A Double Life

A Double Life

1947
Drama, Crime
1h 44m
Anthony John is an actor whose life is strongly influenced by the characters he plays. When he's playing comedy, he's the most enjoyable person in the world, but when he's playing drama, it's terrible to be around him. That's the reason why his wife Brita divorced him. So when Anthony accepts to play Othello, he devotes himself entirely to the part, but it soon overwhelms him and with each day his mind gets filled more and more with Othello's murderous jealousy. (imdb)
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A Double Life

1947
Drama, Crime
1h 44m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 52.05% from 86 total ratings

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(86)
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Rated 22 Jun 2014
68
20th
A thoroughly silly theatrical melodrama about an actor's actor who loses his grip on reality while playing Othello. Colman won an Oscar for this role, which makes sense given the Academy's fondness for hamminess and stories about drama. It's also kind of silly how hyped up the profession of acting is in this film; yeah, yeah, we know. That being said it's all in good fun, and it's very competently made.
Rated 06 Jun 2015
55
11th
I was expecting something more complex in which the man's life actually becomes like Othello. Instead, he just gets lost in the character and becomes preoccupied with strangling a blond to death for no reason. Poor Shelley Winters' character is working class and trashy, so I guess we don't care about her fate? Implausible police scenes in which a civilian with suspicions is allowed to guide the investigation and set theatrical traps. Untragic because Anthony John is unlikeable.
Rated 08 Nov 2011
63
22nd
It takes a good long time before things get interesting and it's not really worth the wait. It's one of those movies which treats actors like the most special creatures in the world... even if it is the theater, it strikes me as a bit self-serving (and indeed, Colman took home an Oscar for his hammy performance as a hammy actor). However, I enjoyed O'Brien and Winters, though their roles are small. And the cinematography is quite elegant, with a few memorable shots. Otherwise, not my cup of tea.
Rated 29 May 2012
75
77th
Sort of like a 1940s version of Black Swan. Tormented artist obsessed with attaining perfection, slowly slides towards madness and tragedy. It makes itself fairly clear early on where it's headed, so there are no real surprises, but Colman's downward spiral is grimly compelling. Shelley Winters is great as the flirtatious waitress, too.
Rated 22 Sep 2013
71
41st
70.500
Rated 04 Jul 2020
44
9th
Hard to watch the terrible, awful, no good, bad, Othello performance.
Rated 08 Apr 2021
70
96th
Ronald Colman was superb! He won the Oscar for his performance which can be described as Othello within Othello. A dark wander into dementia for a stage actor slowly losing control over his mind and starts living the character he portrays in the play. Such a heavy-handed atmospheric execution that still manages to keep some of Colman's natural gentlemanly charm. Only thing holding A Double Life (1947) back was the rather weak investigation. Felt like it was just patched on without much though.

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