His Double Life
Directed by Arthur Hopkins
Written by Clara Baranger and Arthur Hopkins from a novel and play by Arnold Bennett
1933/UK
Eddie Dowling Pictures
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime rental
“To find someone who will love you for no reason, and to shower that person with reasons, that is the ultimate happiness.” —Robert Braul
Roland Young plays the most famous painter in England who has lived as a recluse since a very young age. Not even his banker or his agent have met him. When his secretary falls ill, he is mistaken for the secretary which allows him to bury the artist and assume the identity of the secretary. This leads him to meet and fall in love with Lillian Gish’s delightful, unflappable Alice, with whom the secretary had been corresponding and changes his life forever.
Gish and Young are favorites of mine and they are both wonderful in this excellent romcom. Many free versions of the full film are currently available on YouTube.
