The Scapegoat
Feb. 29th, 2024 07:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphilo A sad sack Englishman swaps identities with a louche French aristo, gets his mojo back, then finds the aristo has been using him to establish an alibi (what a surprise!) and wants his identity back. Daphne du Maurier wrote the book, Alec Guinness stars, Bette Davis has a fire-breathing cameo, Gore Vidal finessed the script and Robert Hamer directed. With that sort of pedigree The Scapegaoat (1959) ought to be better than it is but the implausibilities and evasions are piled high. Besides, Hamer drank and Davis was insufferable. Not a happy ship,,,
But suppose you did get a second chance- overnight- new clothes, new family, new back story, new problems- what would you do with the opportunity? John Frankenheimer has a movie of roughly the same vintage- Seconds- in which a miserable businessman gets magicked into Rock Hudson. Things don't go well. Seconds says you can't change the essential nature of the beast and The Scapegoat says you can. Seconds is the better film and, I'm afraid, the more likely story...
But suppose you did get a second chance- overnight- new clothes, new family, new back story, new problems- what would you do with the opportunity? John Frankenheimer has a movie of roughly the same vintage- Seconds- in which a miserable businessman gets magicked into Rock Hudson. Things don't go well. Seconds says you can't change the essential nature of the beast and The Scapegoat says you can. Seconds is the better film and, I'm afraid, the more likely story...
