Taking part in a Film Noir challenge on ICM,I started trying to decide which two US Noir's I could watch as a double bill. Checking up titles on IMDb,I remembered a Noir fellow IMDber XhcNoirX had told me about,which led to me meeting a guy,whose face looked oddly similar.The plot:Arriving home, Charles "Chick" Graham is faced with his wife Cora Cox Graham saying she has never seen him before,and a lookalike of Chick's called Albert "Bert" Rand,who is pretending to be him. Failing to get the police on his side,Chick goes undercover,when he finds out that Bert has linked him to a bank robbery. Surviving an attempt on his life,Chick sets his sights on unmasking his fake self.View on the film:Shot on location in Puerto Rico, director Edward Montagne & cinematographer Fred Jackman Jr. give the Noir face off a sun-kiss elegance against rugged rocks and dusty tunnels underneath the welcoming sights of Puerto Rico. Made on a low budget,Montagne does give the place the feeling of being a small village,with the leads easily crossing paths with each other,and it looking like the island only has one cop.Slowly sinking the realisation into Chick that he has been played, the writers give their adaptation of Samuel W. Taylor's book a Noir playfulness that covers some of the sketchy marks over how Bert was able to make everything perfectly fall into place,thanks to a murderous dog keeping the exchanges between Bert and Chick clouded in a mood of danger. Playing not one,but two roles, Barry Nelson gives terrific performances as Charles 'Chick' Graham / Albert 'Bert' Rand,thanks to Nelson balancing Chick being at his Noir wits end with Bert's abrupt wise-guy asides to the man whose face he's stolen.

When the whole issue of identity theft began getting increased visibility several years ago, this is where my pre-cyber world mind went. You come home one day from work and there's somebody that's you in your place. We get some hints that Nelson suspects that things aren't perfect at home as he leaves for work on that fateful morning. This initially plays out like a good Twilight Zone episode. The cops are called in to arrest the good guy, he's carted off, he somehow escapes; but then it's all ruined as the nefarious plot is disclosed. The remainder of the movie becomes a manhunt and an explanation of how and why. Nice shots of Puerto Rico help to relieve the routine. Nelson is very good in the dual roles. This is an okay time waster.

The premise, as others point out, is wildly improbable, yet the visuals, direction, and acting prove enough to compensate. Poor Chick Graham (Nelson, in a dual role). On an utterly routine work day he returns home, only to find an exact double has taken his place in the household. Even his wife (Ainley) says the real Chick is an impostor, and the officials believe her, not Chick. In fact everything he does to verify his identity backfires, including fingerprints. So what's going on since Chick's just an ordinary working stiff.Frankly, I wish the screenplay hadn't tipped its hand so soon by explaining the reason behind the impersonation. Withholding the key would have set up a good mystery. Nonetheless, Nelson's dual role is well handled. Catch the vertical line created by door-frames that indicates where the split screen divides when the two Nelsons appear in the same shot. The split screens are well done without being obtrusive. Also, the climactic chase through the old Spanish coastal fort is excitingly picturesque. In fact, the movie makes good use of the Puerto Rico locations, even if in b&w. These lend an exotic flavor to an exotic story.All in all, the movie certainly doesn't lack for imagination, including the assassin canine and its scary handler (Jim Boles). Speaking of the Doberman, I'm glad the besieged Chick finally figures out the tactical use of a door. Anyway, with some basic work on the screenplay, this could have been a B-film that's more than novel entertainment, which it is.

Barry Nelson finds out that two faces are not better than one in this film noir set in Puerto Rico and featuring a chilling climax in the famed Fort El Morro. It's unfortunate, however, that the plot that surrounds the intriguing beginning and riveting conclusion is as iffy as Caribbean weather. Nelson narrates a brief history of the island (including Columbus's landing in 1493, it was already discovered) and his arrival there in 1942. He's married to the pretty Lynn Ainley, but when he returns home one day, he finds his brother-in-law there as well as a look-alike who insists that he is Chick Graham, not an impostor, and the framed Nelson must find his way out of police custody to prove who he really is. He visits an old flame (the sweet Carole Mathews) who agrees to help him, and in the process, finds more intrigue than he ever intended to find in this American territory.While the premise is intriguing, the execution of the plot is another matter, and what goes on for the next hour can at times be downright confusing and more often than not frustrating. Chinita Marin has an excellent small role as the former girlfriend of the impostor who is as confused by the look-alike's presence as the audience is with the plot, and the presence of a nasty doberman doesn't make the love of this sometimes vicious dog any easier. The dog is trained to kill at the will of the impostor, and when the film finally does become interesting, it involves the famous mission where Nelson is being chased in the seemingly never-ending source of tunnels. But there's a twist of course at the end, unfortunately not giving me a real conclusion as to why everything was going on the way it did. Still, it makes good use of the Puerto Rican location shots. Jack Warden and Henry Lascoe have memorable supporting roles. It's just too bad I can't say that about the script.