Dead Ringer [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

Is Dead Ringer a piece of B grade junk designed as a vehicle for a fading star's last gasp at glory? Or is it a cleverly wrought psychological thriller, made redeemable by the presence of a true star and great actress? Well, the answer is probably a bit both - theres no doubt that movie has elements of a second rate melodromatic thriller, but the film is also surprisingly tense and in the end provides a perfect showcase for the glamorous Ms. Davis to do what she does best.

Dead ringer is ultimately a campy gothic thriller about estranged twin sisters Margaret and Edith (Davis, playing both roles). The film begins with a funeral for Margaret's husband who has just died of heart failure. When the wealthy Margaret invites Edith back to her mansion in Westwood it is soon revealed that the insensitive, social-climbing Margaret actually stole Edith's insanely rich beau away from her and has since been living the high-life while Edith struggles to keep her run-down nightclub afloat.

With her rent three months in arrears and frantic for money, Edith hatches a desperate plan to murder her own sister by making it look like suicide. Thinking that she can just walk in and take over her life, Edith scrambles to carry off the masquerade, pretending she knows Margaret's safe combination by heart, or that she can differentiate between the mansion's hundred rooms, all the time trying to figure out what sort of person Margaret really was.

There are lots of surprises as Edith gradually discovers that Margaret possessed a lot of dark secrets that she was desperate to hide. Murder, betrayal, and infidelity all follow with Edith ultimately learning a hard lesson: when you adopt someone's assets, you must also accept their liabilities, for better or for worse. Viewers are in for such side attractions as Davis slapping checkbooks across rooms, contemplating burning her own hand with a red-hot fire poker, and even shoving herself backwards into a chair.

The supporting cast is strong with Carl Malden competently playing an affable, nice-guy cop who is in love with Edith, and just can't believe that she'd ever commit suicide. Jean Hagen absolutely chews up the scenery as a blithely indecent social butterfly and Estelle Winwood is terrific as a dour, doily-wearing Bible-thumper.

But in the end, Dead Ringer totally belongs to the commanding Bette Davis. This is one of her campiest and most ham-fisted roles ever, and where she's at her chain-smoking, eye popping, and out of control best.