Ronald Colman in George Cukor's "A Double Life" (1947) feat. Shelley Winters
760Celebrated stage actor Anthony "Tony" John (Ronald Colman), riding high on the success of his current comedy "A Gentleman's Gentleman", is offered the lead in a new production of Shakespeare's Othello by theatrical producer Max Lasker (Philip Loeb). Lasker also wants Tony's ex-wife, Brita (Signe Hasso), to co-star as Desdemona.
Tony initially declines the offer, to the relief of director Victor Donlan (Ray Collins), who knows that Tony becomes overly involved in his roles. Brita agrees with Donlan and warns press agent Bill Friend (Edmond O'Brien) that although Tony's mood is delightful when appearing in a comedy, he is terrifying when performing in a drama. She warns Friend that Tony becomes so immersed in roles, that they can take over his reality.
Tony changes his mind after becoming obsessed with the idea of portraying Othello. Whilst contemplating the role, Tony meets waitress Pat Kroll (Shelley Winters) at an Italian restaurant, and the two soon begin a casual affair. Brita reluctantly accepts the role of Desdemona and rehearsals begin. The production opens to rave reviews, but Tony gradually becomes absorbed in his role and begins to lose a grip on where the play ends and his real life begins. Tony sees jealousy as the key to his character.
Just before the 300th performance of the play, Brita shows him a locket Bill gave her for her birthday and this sparks jealous rages within him. That night, during Othello's "kiss of death" scene with Desdemona, Tony becomes overcome with the role and nearly chokes Brita to death. When the play begins its second year, Tony asks Brita to remarry him, but she refuses. Tony suspects Brita is in love with Bill. Enraged, confused and delirious, Tony goes to Pat's apartment. The play and reality become conflated in his mind and he eventually kills Pat with Othello's "kiss of death." Tony returns to Brita's and falls asleep on her couch.
The next day, reporter Al Cooley (Millard Mitchell) offers Bill front page publicity for Tony's play by pointing out the similarities between Pat's murder and Othello's "kiss of death." Tony is enraged when he sees the story, and physically attacks Bill. Bill suspects Tony is Pat's killer and goes to the police, only to find that Pat's drunken neighbor has been arrested for her murder. Tony demands Bill's dismissal, and Bill plans a short vacation. Bill tells Brita he loves her, but Brita does not return his feelings. However, Brita reveals to Bill that Tony left her home on the night of Pat's murder.
Bill hires an actress to dress up like Pat, including wearing Pat's distinctive earrings, and plants her as a waitress in the restaurant where Pat had worked. Bill invites Tony to the restaurant, and with police captain Pete Bonner watching. Tony becomes distraught upon seeing Pat's "double" and rushes out of the restaurant. Suspicious now, Bill and the police follow Tony to the theater. Standing in the wings, they watch the performance and are seen there by Tony. At the climax of the performance of Othello that evening, a guilt-ridden Tony stabs himself to death with a real dagger - at the point Othello does within the play. Backstage, bleeding from his self-inflicted wound, he confesses all and dies.
A 1947 Black & White American Film-Noir directed by George Cukor, produced by Michael Kanin, written by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin, cinematography by Milton R. Krasner, starring Ronald Colman, Edmond O'Brien, Signe Hasso, and Shelley Winters. John Drew Colt, the son Ethel Barrymore, made his screen debut. Paddy Chayefsky, who played a photographer in the picture, was Garson Kanin's accountant at the time of production.This marked Chayefsky's first and only appearance as a screen actor.
Although not Shelley Winters' first screen role, it is considered to be the picture that launched her film career. Initially known professionally as Shelley Winter. Universal-International added the S to her last name when they billed her in the film.
Milt Harker, the manager of the Los Angeles office of the International News Service, served as technical advisor on the newspaper coverage scenes.
Ronald Colman won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Miklós Rózsa's music, for which he won his second Academy Award, mixes his own modern idiom with passages in the Venetian style of the sixteenth century. Rózsa later adopted the title Double Life for his 1982 memoir to signify the division in his career between absolute music and Hollywood film scores.
This was the first of five collaborations between George Cukor and the husband-and-wife writing team of Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon between 1947 and 1980. Both director and writers were nominated for Academy Awards for this. Gordon received two more Oscar nominations for writing, and also earned two Oscar nomination for acting, finally winning for "Rosemary's Baby" (1968).
An unusually intelligent, literate noir that is a classy departure from the pulpy "B" atmospherics often associated with the genre.