A Double Life (1947)

 ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

A Double Life (1947) – G. Cukor

I’ve had this DVD for a couple of decades and it is a comfortably familiar watch, reminding me of my time in the theatre (high school and some of college). Ronald Colman (who won the Best Actor Oscar for this part) plays Tony John, a Broadway leading man, currently starring in a smash hit comedy but being enticed to consider Othello as his next big role. Screenwriters Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin use their knowledge of the theatre to good effect to bring authentic backstage drama to the screen. Director George Cukor allows Colman the latitude to develop his character, an actor who allows his parts to intrude too much into his personal and daily life (cue expressionistic sound and visions).  So, when it comes to Othello, we see Tony John gradually start to seethe with jealousy – which is easy because he is still in love with his ex-wife Brita (Signe Hasso), playing Desdemona, and suspects she is falling for press agent Bill Friend (Edmond O’Brien).  Earlier in the film, when mulling over the part of the Moor from Venice, Tony stumbles into an Italian restaurant and he ends up going back to the cheap apartment of the waitress (Shelly Winters) for a one-night stand (she does not recognize him). Three hundred performances later, out of his mind with jealousy, he returns to her apartment, confused and tormented – and the film turns noir.  Although Colman’s take on Shakespeare is hammy, the use of the Bard’s scenes to subjugate his inner psychological conflicts, unconsciously, is pretty genius.  Although I never acted in Othello, I fondly recall my time doing Shakespeare during the Advanced Studies Program for NH kids at St Paul’s School (summer of 1984).   Tis truth, his lines have entered our culture, even if we’ve long forgotten their derivation: Othello (and Tony John by implication) “loved not wisely but too well.”