Review of A Double Life (1947) by Private U — 25 May 2004

[i]A Double Life[/i] is the story of Anthony (Tony) John, a stage actor in New York, who begins to lose himself after his [i]Othello[/i] adaption becomes a runaway success.

The beginning of the film is a good set-up to the story, but a little bland. The movie is hard-pressed to hold my attention at some points, but when Tony starts hearing things in his head and losing himself, it's so immensly creepy, you can't not watch. The film overall is very dark (a film noir), and the dark scenes (the murders, to say the big one) are done in a way that allows the full emotion of the scene come through. It's a fascinating watch, to see the great stage actor turn into what he does. It ends as tragically as [i]Othello[/i].

This film, admittedly, was less than what I expected, but I wasn't expecting to feel so creeped out by Tony John. It's not hard to see how it became an Oscar-winning role.

[b]B-[/b].