A Stolen Life (1946)

let's say if there is a man who is such a lamer, a weak heart person who never has the guts to walk out of the narrow path of his life to become a real man but is only comfortable to what he is now and won't change a bit, no ambition, calling himself a loner, claiming he does not mind being alone but cannot bear the loneliness, deep down inside of him a timid minded person, a backward person withdrawing himself with stoop shoulders, hiding behind his tobacco pipe to smoke screen his uncertainty of himself. think about a strong headed, strong minded, willful woman, having the urge to conquer, to grab what she like to own, to occupy the mind of male, will she be interested in such a man as what were described as the above? the answer, if logically put, is a big NO. what Glenn Ford played in this film is such a unlikable, unattractive coward person that any woman with strong mind or will would never fall for him, albeit trying to grab him from her soft-minded twin sister. the male character played by Glenn ford if he is just such weak minded person, so easily to be lured away from a kind and gentler woman like Kate and has a sudden change of heart to the evil twin sister Patricia, his fickle mind is quite understandable because he is a lamer who would be easier to be attracted to a more strong-minded female instead of one more like himself. but arranging Patricia to fall for him is highly unlikely; the only possibility is that she wants her gentle twin sister Kate to suffer, she only toys with the man like a game to break her sister's heart. the whole scenario is just like what we see in 'gone with the wind', a strong willful woman falls for a lamer, but the lamer loves another gentle hearted woman. this man who loves Kate first but then falls into the spider-web like trap by Patricia is not a man who worths the love of Kate, yet Kate, a lame woman at first not knowing how to protect what she loves, then tries so hard to become an evil person as her twin sister. what we got here is three blind mice, each fails to know which one is more appropriate for it. the man who does not even know how to distinguish the sisters from each other is definitely a hopeless blind mice, that is why making this film somewhat disgustful to worth watching, because he is not worthy. what these twin sisters find themselves both attracted to this lamer? the women's hearts indeed are so complicated to comprehend.

"A Stolen Life", based on an obscure novel by Karel J. Benes (previously filmed in 1939 starring Elisabeth Bergner), has a whole lot going for it, but comes up short on dramatic fire. Pleasantly set on the East Coast around a seaside village and lighthouse, Bette Davis stars as a sort of spinsterish good girl, a Yankee "third-rate artist" who develops a big crush on lighthouse worker Glenn Ford. Unfortunately for her (and Ford!), the artist's identical twin comes into the picture, politely scheming away, and naturally the hunky dolt falls for the bad sister and marries her instead. The split-screen effect is very polished here, as are the performances, though this script is on the thin side. Davis and Ford make a somewhat odd romantic pairing (she seems a bit mature for him), and the final scene is unbelievably florid and fluttery-eyed. It doesn't convince for a minute, but the milieu and atmosphere are enjoyable regardless. **1/2 from ****

**** Spoilers!!! Don't read if you'd rather just watch the movie!**** This movie is about twins played by Bette Davis, who was wonderful in this duel role. Katie is the nice twin and Pat was the evil twin. Pat was very underhanded and stole Glenn Ford's character Bill away from Katie pretty much for the fun of it and married him. Years later Katie and Pat were out sailing when the accident occurred. They stayed out too long in bad weather and the boat hit a reef when they tried to get to a lighthouse. Pat drowned after being thrown from the boat. Katie tried to save her but couldn't hold her. Pat's wedding ring slipped off her finger into Katie's hand as she was pulled away by the undertow and Katie was knocked out. So, everyone just assumed Katie was Pat. It wasn't a planned thing by Katie.I like the movie very much. I saw it for the first time earlier this year during Oscar month on TCM. I just watched it on TCM again today during the Glenn Ford tribute. He was fantastic in his role as well! I think the performances were great all around. Extra kudos to the performances by Dane Clark as a starving artist & Charles Ruggles as the twins cousin and guardian. They were smaller parts, but very crucial to the storyline. You'll have to watch the movie to see what happens. Sorry, I never give out endings.

Bette Davis plays twins (she did the same in Dead Ringer) with a Patty Duke twist. A period piece right out of the 1940's and it looks it. I rather enjoyed the movie, but thought some of the plot and storyline rather unrealistic. Everyone seems to learn a lesson in this film and it seems to gravitate toward that point. The ending was rather sappy, but keeping in line with the story. I rather liked the Dane Clark character and felt bad that he was sort of left alone at the end. It is not really known if he knew the switch was made or not. Shows the posh life of the idle rich and seems to rub it in in the viewer's face. In any case, it is a interesting movie, well acted.