Double Deception (1960) User Reviews

young man joins magician and twin evil-good sisters in haunting moody suspense

[larrysfy · 7/10 · 28 October 2017]

First time I have found this movie!! Not sure if this is the movie I have been searching for for many years; I don't remember as much of the plot as the previous reviewer, but. . . some of the scenes haunt me. I saw it once in my mid-teens on TV, probably dubbed or subtitled in the mid 1960s Twin sisters, I remember one as evil and the traveler who joins is perhaps training to be a magician with them and can't tell them apart exactly but falls in love with the good one. I guess one dies, maybe killed by other being jealous. The movie is haunting, brooding, disjointed, spooky with mirrors and sound effects. The last scene is the new magician finally leaving, perhaps the others have died and he can open his hands and birds fly out - he can really do magic, finally. It was very scary for a teenager watching late at night. More scary for me than the Bird with the Crystal Plumage, and reminds me of early Argento and low budget European horror suspense black and white from the 60's.

Magic?

[ulicknormanowen · 5/10 · 2 November 2022]

I'm sorry not to join the chorus of praises for I'm a big fan of Boileau-Narcejac's books : "les magiciennes "is ,for my money,one of their weakest. I had guessed the denouement halfway through.when I read it.....In fact the writers combine their "the dead may not be dead"trick ( "celle qui n'était plus" which spawned the famous "les diaboliques" ) with their "second woman/double " ("d'entre les morts",transferred to the screen as masterful "vertigo" by Hitchcock ) ; in 1960,it was old hat .The writers had begun to copy themselves.

Jacques Riberolles lacks charisma as the lead and his folie a deux with one of the twins suffers accordingly ; Ginette Leclerc ,a veteran of the golden years of the French cinema overplays ; the Kessler twins are pretty and are the main asset of the movie ; the sleights of hand of the cast and credits promised good things ; but a flat direction does not help ; apart from "diabolique" and "vertigo" I suggest the Boileau-Narcejac buff choose "faces in the dark" (Eady ) or "les louves" (Saslavsky)

I do hope this film has not been lost.

[scottydawg · 9/10 · 29 July 2002]

A man, Peter, joins a traveling show dominated by a middle-aged magician who uses his grown twin daughters in his act. Peter falls in love with one of the daughters. The other daughter meets an untimely end, and the father must then employ mirrors to continue to effect his illusions, and Peter must struggle with his internal doubts as to which daughter, in fact, is still living. No, the answer is not as patent as one might think.

I viewed this film (under the Double Deception title) once, on television, circa 1970, and I believe the English was dubbed in. I cannot speak to directing, acting and writing in any detail after such a long time, but the fact that the film stuck so strongly in my mind is an indication that it was very effective. I remember the somber tone and becoming engaged in Peter's agonizing quest, not only to determine the truth, but also to discover himself by virtue of his response to what he learns. I had sought in vain to find evidence of this film in Maltin's guide. I had nearly decided I had imagined it before finding it listed here. I see that it is so obscure that five persons have not yet voted on it. I feel it is well worthy of attention, and I do hope this film has not been lost to nonpreservation. This film should be resurrected for those of us who adore film noire. (Does anyone not?)

double deception aka frantic aka les magiciennes 1960

[johnguenet · 9/10 · 11 July 2020]

First saw this movie on a double bill with seddok-son of satan (atom age vampire) in 1963 when i was about 13 at a west london cinema.it was called frantic and was clearly the better movie, dubbed into english,i guess. i caught it again a couple of times later in 1964 and 1965 in cinemas in the bayswater area of london. then it just dissappeared. i just loved it . i was really impressed with the deception. the puzzling and trickery of the plot coming from writers boileau and narcejaq ,the story line and the two main female parts,the kessler twins.the poor guy thought there was only the one performer. and when the other twin appeared on the scene, he got very confused they deliberately tricked him so much that he could not tell who he was with at any one time.this is really what the premise of the movie was about, the trickery.the double deception things not being quite what they seem to be etc.I always remembered this film and hoped one day it would show on vhs or dvd. after waiting 57 years i am happy to report it is available as a gaumont release thru amazon / fr as of jan 2020. .i have a copy... it was a blast to see it again.