THE MAN WITH MY FACE (1951)

Imagine arriving home one evening and someone who looks like you has taken over your life, your wife, your brother-in-law, and your bank account. No, I mean exactly like you. Even your dog believes you are an imposter. Talk about identity theft. This is a dupe that has taken many months of planning. And superior plastic surgery with no need for an added fake mustache. A number of low-budget movies might have been more tolerable by offering them (free) on television, as “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.” Let’s face it, this is more predictable than blinking.

This seventy-nine-minute B-movie is a science fiction story distributed by United Artists for Edward F. Gardner Productions. It is not much of a film noir, either, though it falls into that category. The screenplay appears to have challenged the director, Edward Montagne, who was apparently stumped on how to present this intriguing idea in a convincing way. Interpreting the novel of the same name by Samuel W. Taylor, who, along with the team of Tom McGowan and Vin Bogert, wrote the screenplay.

Barry Nelson stars in one of his few motion pictures during the 1950s. Along with a cast of unknowns, the film is hard to fathom. Nelson tries very hard to make his two roles work, but in less than fifteen minutes, the balance of the movie is assumed. You will find yourself always ahead of the script. Nice Nelson may simply be a bit loopy, so he is assumed to be the imposter. There may have been a Half Nelson in the background. Nice Nelson finds his picture (or is it Evel Nelson?) plastered on the newspaper's headline as the robber of 500k, sending the police after him. Evil Nelson has trained Dobermans in pursuit of Nice Nelson, soon to be a man without a face, creating bad press for the breed. Seeing Jack Warden in his movie debut may make it worth watching as the friend who owns facial recognition software. Nah. Do not believe that either.

Note: Barry Nelson, the supporting actor in most of his 1940s films, is better known for his prolific television roles and as a Broadway leading man. He has the distinction of being the first James Bond, portrayed in an episode of television's "Climax" series. Having never read the Fleming novel, Nelson was not sure how to portray the famous character. The next decade proved to be a real eye-opener for him.