Tonight's Movie: Twice Blessed (1945)

Identical twin sisters, raised separately, switch places and help reunite their divorced parents. Sounds like THE PARENT TRAP (1961), right? It turns out MGM used a rather similar plot in TWICE BLESSED, an engaging "B" film of the mid '40s. Unlike the Disney film, no special effects were required, thanks to identical twin actresses Lyn and Lee Wilde.

Mary Hale (Gail Patrick), a world-famous child psychologist, has raised her daughter Stephanie (Lyn Wilde) as a sheltered genius; Stephanie has the highest IQ in the nation. Mary's ex-husband Jeff (Preston Foster), a newspaperman, has raised Stephanie's twin Terry (Lee Wilde) as a "normal" girl who loves to hang out with her beau (Marshall Thompson) at the corner drugstore and jitterbug.

When parents and daughters are reunited for the first time in seven years, Stephanie and Terry decide to secretly trade places in order to see how their "other half" lives, with sometimes unexpected and amusing results. The girls also hope to find a way to reunite their parents, who had split over Mary's desire for a demanding career but clearly still have strong feelings for one another.

This is a delightful little movie with a terrific cast. Foster and Patrick are always enjoyable actors, and the Wilde Twins are real talents, adept comediennes who are also skilled dancers. The situations they encounter when they switch places may be predictable, but as portrayed by the twins they're also great fun. It's particularly amusing to see the effect the switch has on the young men in Stephanie and Terry's lives (Thompson and Jimmy Lydon). It's quite a novelty to have such roles played by actual twins rather than the film needing to rely on special effects.

Lee and Lyn Wilde will be 90 years old this October. They appeared together in a number of films, including MGM's PRESENTING LILY MARS (1943), ANDY HARDY'S BLONDE TROUBLE (1944), and TILL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY (1946); Lyn appeared in several more films on her own. The Wilde Twins married brothers who were musicians.

There's a nice Wilde Twins tribute site which includes a biography, photos, and a review of TWICE BLESSED. It sounds as though the sisters have had rich, full lives filled with family and many interests.

The supporting cast of TWICE BLESSED includes peppy Jean Porter as Terry's friend and Gloria Hope as the calculating woman in Jeff's life. Hope was only in five films, and it appears this was her most significant role. Also be on the lookout for John Dehner, in an early role as a radio announcer, and Arthur Space asking questions on a radio quiz show.

Organist Ethel Smith performs an entertaining routine at a dance. She was also in a couple of Esther Williams films in the '40s, BATHING BEAUTY (1944) and EASY TO WED (1946).

The movie was directed by Harry Beaumont, with black and white cinematography by Ray June. The film runs 76 minutes.

This movie is not available on VHS or DVD. Hopefully a Warner Archive release is in the future! It was recently shown on Turner Classic Movies, so watch for it to turn up again. TCM has the trailer on the TCM website.

2019 Update: Wonderful news! TWICE BLESSED will be released on DVD by the Warner Archive in March 2019. My review of the DVD may be found here.