Sir Alec Guiness plays two roles in this movie--teacher John Barratt and French nobleman, Jacques De Gue. John lives a solitary life, no spouse, no children. Jacques, on the other hand has a wife who no longer loves him, a high and haughty mother, a strange daughter and a spinster sister who lives with them. Oh, and a mistress. He also owns a beleaguered glassworks that he dare not close down or it will harm several longtime employees. Jacques is tired of all this. He does not want to remain in his bitter marriage but must, as his wife's money is how they keep the big estate afloat. So he hatches a convoluted but genius way to get what he wants...
Poor John keeps getting mistaken for someone else and is confused, until he meets that someone else face to face. Jacques gets him drunk, then takes him to the inn he is staying at to let John sleep it off.
John is awakened the next morning by Jacques' man, Gaston, who thinks his master is trying to pull a fast one when he claims he is not who Gaston thinks he is. Before John can pull himself together, he is bustled off to the estate, where his pleas fall on deaf ears. Even those closest to him think it is Jacques.
John attempts to leave, but is sucked into the family drama. His mother is wonderfully played by Bette Davis. She only has a few scenes but she has the attitude to pull off both a snooty countess and a raging morphine junkie. Yep, mommy is addicted and cannot live without her hits. Thankfully, Jacques did not forget her and included a large supply of the stuff to calm her down.
Jacques also had three other gifts sent along. His daughter, the artistic Marie Noel, is given paints. Francoise, his wife, is almost shamed when she opens a lovely music box that plays "their" song. You can visibly seeing her soften toward him. Then Marie-Noel looks at the third gift, which simply has the initial "B" on it. She assumes it is for her dour aunt, Blanche, but the card message is confusing. It's a bottle of expensive perfume with the note about using it on the horses if she doesn't like it. The two older women know it is not for Blanche, but for Jacques' mistress, Bela. Any good feeling the music box might have evoked disappears in an instant.
John could easily hitch a ride back to town as he is not being held against his will. Far from it, as he takes his daughter to a lesson and goes to visit Jacques's mistress. She also cannot tell John is a reluctant imposter.
John quickly settles into Jacques's life, and it looks as if he is integrating himself into the household with plans to stay. He is an improvement over Jacques, obviously, and it seems as if John is content with stepping into his shoes. Jacques, however, did not set up this thing without an ulterior motive. He comes back to reclaim the life he left behind, but to do so he needs to murder a few people. Francoise, so he can inherit all her money and live the way he wants and John, of course, who knows too much. Poor Francoise meets an untimely demise, but John and Jacques face off with one another. We hear a gunshot and...which one survives?
Poor John keeps getting mistaken for someone else and is confused, until he meets that someone else face to face. Jacques gets him drunk, then takes him to the inn he is staying at to let John sleep it off.
John is awakened the next morning by Jacques' man, Gaston, who thinks his master is trying to pull a fast one when he claims he is not who Gaston thinks he is. Before John can pull himself together, he is bustled off to the estate, where his pleas fall on deaf ears. Even those closest to him think it is Jacques.
John attempts to leave, but is sucked into the family drama. His mother is wonderfully played by Bette Davis. She only has a few scenes but she has the attitude to pull off both a snooty countess and a raging morphine junkie. Yep, mommy is addicted and cannot live without her hits. Thankfully, Jacques did not forget her and included a large supply of the stuff to calm her down.
Jacques also had three other gifts sent along. His daughter, the artistic Marie Noel, is given paints. Francoise, his wife, is almost shamed when she opens a lovely music box that plays "their" song. You can visibly seeing her soften toward him. Then Marie-Noel looks at the third gift, which simply has the initial "B" on it. She assumes it is for her dour aunt, Blanche, but the card message is confusing. It's a bottle of expensive perfume with the note about using it on the horses if she doesn't like it. The two older women know it is not for Blanche, but for Jacques' mistress, Bela. Any good feeling the music box might have evoked disappears in an instant.
John could easily hitch a ride back to town as he is not being held against his will. Far from it, as he takes his daughter to a lesson and goes to visit Jacques's mistress. She also cannot tell John is a reluctant imposter.
John quickly settles into Jacques's life, and it looks as if he is integrating himself into the household with plans to stay. He is an improvement over Jacques, obviously, and it seems as if John is content with stepping into his shoes. Jacques, however, did not set up this thing without an ulterior motive. He comes back to reclaim the life he left behind, but to do so he needs to murder a few people. Francoise, so he can inherit all her money and live the way he wants and John, of course, who knows too much. Poor Francoise meets an untimely demise, but John and Jacques face off with one another. We hear a gunshot and...which one survives?