terrible... so disappointed.

Good concept, poorly executed.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

This would have gotten a 10 if Davis had pulled off the crime but this is Hollywood and that can't be damn.I love this type noirish movie---yes it is a bit of a run on attraction from Baby Jane but it is still decent.It just irks me that Hollywood never lets them get away with things there was a very similar movie Hollow Triumph that is worth watching.To get a movie where the bad guys win you need to turn to cynical Europe...The Double Hour is good. This is a lot better than Sunset Boulevard...watchRecommend.

While she scored better in 1964 with a Tennessee Williams like heroine in "Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte", Bette Davis also shined with dual roles (for the second time in her career) in this update of the type of film she had been appearing in for 20 years. Having played rivals of sisters, cousins and old acquaintances of such divas as Olivia de Havilland, Mary Astor and Miriam Hopkins, she now finds the toughest competition of them all-herself! A re-tread of "A Stolen Life" (where she also played two twins, one good and one bad), here the rivalry is one more evenly matched. Maggie is a wealthy widow with many secrets; Eadie is the well-liked owner of a pub in a poor section of Los Angeles where she is known for giving hand-outs to those less fortunate than herself. (And believe me, she is not so fortunate, so this is supposed to tell us that she is extremely kind hearted). When she goes to the funeral of her sister's husband (who happened to be the love of her life), all the old resentments come out, and Eadie decides to play just like her to get even for all the past hurts. Those include man-stealing and lying, especially about what caused the late husband to marry Maggie in the first place.Davis is convincing in making us believe the differences between each of the sisters. Neither is alike in common characteristics. Davis fans will be amused by the wealthy Maggie's declaration that she quit smoking years before while Eadie puffs like a locomotive. It is the poor but resourceful Eadie who gets the upper hand, taking over her sister's life and discovering that Maggie had a few horrifying secrets of her own that render her actually quite evil.As the police officer in love with the simple living Eadie, Karl Malden is excellent, her down-to-earth protector who is awestruck when he meets "Maggie" after Eadie has assumed her life. Peter Lawford is the hideously sleazy gigolo lover of Maggie's who guesses the truth and uses it to his advantage, his life eventually literally going to the dogs. A religious freak in-law played by Estelle Winwood, a pre-historic looking butler played by Cyril Delavanti and a gossipy socialite played by Jean Hagen round out Maggie's social set, with director Paul Henreid's real-life daughter playing Maggie's suspicious maid.Davis helps the plot rise above the obviousness of it, especially with how she arranges to switch lives, something too delicious to spoil. The result shows how an apparent kindly woman can turn to ruthlessly evil when pushed to the edge. While Davis is matronly looking as both characters, she makes you realize that neither character is someone that you'd want to mess with. Thanks to her performance, this film rises above predictability and silliness and is totally satisfying with a delightful denouncement at the ending.

Among her contemporaries Bette Davis is the only one I know who managed to carry off playing twin sisters twice in films. The first time was in A Stolen Life and in 1964 she did it again in Dead Ringer. The first time she was a good and a bad twin, but in Dead Ringer both twins commit evil acts during the course of the movie.Bette's former co-star Paul Henreid directed her in Dead Ringer with co- stars Karl Malden and Peter Lawford. Back in the day one twin stole the man the other was in love with because he was rich, prosperous, and part of old California society. That one got rich, the other never married and now lives owning a bar that she's way behind in debt with.When the husband dies the bar owner learns that back in the day he was tricked into marriage with a false pregnancy story and as the family was Catholic he married her and couldn't divorce. That sets the bar owner into a murderous frenzy and she kills the widow and then assumes her place while she also fakes a suicide story.With a few bumps along the way Bette settles into the other Bette's life. Then a lowlife boyfriend played by Peter Lawford comes back in the picture. Lawford is a gigolo/golf pro and he and society Bette have some deep secrets. The rest you can see for yourself.Oddly enough A Stolen Life also involved a twin taking another's place and as for the rest of the story, if you know what happens in The Postman Always Rings Twice you know what happens here.With the possible exception of Whatever Happened To Baby Jane, Dead Ringer maybe Davis's best film of the Sixties. She throws herself into both roles so well that it like watching twins in action. She also has a nice group of supporting players in roles they are well cast in. But this one is Bette's show.Watch her steal another life.

Well past her peak as a star but not her aptitude for deviousness Bette Davis gives you your money's worth in this stilted suspense drama that jerks along under the less than inspired direction of old smoking buddy Paul Henreid. Dead Ringer has some interesting plot twists but it is a long way from The Letter and William Wyler.Living in the back of a bar and stewing over the fact twin sister Blanche got the man and the money intended for her Edie DeLorca hatches a plan to off sis after her husband dies. She has a few close calls but pulls it off fooling everyone except Tony (Peter Lawford) Blanche's lover who she was unaware existed. Like John Barrymore, Davis over the top performances late in her career may have bordered on self parody but they still remained interesting and entertaining. Like Norma Desmond said the pictures got small and Dead Ringer is just that but Bette's presence looms large. What better an actress to try and pull off such an audacious deception than Ms. Davis? Even as the film becomes more implausible Bette remains the glue that keeps it absorbing.Henreid's lifeless direction is also evident in the flat acting of Karl Malden as Edie's police sergeant beau and Lawford's smarmy gigolo. Estelle Winwood chips in a biting eccentric performance as well but the films center remains Davis, weathered by time but still as defiant and as absorbing as ever to observe.