Universal
Pictures, 85m 38s
Based
on the safe assumption there is no rivalry quite like sibling rivalry, director
Robert Siodmak's doppelgänger film noir
THE DARK MIRROR is only about twins
on the surface. The deeper story concerns the insane jealousy one sister has of
another. By inference, all sisters experience such feelings from time to time,
or perhaps all the time. Frustrations must be inevitable, especially when it
comes to dating. Invariably some man comes along who prefers the sister of the
woman he met originally. For the unwanted sister, that cannot be any kind of
fun. But what would it be like for a woman to have a twin sister who men consistently prefer? That unenviable situation
would challenge any woman's sanity.
The
storyline gets off and running very quickly. A man has been stabbed to death
through the heart, but Police Lt. Stevenson (Thomas Mitchell) must release
identical twins Terry and Ruth Collins (Olivia de Havilland in both roles)
because neither will confess to the murder he knows one of them committed. The
twins cannot be forced to testify against themselves, and the law does not
allow the prosecution of two suspects to ensure the punishment of one. Having
reached a dead end from an identification standpoint, Stevenson turns to Dr.
Scott Elliott (Lew Ayres), an expert on the psychology of twins. On the basis
of ink blot testing, Elliott determines one of the twins is harmless and the
other is an aberrant personality. Though there is some attempt to keep the
viewer uncertain, the identity of the disturbed twin is clear by the halfway
point. The root cause of the problem between the twin sisters is one of classic
female archetypes: one sister is the woman
men want to pick up, but the other is the one they want to marry.
Film noir
themes and motifs begin with the Freudian psychology angle that trended
throughout the classic noir era. The
genre's position on psychology tends to be skeptical at best, with the slant on
the psychiatrist sometimes quite negative, i.e. CAT PEOPLE (1942), SHOCK
(1946), NIGHTMARE ALLEY (1947), WHIRLPOOL (1950). Dr. Elliott is
positioned as a benign figure, though he is not without fault—he seems unaware
Ruth is starting to lose it. The mirror, that oft recurring noir staple, is used to emphasize the
dual nature of humans, and obviously that theme is even more pronounced in this
particular noir title. Early on a
cracked mirror hints at a fractured personality, and it is linked repeatedly to
death as the narrative progresses.
Dependent
on each other and only connected to other humans in a superficial manner, the
twins embody a noir sense of
detachment from society. The Ruth character best embodies that feeling of
helplessness that so often stands out within the noir narrative. "Something's happening to me and I don't know
what it is. I don't understand it," she says. In the dual lead, Olivia de
Havilland is sensational. I never doubt her tragic Collins sisters are two
distinct individuals. The technical achievements are convincing as well,
especially for the time! The twin effects would not be surpassed until David
Cronenberg unveiled DEAD RINGERS in
1988.
At
the time of this writing, the Olive Films single-layered Blu-ray edition
released in 2012 is still readily available. The disc is devoid of supplemental
material, but the transfer is solid and it is not an expensive disc. The
presentation is framed at 1.34:1, though the packaging promises the original
theatrical aspect ratio of 1.37:1. The contrast is respectable and the amount of
film grain leaves a good impression of the cinematography by the masterful
Milton R. Krasner, whose noir efforts
include the likes of THE WOMAN IN THE
WINDOW (1944), SCARLET STREET
(1945), THE SET-UP (1949) and the
underappreciated HOUSE OF STRANGERS
(1949). Before directing THE DARK MIRROR,
film noir specialist Robert Siodmak
already had graced us with PHANTOM LADY
(1944), THE STRANGE AFFAIR OF UNCLE
HARRY (1945), THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE
(1946) and THE KILLERS (1946). He
would follow THE DARK MIRROR with
further evidence of his mastery of the genre, including CRY OF THE CITY (1948), the great CRISS CROSS (1949) and THE FILE
ON THELMA JORDON (1950).
THE DARK MIRROR
received one Academy Award nomination for "Best Writing, Original
Story" (Vladimir Pozner). Dimitri Tiomkin's score is too invasive at times
and dates the production.
