A Double Life is a
1947The year 1947 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*May 22 - Great Expectations is premiered in New York.*November 24 : The United States House of Representatives of the 80th Congress voted 346 to 17 to approve citations for contempt of Congress against the "Hollywood Ten."*November 25...
film noirFilm noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as stretching from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
which tells the story of an actor whose mind becomes affected by the character he portrays. The movie starred
Ronald ColmanRonald Charles Colman was an English actor.-Early years:He was born in Richmond, Surrey, England, the second son and fourth child of Charles Colman and his wife Marjory Read Fraser. His siblings included Eric, Edith, and Marjorie. He was educated at boarding school in Littlehampton, where he...
and
Signe HassoSigne Hasso was a Swedish actress.Born Signe Eleonora Cecilia Larsson in Stockholm, Sweden, at the age of twelve she became one of the youngest students to be accepted to the prestigious Royal Dramatic Theater. In 1932 she married the German film director and cameraman Harry Hasso...
. It was directed by
George CukorGeorge Cukor was an American film director who mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO and later MGM, where he directed a string of impressive films including What Price Hollywood? , A Bill of Divorcement , Dinner at Eight , Little Women , David...
and written for the screen by
Ruth GordonRuth Gordon Jones , better known as Ruth Gordon, was an American actress and writer. She was perhaps best known for her film roles such as the oversolicitous neighbor in Rosemary's Baby, the eccentric life-loving Maude in Harold and Maude and as the mother of Orville Boggs in the Every Which Way...
and
Garson KaninGarson Kanin was an American writer and director of plays and films. Born in Rochester, New York, he is most notable for...
.
Celebrated stage actor Anthony John (
Ronald ColmanRonald Charles Colman was an English actor.-Early years:He was born in Richmond, Surrey, England, the second son and fourth child of Charles Colman and his wife Marjory Read Fraser. His siblings included Eric, Edith, and Marjorie. He was educated at boarding school in Littlehampton, where he...
) has driven away his actress wife Brita (
Signe HassoSigne Hasso was a Swedish actress.Born Signe Eleonora Cecilia Larsson in Stockholm, Sweden, at the age of twelve she became one of the youngest students to be accepted to the prestigious Royal Dramatic Theater. In 1932 she married the German film director and cameraman Harry Hasso...
) with his erratic temper. However, they star together in the play
OthelloOthello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...
.
A Double Life is a
1947The year 1947 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*May 22 - Great Expectations is premiered in New York.*November 24 : The United States House of Representatives of the 80th Congress voted 346 to 17 to approve citations for contempt of Congress against the "Hollywood Ten."*November 25...
film noirFilm noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as stretching from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
which tells the story of an actor whose mind becomes affected by the character he portrays. The movie starred
Ronald ColmanRonald Charles Colman was an English actor.-Early years:He was born in Richmond, Surrey, England, the second son and fourth child of Charles Colman and his wife Marjory Read Fraser. His siblings included Eric, Edith, and Marjorie. He was educated at boarding school in Littlehampton, where he...
and
Signe HassoSigne Hasso was a Swedish actress.Born Signe Eleonora Cecilia Larsson in Stockholm, Sweden, at the age of twelve she became one of the youngest students to be accepted to the prestigious Royal Dramatic Theater. In 1932 she married the German film director and cameraman Harry Hasso...
. It was directed by
George CukorGeorge Cukor was an American film director who mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO and later MGM, where he directed a string of impressive films including What Price Hollywood? , A Bill of Divorcement , Dinner at Eight , Little Women , David...
and written for the screen by
Ruth GordonRuth Gordon Jones , better known as Ruth Gordon, was an American actress and writer. She was perhaps best known for her film roles such as the oversolicitous neighbor in Rosemary's Baby, the eccentric life-loving Maude in Harold and Maude and as the mother of Orville Boggs in the Every Which Way...
and
Garson KaninGarson Kanin was an American writer and director of plays and films. Born in Rochester, New York, he is most notable for...
.
Plot
Celebrated stage actor Anthony John (
Ronald ColmanRonald Charles Colman was an English actor.-Early years:He was born in Richmond, Surrey, England, the second son and fourth child of Charles Colman and his wife Marjory Read Fraser. His siblings included Eric, Edith, and Marjorie. He was educated at boarding school in Littlehampton, where he...
) has driven away his actress wife Brita (
Signe HassoSigne Hasso was a Swedish actress.Born Signe Eleonora Cecilia Larsson in Stockholm, Sweden, at the age of twelve she became one of the youngest students to be accepted to the prestigious Royal Dramatic Theater. In 1932 she married the German film director and cameraman Harry Hasso...
) with his erratic temper. However, they star together in the play
OthelloOthello, the Moor of Venice is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1603, and based on the Italian short story "Un Capitano Moro" by Cinthio, a disciple of Boccaccio, first published in 1565...
