A Double Life
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Movie Reviews of A Double Life
Movie Review: A forgotten gem.
Summary: 4 Stars
I first saw Ronald Colman in the 1937 film "Lost Horizon" and I was immediately impressed with his acting ability, primarily his use of subtlety and gesture. His type of acting is extremely rare by todays standards, where the stories are more likely to contain rapid, complex camera shots and special effects to propel the plot. But back in the Silver Screen era it was all about a tight script and excellent acting. That is what we have here, with a particularly potent performance given by the star Ronald Colman. His performance garnered the 1947 Oscar for Best Actor, and many said it was a long time coming. The story is about a stage actor content to play comic leads when he is offered the lead role in Shakespear's "Othello." He is reluctant to play the part due to a subconcious realization that his roles eventually seep into his real life, becoming an actual part of his character. When considering the lead in "Othello" this cannot be a good thing. Tragedy is an eventuality. The highlights in the film, for me, were the scenes from the play on stage. Ronald Colman loses hiself in the character completely both on and off the stage and is ultimately very believable and creepy. There are the occasional conventional plot devices common to the era used to wrap things up neatly, but overall this is a forgotten gem of a film from acclaimed director George Cukor. Once the begining credits unfolded and that director's name was shown I knew this was going to be at the very least, acceptable; at best, exceptional. This film falls nicely between those two possibilities, with a terrific lead performance from Ronald Colman. Thank you.Movie Review: An obsession that leads to tragedy
Summary: 4 Stars
Story about theatre actor who gives himself so fully to the role that he starts to confuse his real life from his stage life. His only relief from the emotional pain is his love for his ex-wife. Although divorced, the two are still close firends and colleagues n the Broadway plays. His ex-wife knows best that he is emotionally fragile and is afraid to marry him again knowing that his emotional baggage will destroy this relationship again.
When he takes on the role of Othello, his fame explodes. Night after night he plays a doomed lover. But his psyche starts to crack. In desparate effort to separate his love for his ex-wife for his love of Desdemona on stage, he commits murder against a young woman, played wonderfully by Shelley Winters.
One has to have a love for old movies to watch this one. I loved the old black and white shots and the intensity of old school of acting.
Movie Review: Good film, brilliant performance by Ronald Coleman.
Summary: 4 Stars
To act is to take on the personality of your subject. To be a brilliant actor, one must identify with the soul of the subject by finding a commonality within oneself and exploit it to the fullest. Anthony John is a brilliant actor who's been given an opportunity to play Othello, a dark brooding role, but is troubled by the idea. His ex-wife Rita explains: "We were engaged doing Oscar Wilde, broke it off doing O'Neill, married doing Kaufman and Hart, and divorced doing Chekov." For Anthony acting is all consuming. Othello will bring out the best in Anthony the actor, but in order to achieve this level of perfection he must release a demon within himself - jealous rage. Once released, will he be able to put it back? Ronald Colman gives a riviting performance as Anthony John. Ruth Gordon wrote the screenplay.Movie Review: A Different Colman
Summary: 3 Stars
First off, I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the "print" for this DVD.If you are familiar with most of the popular Ronald Colman movies -- "Lost Horizon" and "Random Harvest", for example -- be prepared for a shock. In this film, Colman plays a dark role of an actor who declines into insanity and murder. It's such a role reversal, no wonder he got the Academy Award for it! Colman was getting older here -- 57 -- but the golden voice is unmistakeable. I worried this film might never make it to DVD...thank goodness it did.
Movie Review: I Expected Moor
Summary: 3 Stars
I love Ronald Coleman, and he has some good moments in this otherwise depressing and pretentious picture. It feels like an episode of Inner Sanctum or Lights Out that's been padded to movie length. Much ado about nothing.