Lively, entertaining reviews of, and essays on, old and newer films and everything relating to them, written by professional author William Schoell.

Thursday, February 28, 2013

TWO OF A KIND

TWO OF A KIND (1951). Director: Henry Levin.

Brandy Kirby (Lizabeth Scott) hunts down bad boy "Lefty" Farrell (Edmond O'Brien) because she needs him for a certain project, but only if he'll agree to snip off the end of one of his fingers. Seems there's this long-lost missing heir whom Lefty resembles ... There's some minor suspense to Two of a Kind as you wonder if Lefty will get away with his impersonation, or if thieves will fall out and completely shatter their chances. Terry Moore plays a niece of the wealthy old man the conspirators are hoping to fleece, but while her performance is good her character is so improbably naive and stupid that the movie takes a real reality dive when she appears. With his homely mug O'Brien is miscast as a lover boy who supposedly gets all the ladies hot, but he's a good enough actor to get his character across convincingly in spite of it; Scott merely seems disinterested in the material [or in O'Brien] and it's not one of her more memorable performances.

Verdict: Film noir of a minor kind. **1/2.

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