{"id":35,"date":"2006-03-07T14:58:45","date_gmt":"2006-03-07T21:58:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=35"},"modified":"2021-01-11T18:39:25","modified_gmt":"2021-01-12T01:39:25","slug":"dark-mirror-the-1946","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=35","title":{"rendered":"Dark Mirror, The (1946)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;Twins, especially identical twins &#8212; well, agonies of jealousy are possible!&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Dark-Mirror-Poster.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Dark-Mirror-Poster-300x236.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"236\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-35552\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Dark-Mirror-Poster-300x236.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Dark-Mirror-Poster-128x101.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/03\/Dark-Mirror-Poster.png 625w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA psychologist (Lew Ayres) tries to determine which of a pair of identical twins (both played by Olivia de Havilland) has committed a murder.\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Jealousy<\/li>\n<li>Mistaken or Hidden Identities<\/li>\n<li>Murder Mystery<\/li>\n<li>Olivia de Havilland Films<\/li>\n<li>Psychopaths<\/li>\n<li>Psychotherapy<\/li>\n<li>Robert Siodmak Films<\/li>\n<li>Thomas Mitchell Films<\/li>\n<li>Twins<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review:<\/strong><br \/>\nAs Peary notes, this &#8220;creepy, extremely well-made psychological melodrama&#8221; features &#8220;moody, extremely controlled direction by Robert Siodmak, who smartly builds tension rather than relying on histrionics.&#8221; Siodmak effectively exploits the cinematic trope of jealous identical twins &#8212; and while the analysis may be &#8220;of the dimestore variety&#8221;, the story remains enjoyable, primarily because &#8220;we can participate in solving the mystery.&#8221; Indeed, I&#8217;m amazed at how long I was kept in the dark about who the murderer was, and whether she would turn out to be the crazy twin as well.  As Peary points out, de Havilland&#8217;s choice to <em>not<\/em> play the twins as &#8220;complete opposites&#8221; works well, and adds to the dramatic tension; her performance is indeed &#8220;superlative, especially playing the nutty one&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>De Havilland&#8217;s &#8220;superb&#8221; performance as identical twins<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/dark-mirror-de-haviland.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/dark-mirror-de-haviland.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-13317\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Creative camerawork, which convincingly shows de Havilland as both twins at once<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/dark-mirror-camerawork.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/dark-mirror-camerawork.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-13318\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes.  This is an excellent <em>noir<\/em> drama, and well worth seeking out. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Noteworthy Performance(s)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0038455\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.timeout.com\/film\/64978.html\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Twins, especially identical twins &#8212; well, agonies of jealousy are possible!&#8221; Synopsis: A psychologist (Lew Ayres) tries to determine which of a pair of identical twins (both played by Olivia de Havilland) has committed a murder. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Jealousy Mistaken or Hidden Identities Murder Mystery Olivia de Havilland Films Psychopaths Psychotherapy Robert Siodmak Films Thomas Mitchell Films Twins Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: As Peary notes, this &#8220;creepy, extremely well-made psychological melodrama&#8221; features &#8220;moody, extremely controlled direction by&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=35\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62902,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35\/revisions\/62902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}