A Stolen Life (1946)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Curtis Bernhardt

Writers:

Karel J. Benes (novel)
Catherine Turney (writer)

Release Date:

6 July 1946 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

BETTE DAVIS IN HER GREATEST OF ALL HER TRIUMPHS! (original ad - all caps)

Plot:

Kate Bosworth and her twin sister Patricia fall in love with Nantucket lighthouse inspector Bill Emerson...

Plot Keywords:

Twins | Lighthouse | Sister | Mistaken Identity | Orchestral Music Score

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Bette Davis	...	Kate Bosworth / Patricia Bosworth
Glenn Ford	...	Bill Emerson
Dane Clark	...	Karnock
Walter Brennan	...	Eben Folger
Charles Ruggles	...	Freddie Linley (as Charlie Ruggles)
Bruce Bennett	...	Jack R. Talbot
Peggy Knudsen	...	Diedre
Esther Dale	...	Mrs. Johnson
Clara Blandick	...	Martha
Joan Winfield	...	Lucy

Runtime:

109 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:TV-PG | Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #10763, Adult Audience) | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Long Beach Airport - 4101 E. Donald Douglas Drive, Long Beach, California, USA

Company:

B.D. Production

Trivia:

Because of her constant insistence for better productions to work on, and an overall better atmosphere on set, Jack L. Warner asked Bette Davis to produce the film. It would be the first and only time she would be able to do this. Reportedly, she was so overworked and also intrigued by this job that she started a relationship with the director of this film to iron out her mind.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Stardust: The Bette Davis Story (2006) (TV)

Soundtrack:

The Sailor's Hornpipe

The Good Bette and the Bad Bette

Twin Sisters played by Bette Davis both have the hots for Glenn Ford although why I'm not sure. He's not a terribly ambitious fellow, wants nothing more in life than to be a lighthouse keeper, maybe succeed Walter Brennan as head lighthouse keeper when Brennan moves on.

Bad Bette is a selfish spoiled brat who traps Glenn into marriage simply to spite good Bette. Then both sisters are out sailing and a sudden storm, much like the one that swamped the S.S. Minow succeeds in drowning one of the sisters. You have to watch the film to decide which one.

A Stolen Life is a Bette Davis triumph. It's not easy for any player to do multiple roles in any film. For that alone fans of Bette Davis should make this a must see melodrama. Additionally the special effects with the storm are quite well done.

Glenn Ford got a big career boost just in co-starring with Bette Davis, it was a break from doing the potboilers he was doing at Columbia. Dane Clark plays a truculent artist in the best tradition of a John Garfield wannabe.

The twins gimmick makes the film worth seeing. Bette was in a post war career slump from The Corn is Green until she left Warner Brothers and did All About Eve with 20th Century Fox. A Stolen Life is not the worst film she did during that period and she's got some good moments. But it isn't Now Voyager or Dark Victory or The Little Foxes.