Oh, blimey! This is one of those movies about identical twins: one good, one evil. How often does this actually happen in real life?
High-society hostess Evelyn Trevelyan (a name which almost rhymes) is happily married to Adam Trevelyan ... never suspecting Adam's secret, namely that he has an evil identical twin brother Allan. Of course, as soon as Evelyn learns about this brother-in-law, who until just now was utterly unknown to her, guess who shows up on her doorstep.
Confusions between good brother Adam and bad brother Allan promptly ensue, made more complicated when Allan deliberately impersonates Adam. Allan has been squiring a floozy named Gwen; when Evelyn sees Gwen in the arms of Allan (who looks like Adam), she assumes that her husband is unfaithful.
This movie is meant to be a comedy, but the best jokes are in the gaggy title cards written by comedy veteran Ralph Spence. Lew Cody, an actor who has never previously impressed me, actually manages to turn in two different performances as the twins, so that we can tell which one is actually onscreen in any given shot. (Except when the script requires us to be intentionally confused.)
The most interesting thing about this movie is the crude process photography which enables Lew Cody to interact with himself in double-exposure. Most of the film is lighted normally ... until both of Lew Cody are onscreen in the same shot, at which point suddenly the set is lighted from the sides, so that one Lew Cody doesn't throw shadows where the other Lew Cody will be standing (in the other half of the exposure). At one point, Adam hands a piece of paper to Allan (or maybe it's just the other way round): in order to achieve this stunt, the set dresser conveniently places a table lamp in precisely the right spot to obscure the physical contact between the two characters played by Lew Cody. This is an MGM film, so (as usual for that studio) the set design and art direction are contractually credited to Cedric Gibbons, but were actually done by one of his assistants ... in this case, Richard Day.
'Adam and Evil' is slightly funny, but not nearly so funny as it seems to fancy itself to be. It would have helped if the two main characters hadn't been named Adam and Evelyn. 'Trevelyan' just makes everything worse. Rating: 4 points out of 10.
High-society hostess Evelyn Trevelyan (a name which almost rhymes) is happily married to Adam Trevelyan ... never suspecting Adam's secret, namely that he has an evil identical twin brother Allan. Of course, as soon as Evelyn learns about this brother-in-law, who until just now was utterly unknown to her, guess who shows up on her doorstep.
Confusions between good brother Adam and bad brother Allan promptly ensue, made more complicated when Allan deliberately impersonates Adam. Allan has been squiring a floozy named Gwen; when Evelyn sees Gwen in the arms of Allan (who looks like Adam), she assumes that her husband is unfaithful.
This movie is meant to be a comedy, but the best jokes are in the gaggy title cards written by comedy veteran Ralph Spence. Lew Cody, an actor who has never previously impressed me, actually manages to turn in two different performances as the twins, so that we can tell which one is actually onscreen in any given shot. (Except when the script requires us to be intentionally confused.)
The most interesting thing about this movie is the crude process photography which enables Lew Cody to interact with himself in double-exposure. Most of the film is lighted normally ... until both of Lew Cody are onscreen in the same shot, at which point suddenly the set is lighted from the sides, so that one Lew Cody doesn't throw shadows where the other Lew Cody will be standing (in the other half of the exposure). At one point, Adam hands a piece of paper to Allan (or maybe it's just the other way round): in order to achieve this stunt, the set dresser conveniently places a table lamp in precisely the right spot to obscure the physical contact between the two characters played by Lew Cody. This is an MGM film, so (as usual for that studio) the set design and art direction are contractually credited to Cedric Gibbons, but were actually done by one of his assistants ... in this case, Richard Day.
'Adam and Evil' is slightly funny, but not nearly so funny as it seems to fancy itself to be. It would have helped if the two main characters hadn't been named Adam and Evelyn. 'Trevelyan' just makes everything worse. Rating: 4 points out of 10.
