In "Dual Alibi", the British actor, Herbert Lom, plays dual roles--the identical French twins, Georges and Jules. And, he's excellent in both parts and the movie is quite the thriller.
When the story begins, one of the de Lisle twins (Lom) has fallen on hard times and is notices by his old boss at the circus. Now this part is a bit muddled...and based on the story that follows there is no way the boss wouldn't have remembered the man immediately....but somehow it was written as if the old boss could barely remember him. In the story, there is ample reason to believe he's remember the de Lisles until the day he died!
The story that follows is a long flashback, showing what led from the de Lisles being among the best trapeze acts in the world to this. It begins with them signing a huge contract with the owner of the circus. Georges is all business but Jules is a bit less so. So, after a crook in the circus learns that Jules has won 1,000,000 fr in a lottery, instead of telling Jules, he has his slimy girlfriend cozy up to Jules...with the hope that they can steal the ticket and cash it in themselves. What's next? Well, it would spoil the film to say more!
The bottom line is that this is a very well written dark suspense film...one that makes you cheer for a killer and wish him the best! Yes, that IS unusual! Combine this with excellent acting and direction, and you have one of the better British suspense films of the era.
