If you want a story about gripping law drama, this isn't the place to go, but then I suspected that before I obtained the film. Chained for Life isn't Judging Amy, the Practice, Ally McBeal or Law & Order (thank goodness, if you ask me). It's pure grade B, with dead performances from Daisy and Violet Hilton, yet seems better than what I expected; filmed better and with interesting dialogue at times (the blind doctor the twins went to see about a separation). They sang better than I do and I was a single birth. Today's vaudeville is a webcam on the internet. And the music organ being played with a gun then stopping on one note was pure Hitchcock ( a master, yes, but at times, he stretched it too). The dream essentially summed up the movie: seeing how these conjoined twins lived and loved and contemplated being separated. They had a similar offering in Freaks, where one is engaged, yet the other one is always present. Both the dream and the doctor pretty well cover any curiosity about how they may have lived with their situation in real life.
If not for the completely and utterly disappointing ending which took place in less than five minutes and did not involve the sisters, the film might have held up better. Don't go looking for tense courtroom drama. It's not here. Want to see how someone copes with a physical challenge? This would be one to think about.
If not for the completely and utterly disappointing ending which took place in less than five minutes and did not involve the sisters, the film might have held up better. Don't go looking for tense courtroom drama. It's not here. Want to see how someone copes with a physical challenge? This would be one to think about.