. Gradually, his portrayal of a jealous murderous man undermines his sanity. The actor eventually kills his mistress, Pat Kroll (
Shelley WintersShelley Winters was an American actress who appeared in dozens of films, as well as on stage and television.-Early life:...
), but does not remember doing it.
Noir analysis
Julie Kirgo wrote that
A Double Life is truly a picture of opposing forces, mirror images and deadly doubles: "Anthony John is at war with Othello, the elegant world of the theater is opposed to the squalid existence of Shelley Winters' Pat Kroll, and illusion versus reality are all conveyed in opposing lights and darks of
Krasner'sMilton R. Krasner, A.S.C. was a film cinematographer. He won an Academy Award for Three Coins in the Fountain .-Career:...
luminous photography."
Cast
- Ronald Colman
Ronald Charles Colman was an English actor.-Early years:He was born in Richmond, Surrey, England, the second son and fourth child of Charles Colman and his wife Marjory Read Fraser. His siblings included Eric, Edith, and Marjorie. He was educated at boarding school in Littlehampton, where he...
as Anthony John
- Signe Hasso
Signe Hasso was a Swedish actress.Born Signe Eleonora Cecilia Larsson in Stockholm, Sweden, at the age of twelve she became one of the youngest students to be accepted to the prestigious Royal Dramatic Theater. In 1932 she married the German film director and cameraman Harry Hasso...
as Brita
- Edmund O'Brien as Bill Friend
- Shelley Winters
Shelley Winters was an American actress who appeared in dozens of films, as well as on stage and television.-Early life:...
as Pat Kroll
- Ray Collins
Ray Bidwell Collins was an American actor in film, stage, radio, and television. One of Collins' best remembered roles was that of Lt. Arthur Tragg in the long-running series Perry Mason.-Biography:...
as Victor Donlan
- Philip Loeb
Philip Loeb , was an American stage, film, and television actor who was blacklisted under McCarthyism and committed suicide.- Background :...
as Max Lasker
- Millard Mitchell
Millard Mitchell was an American character actor whose credits include roughly thirty feature films and two television appearances....
as Al Cooley
- Joe Sawyer
Joe Sawyer was a Canadian film actor. He appeared in over 200 films between 1930 and 1962.He was born in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, and died in Ashland, Oregon from liver cancer....
as Pete Bonner
- Charles La Torre as Stellini
- Whit Bissell
Whitner Nutting "Whit" Bissell was an American actor.-Early life:Born in New York City, Bissell trained with the Carolina Playmakers, a theatrical organization associated with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill...
as Dr. Stauffer
Critical reception
When the film was released film critic
Bosley CrowtherBosley Crowther was a journalist and author who was film critic for The New York Times for 27 years. His reviews and articles helped shape the careers of actors, directors and screenwriters...
lauded the film, writing, "We have it on the very good authority of Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin, who should know—they being not only actors and playwrights but wife and spouse—that what seems a fairly safe profession, acting, is as dangerous as they come and love between people of the theatre is an adventure fraught with infinite perils. Especially is it risky when an actor takes his work seriously and goes in for playing "Othello." Then handkerchiefs and daggers rule his mind. At least, that is what is demonstrated in a rich, exciting, melodramatic way in the Kanin's own plushy production...George Cukor, in his direction, amply proves that he knows the theatre, its sights and sounds and brittle people."
Critic Jerry Renshaw wrote, "
A Double Life is an unusually intelligent, literate noir that is a classy departure from the pulpy "B" atmospherics often associated with the genre. Keep an eye out for
Paddy ChayefskySidney Aaron Chayefski , known as Paddy Chayefsky, was an American dramatist and novelist who made a transition from the golden age of American live television in the 1950s to a successful career as a playwright and screenwriter...
and
John DerekJohn Derek was an American actor, director and photographer most famous for the women to whom he was married....
in minuscule bit parts."
Awards
Academy AwardsThe Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are presented annually by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers. The formal ceremony at which the awards are presented is...
- Best Actor in a Leading Role
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
- Ronald Colman (winner)
- Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture
The Academy Award for Original Music Score is presented to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer.-Winners with multiple nominations:...
- Miklós RózsaMiklós Rózsa or Miklos Rozsa was a Hungarian-born composer, best known for his film scores, most notably the score to the 1959 epic Ben-Hur.-Biography:...
(winner)
- Best Director
The Academy Award for Achievement in Directing is one of the Awards of Merit presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to directors working in the motion picture industry...
- George Cukor (nominee)
- Best Writing, Original Screenplay- Garson Kanin
Garson Kanin was an American writer and director of plays and films. Born in Rochester, New York, he is most notable for...
and Ruth GordonRuth Gordon Jones , better known as Ruth Gordon, was an American actress and writer. She was perhaps best known for her film roles such as the oversolicitous neighbor in Rosemary's Baby, the eccentric life-loving Maude in Harold and Maude and as the mother of Orville Boggs in the Every Which Way...
(nominees)
Golden Globes
- Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
The Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture - Drama was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as a separate category in 1951...
- Ronald Colman (winner)