of one and psychotic manners of the other. Then, you end up confused for a bit, not knowing which one is whom as the trail leads to the end of the road for one and heartbreak for the other. The result is pleasantly perplexing, concluding in a manner that is never melodramatic in spite of its tragic circumstances. Watching the guilty party slowly being trapped and revealed will have you on the edge of your seat.
While the analogy of what twins are supposedly like (mirror images the same in all but mentality) is implausible, this does reveal some pondering ideas of the intensity of their relationships. This was one of several melodramas about twins released during this time, the others being the camp "Cobra Woman" with Maria Montez and the Bette Davis melodrama "A Stolen Life", all about one good sister and one bad, but connected with the other so tightly that the result could only be destruction for one and a difficult journey for the other. Daytime soaps have also dealt with the same issue ("Days of Our Lives'" Marlena and Sam; "All My Children's" Stuart and Adam, etc), so obviously, films like this made some impression on the writers who created those characters.
DeHavilland is one of those actresses who as she aged became "grander and grander", bringing in qualities of Melanie Wilkes into many of her performances with breathy lady-like qualities that made her sometimes too good to be true. But this performance is one exception, even though the manners and politeness are still there, qualities of the butterfly who spits acid are slowly revealed inside both characters. In a sense, this is close to her truly only other performance of this nature, the evil cousin in "Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte" who seemed all cream and sugar on the outside, but was filled with venom when all was said and done.
The slow road to revealing the truth about both personalities is worth the wait, the examinations of Ayres' psychiatrist revealing the neurotic nature of one and psychotic manners of the other. Then, you end up confused for a bit, not knowing which one is whom as the trail leads to the end of the road for one and heartbreak for the other. The result is pleasantly perplexing, concluding in a manner that is never melodramatic in spite of its tragic circumstances. Watching the guilty party slowly being trapped and revealed will have you on the edge of your seat.
While the analogy of what twins are supposedly like (mirror images the same in all but mentality) is implausible, this does reveal some pondering ideas of the intensity of their relationships. This was one of several melodramas about twins released during this time, the others being the camp "Cobra Woman" with Maria Montez and the Bette Davis melodrama "A Stolen Life", all about one good sister and one bad, but connected with the other so tightly that the result could only be destruction for one and a difficult journey for the other. Daytime soaps have also dealt with the same issue ("Days of Our Lives'" Marlena and Sam; "All My Children's" Stuart and Adam, etc), so obviously, films like this made some impression on the writers who created those characters.