SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Steineded How sad is this?

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

evanston_dad Man, give me two Bette Davises for the price of one and I could do much more with them than this movie does.Bette plays twins, a good one and a somewhat naughty one, who find themselves caught up in some melodramatic angst when they both fall for the same jackass, played decidedly unwinningly by Glenn Ford. The good twin, Kate, initially has him, but the naughty one, Pat, eventually steals him. But then Pat dies, and Kate assumes her identity so that she can have him back, only to realize that Pat has made a complete shambles of her life, her relationship with this lunkhead included. My wife and I kept waiting for what we were sure was going to be the money shot scene, Pat showing up at the last minute, not dead after all, to further complicate Kate's predicament. But that doesn't happen. Pat stays disappointingly dead, and Kate gets her man as Kate, though why anyone would want him remains the film's greatest mystery.The fun in "A Stolen Life" is watching Bette act with herself through the help of some really impressive and Oscar-nominated special effects. She hands herself a cigarette, straightens out her own lapels, all of it visually seamless. But her acting is just as impressive as the effects. She does an impressive job not only making it look like she's interacting with another person but also at giving the two twins subtly distinctive personalities.Dane Clark is also in the film, though I'm not sure why. He's yet another jackass who the film puts forward as a possible love interest for Kate, but then drops completely from the screenplay without telling us what the point was for him ever being there in the first place."A Stolen Life" is either a gender studies goldmine or nightmare depending on your point of view. On the one hand, the casual sexism and emotional indifference to women is nearly impossible to stomach from a modern-day standpoint. But on the other hand, the film is a fascinating if queasy time capsule of what the entertainment world thought of gender relations in post-WWII America, or at least what it thought audiences wanted to see.Grade: B-

Edgar Allan Pooh " . . . as though we never left the island." No, this is NOT a quote from the final episode of the TV series LOST, but rather the last line of an eerily prophetic 1946 Warner Bros. feature, A STOLEN LIFE. Why would Warner demean its contemporary audiences for STOLEN LIFE by telling them to disregard everything that they'd just paid to see? Because whether they were churning out a Looney Tune or CASABLANCA, Warner's always clairvoyant prognosticators were ever keen to keep their focus upon Job #1: to warn Americans of their Upcoming Calamities, Catastrophes, Cataclysms, and Apocalypti. Warner uses A STOLEN LIFE to show U.S. Citizens that the Deplorable Fat Cat One Per Center Job-Killing Capitalist Class, as embodied by Kate and Pat Bosworth here, are NOT Real People but actually interchangeable plastic clones (like Kate and Pat), all created in Satan's Spitting Image. When a Loyal Patriotic True Blue Normal Average Progressive Union Label American such as STOLEN's Bill Emerson gets tangled up with such Oligarchical Demonesses, it makes no difference whether they're "Matey Katies" or "Hellcat Pats": any superficial differences are merely the frosting on a Devil's Food Cake!

Steve Rolfe I have lost count of how many times I've watched this wonderful film. Each time I get something from it and i believe it is Bette Davis best work - which is a big statement ! Viewers will be hypnotised by Bette's amazing performance and the filmography is truly amazing. To watch this film through modern eyes, you often find yourself trying to work out how the director and editor managed to get away with the 'two bette' film sequences. This is no evidence of 'lines' in the film, or murky backgrounds and if you didn't know it was the same women, you would really think they were twins. The story line is terrific, Glenn Ford (very young) fits the role perfectly and Dane Clark's performance is very direct and well played. There really is something for everyone in this film and a must watch.

bkoganbing 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.