Double Exposure (1944)

Director:

William Berke

Writers:

Ralph Graves (story), Winston Miller (screenplay),

Stars:

Chester Morris, Nancy Kelly, Jane Farrar

Cast

Cast overview:
Chester Morris	...	Larry Burke
Nancy Kelly	...	Pat Marvin
Jane Farrar	...	Dolores Tucker
Phillip Terry	...	Ben Scribner
Richard Gaines	...	James R. Turlock
Charles Arnt	...	Sonny Tucker
Claire Rochelle	...	Smitty
Roma Aldrich	...	Mavis

Storyline

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Plot Keywords:

public domain

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 December 1944 (USA)

Also Known As:

Confesso a Minha Culpa

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Pine-Thomas Productions, Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

63 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The failure of the original copyright holder to renew the film's copyright resulted in it falling into public domain, meaning that virtually anyone could duplicate and sell a VHS/DVD copy of the film. Therefore, many of the versions of this film available on the market are either severely (and usually badly) edited and/or of extremely poor quality, having been duped from second- or third-generation (or more) copies of the film.

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Goofs

Pat discovers a large bouquet of flowers in the office washroom (c. 35 minutes) but this suddenly shrinks to a small neat posy, of much smaller blooms, before she takes it out of the room with her.

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Connections

Referenced in Scenes from a Gay Marriage (2012)

User Reviews

Top-notch B quickie featuring bizarre comic touches

Chester Morris is Larry Burke, fast-talking editor of Flick, the picture magazine "that's always there when it happens." Short on energetic staff photographers, he recruits and hires Pat Marvin, a photographer from way out in Iowa, on the strength of a syndicated newspaper photo that appears to capture a crashing plane right as it hits the ground! Larry is somewhat taken aback, when Pat arrives in his office, to discover that Pat is a female—but decides to give her a shot. Has she got glub?

–Thus begins a wacky tale in which we encounter a jealous boyfriend posing as a brother; an amorous millionaire who casually ditches old wives and selects new ones; the magazine's health nut owner, who comes into the office every morning handing out carrots and leading calisthenics; and a fairly neat little murder mystery thrown in for good measure. --Oh, and Chester explaining that "glub" is an acronym representing four things you've got to have to get ahead in the business—you must be a Go getter, Lucky, Up and at 'em, and a Bunko artist at heart. G,L,U,B. "No woman could possibly have it," he explains to Pat—who naturally (and to Chester's delight) sets about proving him wrong.

Nancy Kelly is Pat, the girl from Iowa looking for a big break. The back-and-forth between her and Morris is excellent—snappy, affectionate, sometimes silly—and their relationship is the center of the picture. Morris is at his frantic best; Kelly is a match for his quickness, while her character's earnestness counters his flipness.

Among other bizarre moments, the picture features more than one shot where a character pauses on the way out of a scene and speaks an aside right to the camera—including the loser boyfriend who hilariously turns to the audience to complain about getting kissed on the cheek again.

Good dialog keeps things moving; a couple of truly surprising plot twists charm and delight as well.

Funniest exchange—magazine owner Richard Gaines explaining to editor Morris how to solve a murder: "First you question the suspects." Morris: "What suspects? Pat's the only one." Owner: "Well, find some!"