The Double (1963 film)

The Double
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Lionel Harris
Screenplay by	Lindsay Galloway
Based on	a story by Edgar Wallace
Produced by	Jack Greenwood
Starring	Jeanette Sterke Alan MacNaughtan Robert Brown
Edited by	E.B. Jarvis
Production company	Merton Park Studios
Distributed by	Anglo-Amalgamated
Release date	15 September 1963 (1963-09-15)
Running time	56 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

The Double is a 1963 second feature British film directed by Lionel Harris and starring Jeanette Sterke, Alan MacNaughtan and Robert Brown. ^[1] Part of the series of Edgar Wallace Mysteries films made at Merton Park Studios, it is based on a story by Wallace.

Plot

John Cleeve is suffering from amnesia. He believes he has killed a man named Derreck Alwyn. Mary Winston investigates. Her solicitor, Harrison, finds a photograph of the still-living Alwyn, whom Cleeve recognises the man he has "killed". Mary realises her investigations are being hampered by Harrison, who is in the pay of Alwyn. Cleeve regains his memory and Mary's sister Jane realises that Alwyn is an impostor, who had previously tried to kill Cleeve (the real Alwyn). On her way to move her car, Jane is waylaid and captured by the imposter; she is tied up (hand and foot) and gagged, and then left in a locked storage room. The impostor comes again to see Cleeve, in order to try and murder him. In a tense scene on top of a staircase, the police arrive in time, Cleeve jumps out of his wheelchair, and the impostor dies after falling down the stairs. Cleeve is able to knock down the locked storage room door, where he rescues and frees the bound and gagged Jane.

Cast

• Jeanette Sterke as Mary Winston
• Alan MacNaughtan as John Cleeve
• Robert Brown as Richard Harrison
• Jane Griffiths as Jane Winston
• Basil Henson as Derreck Alwyn
• Anne Lawson as Sally Carter
• Diane Clare as Selena Osmonde
• Llewellyn Rees as Bradshaw
• John Miller as Sir Harry Osmonde
• Dorothea Rundle as Martha Bradshaw
• Hamilton Dyce as Det. Ins. Ames
• Henry McCarthy as Dr. Leighton
• Tony Wall as Logan
• Patrick Parnell as Cooper
• Arlette Dobson as Karen
• David Charlesworth as Charles
• Brian McGrellis as delivery boy
• Ron Eagleton as porter
• Derek Sumner as policeman
• Thelma Holt as Marie

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Yet another Edgar Wallace thriller. This fundamentally uninteresting film tries hard to fill out its hour with unnecessary plot twists and a proliferation of characters. But the basis of the story becomes clear after approximately ten minutes, and the two well-timed and genuinely frightening moments of suspense seem wasted on such a glaringly inadequate script." ^[2]

References

1. "The Double". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
2. "The Double". The Monthly Film Bulletin . 30 (348): 116. 1 January 1963. ProQuest   1305831198.

External links

• The Double at IMDb