Two-Faced Woman (1941)

After a ski instructor catches her husband flirting with an old flame, she decides to pose as her (fictitious) twin sister in an attempt to keep him faithful.

Director:

George Cukor

Writers:

S.N. Behrman (original screenplay), Salka Viertel (original screenplay)

Stars:

Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Constance Bennett

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Greta Garbo	...	Karin Blake
Melvyn Douglas	...	Larry Blake
Constance Bennett	...	Griselda Vaughn
Roland Young	...	O.O. Miller
Robert Sterling	...	Dick Williams
Ruth Gordon	...	Miss Ellis
Frances Carson	...	Miss Dunbar

Storyline

While at a ski lodge, Larry Blake sees instructor Karin Borg and decides to sign up for private lessons. The next thing he knows, she is Mrs. Blake. When he announces that he is going back to work on his magazine in New York the next day, Karin refuses to go with him. She later comes to New York, buys expensive clothes, and goes to meet him when she sees he is with old flame Griselda. Caught by Blake's business partner, O.O. Miller, before she can leave, she explains that she is really Karin's twin sister Katherine. Hard to believe, but that is what she tries to make everyone, including Larry, believe. Larry, however, has serious doubts, but plays the game to the hilt as the worldly Katherine tries to take him away from both Griselda and Karin.

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Plot Keywords:

twin | screwball comedy | twin sister | magazine | ski lodge | 

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Taglines:

'NINOTCHKA'S " GAY STARS ARE GAYER THAN EVER! (original 6x5.5 newspaper ad-all caps)

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 March 1942 (UK)

Also Known As:

The Twins

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,247,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Third and final pairing of Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas, the other two films being As You Desire Me (1932) and Ninotchka (1939).

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Goofs

In the downhill skiing toward the end of the film, Larry does a number of tumbles and somersaults. One time he flips over a ledge and comes down without any ski poles. The next scene shows him with ski poles as he comes to a stop.

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Quotes

Miss Ruth Ellis, Larry's Secretary: I am going slowly but quietly insane.

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Alternate Versions

Although given a PCA approval certificate, the released film was heartily condemned by the Catholic Church, which applied enough pressure to force MGM to revise the film, and replace the existing copies for future bookings. The major problem was that Melvyn Douglas thought he was seducing his wife's twin sister in the original version, which also had a few risque scenes. These were eliminated, and a scene was added where Douglas calls the ski lodge to find out his wife left, so that he knows the twin is really his wife. The net effect was to reduce the movie's running time to 90 minutes (from the original 94 minutes). This is the version Turner Classic Movies shows every once in a while. This also might also explain the late copyright date and copyright length of 90 minutes.

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Connections

Referenced in We Must Have Music (1941)

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Soundtracks

Chica-Choca
(uncredited)
Music by Bronislau Kaper
Lyrics by Roni
Danced by Greta Garbo, Robert Alton and chorus of nightclub patrons

User Reviews

liked it

I liked Garbo in this. It's not much of a film but she is wonderful to behold. She's certainly up there with Claudette Colbert, Jean Arthur, Carole Lombard and Irene Dunne. Personally Babs Stanwyck and Myrna Loy are the absolute stars of screwball but it's a shame Garbo didn't make a few more comedies to attest to her versatility, in the same way that Dietrich proved herself so much more than Von Sternberg's mannequin. If you look at the comedy of the era - the classic screwball - it's a very modern type of comedy and even some of the lesser entries play quite well now, especially as we are so used to American TV's sitcoms re- popularising the genre (Frasier being one of the best). I find screwballs of the 35-42 period are funnier now than most current comedies, Two-Faced Woman included.