The Double is a 1963 second feature British film directed by Lionel Harris and starring Jeanette Sterke, Alan MacNaughtan and Robert Brown. Part of the series of Edgar Wallace Mysteries films made at Merton Park Studios, it is based on a story by Wallace.
Contents
Plot
John Cleeve is suffering from amnesia. He believes he has killed a man named Derreck Alwyn. Mary Winston investigates. Her solicitor, Harrison, finds a photograph of the still-living Alwyn, whom Cleeve recognises the man he has "killed". Mary realises her investigations are being hampered by Harrison, who is in the pay of Alwyn. Cleeve regains his memory and Mary's sister Jane realises that Alwyn is an impostor, who had previously tried to kill Cleeve (the real Alwyn). On her way to move her car, Jane is waylaid and captured by the imposter; she is tied up (hand and foot) and gagged, and then left in a locked storage room. The impostor comes again to see Cleeve, in order to try and murder him. In a tense scene on top of a staircase, the police arrive in time, Cleeve jumps out of his wheelchair, and the impostor dies after falling down the stairs. Cleeve is able to knock down the locked storage room door, where he rescues and frees the bound and gagged Jane.
Cast
Jeanette Sterke as Mary Winston
Alan MacNaughtan as John Cleeve
Robert Brown as Richard Harrison
Jane Griffiths as Jane Winston
Basil Henson as Derreck Alwyn
Anne Lawson as Sally Carter
Diane Clare as Selena Osmonde
Llewellyn Rees as Bradshaw
John Miller as Sir Harry Osmonde
Dorothea Rundle as Martha Bradshaw
Hamilton Dyce as Det. Ins. Ames
Henry McCarthy as Dr. Leighton
Tony Wall as Logan
Patrick Parnell as Cooper
Arlette Dobson as Karen
David Charlesworth as Charles
Brian McGrellis as delivery boy
Ron Eagleton as porter
Derek Sumner as policeman
Thelma Holt as Marie
Critical reception
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Yet another Edgar Wallace thriller. This fundamentally uninteresting film tries hard to fill out its hour with unnecessary plot twists and a proliferation of characters. But the basis of the story becomes clear after approximately ten minutes, and the two well-timed and genuinely frightening moments of suspense seem wasted on such a glaringly inadequate script."