The Dark Room of Damocles

Original title: Als twee druppels water

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Lex Schoorel in The Dark Room of Damocles (1963)

The fainthearted cigar trader Ducker keeps himself quiet during World War II. That changes when parachutist Dorbeck lands in his backyard. It turns out the parachutist bears a remarkable res... Read allThe fainthearted cigar trader Ducker keeps himself quiet during World War II. That changes when parachutist Dorbeck lands in his backyard. It turns out the parachutist bears a remarkable resemblance to Ducker. Ducker follows Dorbeck blindly, becomes involved in the Dutch resistan... Read allThe fainthearted cigar trader Ducker keeps himself quiet during World War II. That changes when parachutist Dorbeck lands in his backyard. It turns out the parachutist bears a remarkable resemblance to Ducker. Ducker follows Dorbeck blindly, becomes involved in the Dutch resistance and soon starts killing people. When he escapes through German lines to the freed South... Read all

Director
- Fons Rademakers
Writers
- Willem Frederik Hermans
- Fons Rademakers
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.0/10

791

YOUR RATING

Director
- Fons Rademakers
Writers
- Willem Frederik Hermans
- Fons Rademakers
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 nomination

Trivia
The film was co-produced and co-financed by entrepreneur Alfred Heineken (better known as the owner of the Dutch Heineken beer brewery), who also obtained the rights for the movie. He requested that his friend Nan Los (with whom he reportedly had an affair at the time) got a part in the movie. Heineken withdrew the film from distribution several years later for personal reasons; although he never clarified the decision, his relationship with Los had supposedly ended shortly before, when she left him for another man. It wasn't until 2002, after Heineken's death, that the film could be shown publicly again.

Goofs
At a railway crossing a train is passing, its end has the characteristic "doghead" shape. This model didn't enter service until 1956.

Connections
Featured in Zomergasten: Episode #9.5 (1996)

User reviews5

Review

Featured review

Ineffective World War II mystery based on "De Donkere Kamer van Damocles" by W. F. Hermans

LIKE TWO DROPS OF WATER (Fons Rademakers - Netherlands 1963).

Interesting for a number of reasons, mainly because of the circumstances surrounding the production. The film was based on two novels, "De Donkere Kamer van Damocles" (1958) and to a lesser extent his earlier "De Tranen der Acacias" (1948), by what is considered one of the most important Dutch writers of the twentieth century, Willem Frederik Hermans, both featuring more or less the same characters. Secondly, the director Fons Rademakers is considered to be the first "real" Dutch director of narrative features. He made a total of eleven films and would win the Oscar for best foreign film in 1984 with THE ASSAULT.

After a reasonably successful release in 1963 with almost 500,000 visitors and competing at the Cannes Film Festival, it was withdrawn from circulation almost immediately by Freddy Heineken, the beer magnate and producer of the film, reportedly because he had an affair with one of the film's stars, Nan Los. When she learned Freddy Heineken would never divorce his wife, she married a race driver instead, and Heineken decided the film would never be shown publicly again. I am not sure what the situation is right now, but till his death, you had to write him in person for a private screening. Dutch broadcasting cooperation the TROS tried to air the film in 1983, but was held back by Freddy Heineken. It was shown once before though, on July 4th 1966 at the NTS, on Dutch television and, most recently, in September 2003.

Camera Obscura --- 5/10