Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

bigverybadtom The premise is contrived to begin with: a British professor vacationing in Paris happens to meet a French count who looks and sounds just like him. They converse in a bar, and the professor admits having a dull and empty life while the count has had a very full life. The count tricks the professor into staying at a hotel room, and in the morning, the count disappears, leaving the professor to be mistaken for the count. The professor tries to convince the count's family and associates that he is not really the count, but nobody believes him, and he is forced to play the count's role, dealing with his family, the glass foundry the count owns, and the count's friends and mistresses. The professor's behavior and attitudes differ than that of the real count, but only one of the mistresses puts two and two together.Akin to Monty Python, the movie is played straight, and the performers all play their parts well. The movie would undoubtedly have come crashing down if it weren't for that. The movie is in fact based on a novel by Daphne DuMarier, whose plot is quite more complicated.

Khun Kru Mark The Scapegoat has flown under the radar over the years and while it's not a classic movie, it is pretty compelling. Just watching the glorious Bette Davis carve up the scenery without moving a muscle is worth your time alone!Actually; the entire cast is exemplary....Peter Sallis (you'll recognize the voice/face) makes a very brief appearance at the beginning of the movie as a customs inspector. He must be 100 years old by now! Geoffrey Keen is sublime as the manservant, Gaston. For me, though, the irascible daughter steals this movie and makes it her own. The jolly hockey sticks are strong with this one! An odd beginning and an unsatisfying ending...I haven't read the book, but it's never clear to me if the innocent French teacher on holiday in France was deliberately set up way in advance or he really did just meet his doppelganger by chance and allow himself to be dragged into this vortex of intrigue.But that aside, when John Barrat eventually arrives at the large house and is welcomed as Jacques De Gue, that rather messy start is forgiven and forgotten.And the ending also fails to satisfy completely, too. I'd like to have seen how his future gets worked out with his adopted family. Instead, we see him snogging his mistress.It's nice to see France as it once was and how I remember it in my childhood on holidays. Quiet, with serene cobbled streets and ancient houses. I can still remember the powerful smell of fresh French bread in the mornings... What a shame all that is now gone.Sir Alec underplays his part and casually strolls through the fantastic situation that he's been thrust into. I'd like to have seen David Niven have a shot at this. I think he would have made this movie a lot more exciting... but it is what it is and it's still a pretty interesting way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon!

whpratt1 Glad I finally was able to see this great film from 1959 with a great performance by Alex Guinness, (John Braratt/DeGue) who plays a duel role and is completely outstanding in his great acting abilities. Betty Davis, (Countess) gives a great supporting role and from what I had read, Davis & Guinness did not get along very well during the filming of this film. John Braratt is a professor of French who teaches at a college and runs into a man who looks exactly like him and this other man, DeGue drugs Braratt and leaves him in a hotel with all his passports and clothing. John Braratt gets all caught up in DeGue's family involving a wife, daughter, sister-in-law and his mistress. As the film progresses forward he seems to be enjoying his new role. Great acting and a must see film.

rondine I was lucky enough to see this movie during a TCM Bette Davis Marathon. Although her part is relatively small, I was thrilled to see Sir Alec Guinness in a very unusual story. He encounters a man that is for all purposes identical to him. They drink, go to his apartment, and in the morning one is gone leaving the other one to fill in his shoes at home. At first of course he protests- saying he is John Barrat. But the Count has made sure that no one will listen by telegraphing his doctor that he's been having delusions that he's someone else. Being a man that really had no one that cared about him to begin with, he decides to go on with the charade. The plot thickens from there on. Good story & a fine supporting cast make this an interesting murder mystery. Enjoy it if you can find it. (TCM is short for Turner Classic Movies cable station.) It is worth note that this story is by the same author of Hitchcock's Rebecca- another murder mystery worth viewing & much easier to find.