On the subject of the impostor ,Du MAURIER's"the scapegoat " is equaled only by Josephine TEY's "Brat Farrar "
In spite of its huge appeal,the novel was completely implausible: it's impossible for a man to take a lookalike 's place whitout nobody noticing a change of voice,of manners ,of behavior ;Tey smartly used an eight-year gap ,which makes the story likelier.
And however ,Du Maurier's novel is gripping ,from start to finish ,and I dare you to leave it before finishing ;it has undergone some changes ,sometimes wisely ,sometimes less so; to make the hero a man who suffers from personality disorders makes sense ,because the impostor denies his identity in front of his family (which he didn't in the book);and the murderer 's alibi is a good trick,although thoroughly invented by Gore Vidal and his collaborator .
But the novel is dense ,and to include almost everything in a 100-minute film is a feat in itself :it's not always successful : the girlie/Blanche relationship ,which verged on bigotry on the paper is only skimmed over ; the affair of the contract with the doomed foundry is botched .And the ending,with the de rigueur happy end is disappointing.
Fortunately ,Sir Guiness shines in his double part ;Bette Davis has a small but effective supporting part ,looking forward to getting her little "present" ;Nicole Maurey in a French actress who never really made it big in her homeland ,but her English is perfect ; the atmosphere of a French town is well depicted .
In fact ,Du Mauriers's book needs a miniseries ,the thing they dId with "Brat Farrar" in which the same actor played both parts too;the action is too hurried for comfort ,and the screenplay is sometimes fizzy.
In spite of its huge appeal,the novel was completely implausible: it's impossible for a man to take a lookalike 's place whitout nobody noticing a change of voice,of manners ,of behavior ;Tey smartly used an eight-year gap ,which makes the story likelier.
And however ,Du Maurier's novel is gripping ,from start to finish ,and I dare you to leave it before finishing ;it has undergone some changes ,sometimes wisely ,sometimes less so; to make the hero a man who suffers from personality disorders makes sense ,because the impostor denies his identity in front of his family (which he didn't in the book);and the murderer 's alibi is a good trick,although thoroughly invented by Gore Vidal and his collaborator .
But the novel is dense ,and to include almost everything in a 100-minute film is a feat in itself :it's not always successful : the girlie/Blanche relationship ,which verged on bigotry on the paper is only skimmed over ; the affair of the contract with the doomed foundry is botched .And the ending,with the de rigueur happy end is disappointing.
Fortunately ,Sir Guiness shines in his double part ;Bette Davis has a small but effective supporting part ,looking forward to getting her little "present" ;Nicole Maurey in a French actress who never really made it big in her homeland ,but her English is perfect ; the atmosphere of a French town is well depicted .
In fact ,Du Mauriers's book needs a miniseries ,the thing they dId with "Brat Farrar" in which the same actor played both parts too;the action is too hurried for comfort ,and the screenplay is sometimes fizzy.