Double Take | reviews, news & interviews
Double Take
Double Take
A hall-of-mirrors tribute to Alfred Hitchcock, The Birds and the apogee of the Cold War
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
Shadow of a doubt: Alfred Hitchcock is disconcerted by a glimpse of a strangely familiar face
Alfred Hitchcock once claimed to have entered a Hitch look-alike contest and lost, characteristically making a joke out of a long-held private obsession. Doppelgängers, impersonators, imposters and victims of mistaken identity - innocent men wrongly presumed guilty - stalk his movies and television shows and now provide the inspiration for Double Take. Loosely based on a short story, August 25th, 1983 by Jorge Luis Borges, it starts with the idea of the Master locked in a murderous mano a mano with his own double. "Two of you is one too many," as he puts it.
Alfred Hitchcock once claimed to have entered a Hitch look-alike contest and lost, characteristically making a joke out of a long-held private obsession. Doppelgängers, impersonators, imposters and victims of mistaken identity - innocent men wrongly presumed guilty - stalk his movies and television shows and now provide the inspiration for Double Take. Loosely based on a short story, August 25th, 1983 by Jorge Luis Borges, it starts with the idea of the Master locked in a murderous mano a mano with his own double. "Two of you is one too many," as he puts it.
Explore topics
Share this article
The future of Arts Journalism
You can stop theartsdesk.com closing!
We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d
And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.
Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
To take a subscription now simply click here.
And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?
more Film
Wicked review - overly busy if beautifully sung cliffhanger
Musical theatre behemoth becomes an outsized film - and this is just part one
Snow Leopard review - clunky visual effects mar a director's swansong
Tibetan filmmaker Pema Tseden bows out with a confusing tale of a beautiful predator
Mediha review - a brutalised Yazidi teen comes of age with a camera
A documentary frames the video diary of a Yazidi girl who suffered horrific abuse
Blu-ray: Pharaoh
Dazzling historical epic from the Polish New Wave
Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat review - jazz-themed documentary on the 1960s Congo Crisis
Musicians played different roles in the struggles of the newly independent African country
Gladiator II review - can lightning strike twice?
Sir Ridley Scott makes a big, bold return to the Roman Empire
ARK: United States V by Laurie Anderson, Aviva Studios, Manchester review - a vessel for the thoughts and imaginings of a lifetime
Despite anticipating disaster, this mesmerising voyage is full of hope
Joy review - the birth pangs of in vitro fertilisation
Subtle drama about the quest to give women a childbearing choice
Blu-ray: The Oblong Box
Vincent Price and Christopher Lee in 'Witchfinder General''s phantom follow-up
Bird review - travails of an unseen English tween
Andrea Arnold gives a hyperreal spin to her latest story of a neglected girl
The Problem With People review - local zero
Hardly a Forsyth saga, this unfunny Oirish comedy is a homage to catatonia
Anora review - life lesson for a kick-ass sex worker
Sean Baker's bracing Palme d'Or winner twists, turns, and makes a star of Mikey Madison
Add comment