''The Man Who Lost Himself'' is a 1941 American
comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...
directed by
Edward Ludwig
Edward Irving Ludwig (October 7, 1899 – August 20, 1982) was a Russian-born American film director and writer. He directed nearly 100 films between 1921 and 1963 (some under the names Edward I. Luddy and Charles Fuhr).
Ludwig was also one ...
and starring
Brian Aherne
William Brian de Lacy Aherne (2 May 190210 February 1986) was an English actor of stage, screen, radio and television, who enjoyed a long and varied career in Britain and the United States.
His first Broadway appearance in '' The Barretts of ...
,
Kay Francis
Kay Francis (born Katharine Edwina Gibbs; January 13, 1905 – August 26, 1968) was an American stage and film actress. After a brief period on Broadway in the late 1920s, she moved to film and achieved her greatest success between 1930 an ...
and
Nils Asther
Nils Anton Alfhild Asther (17 January 1897 – 19 October 1981)[Swedi ...](_blank)
. Aherne plays a man who encounters his exact double and is later mistaken for the other man who is now dead. The film is based on the
novel of the same name by
Henry De Vere Stacpoole
Henry de Vere Stacpoole (9 April 1863 – 12 April 1951) was an Irish author. His best-known work is the 1908 romance novel '' The Blue Lagoon'', which has been adapted into multiple films. He published using his own name and sometimes the pseud ...
.
[Goble p.348] The novel was also previously
adapted to film in 1920. The new version shifts the setting from
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
of the original to
New York, although it features several British actors.
Plot
Department store
A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...
mogul Malcolm Scott escapes from a mental institution. At a bar, he encounters lookalike John Evans and they get drunk together.
John wakes up in Malcolm's home, where butler Paul and others mistakenly believe him to be Malcolm. As he attempts to persuade them otherwise, the real Malcolm is killed in a subway accident. Malcolm's estranged wife Adrienne has been romantically involved with Peter Ransome, while it appears Malcolm had been seeing a Mrs. Van Avery while also embezzling from his store with a man named Mulhausen who now wants to buy it from Adrienne.
John foils the scheme, and when a grateful Adrienne finally realizes who he really is, she decides she would like to marry her dead husband's dead ringer.
Cast
*
Brian Aherne
William Brian de Lacy Aherne (2 May 190210 February 1986) was an English actor of stage, screen, radio and television, who enjoyed a long and varied career in Britain and the United States.
His first Broadway appearance in '' The Barretts of ...
as John Evans / Malcolm Scott
*
Kay Francis
Kay Francis (born Katharine Edwina Gibbs; January 13, 1905 – August 26, 1968) was an American stage and film actress. After a brief period on Broadway in the late 1920s, she moved to film and achieved her greatest success between 1930 an ...
as Adrienne Scott
*
Henry Stephenson
Henry Stephenson (born Harry Stephenson Garraway; 16 April 1871 – 24 April 1956) was a British actor. He portrayed friendly and wise gentlemen in many films of the 1930s and 1940s. Among his roles were Sir Joseph Banks in ''Mutiny on the Bou ...
as Frederick Collins
*
S. Z. Sakall as Paul
*
Nils Asther
Nils Anton Alfhild Asther (17 January 1897 – 19 October 1981)[Swedi ...](_blank)
as Peter Ransome
*
Sig Ruman
Siegfried Carl Alban Rumann (October 11, 1884 – February 14, 1967), billed as Sig Ruman and Sig Rumann, was a German-American character actor known for his portrayals of pompous and often stereotypically Teutonic officials or villains i ...
as Dr. Simms
*
Dorothy Tree
Dorothy Tree (born Dorothy Estelle Triebitz, May 21, 1906 – February 13, 1992) was an American actress, voice teacher and writer. She appeared in a wide range of character roles in at least 49 films between 1927 and 1951.
Her roles includ ...
as Mrs. Van Avery
*
Janet Beecher
Janet Beecher (born Janet Meysenberg; October 21, 1884 – August 6, 1955) was an American stage and screen actress.
Early years
The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. E. A. Von Meysenburg, Beecher was born in Jefferson City, Missouri. Her sister was ...
as Mrs. Milford
*
Marc Lawrence as Frank DeSoto
*
Henry Kolker
Joseph Henry Kolker (November 13, 1874 ome sources 1870– July 15, 1947) was an American stage and film actor and director.
Early years
Kolker was born in Quincy, Illinois.
Career
Kolker, like fellow actors Richard Bennett and Robert Wa ...
as Mulhausen
*
Sarah Padden as Maid
*
Eden Gray as Venetia Scott
*
Selmer Jackson as Mr. Green
*
William Gould as Mr. Ryan
*
Russell Hicks as Mr. Van der Girt
*
Frederick Burton as Mr. Milford
* Margaret Armstrong as Mrs. Van der Girt
*
Wilson Benge
George Frederick "Wilson" Benge (1 March 1875 – 1 July 1955) was an English actor who mostly featured in American films from the silent days. He appeared in over 200 films between 1922 and 1955.
Along with actors Charles Coleman and Ro ...
as Butler
References
Bibliography
* Bubbeo, Daniel. ''The Women of Warner Brothers: The Lives and Careers of 15 Leading Ladies, with Filmographies for Each''. McFarland, 2001.
External links
*
*
American black-and-white films
Films based on Irish novels
Films based on British novels
Films directed by Edward Ludwig
Films based on works by Henry De Vere Stacpoole
1941 comedy films
1941 films
American comedy films
Films scored by Hans J. Salter
Remakes of American films
Films set in New York City
1940s American films
{{1940s-comedy-film-stub