This movie is typical of low budget British SF movies of the early Fifties. On the one hand, it is competent, well acted and generally better-looking than American movies of its budget level (probably because a dollar bought more production values in England than in Hollywood). On the other hand, the story is half-baked and never knows what it is supposed to be about.
There are only a handful of genuinely original SF ideas, so the trick is to select one and give it a twist. The perfect duplicator is a commonplace of SF. In this movie, the twist is to use it to solve the problem of a romantic triangle: duplicate the woman and both men can get the girl.
This is a dubious idea, but does have its possibilities. However, the movie doesn't grasp them. The triangle is set up at the very beginning, when the two scientists (Robin and Bill) are children and both smitten with Lena. But the movie then spends the next 25 minutes on the invention of the duplicator. We get the usual scenes of desperate endeavour, failures and setbacks, loss of funding, new funding and eventual triumph.
The movie then raises some interesting issues about how the duplicator should be used and all sorts of plot possibilities spring to mind. They are all discarded because it is at this point that the romantic triangle comes to the fore. Lena chooses Robin and this leads Bill to conceive his crazy plan to duplicate her, so she can marry both of them. Although this seems one of the lamest of the plot options, I was willing to go along with it.
However, the movie then takes a further 25 minutes to get to the point of the actual duplication. This means that the real story is shoe-horned into the final 27 minutes of the movie. Even then, it is undermined by some astonishingly shoddy plotting.
Firstly, how can Bill bring his plan about? In a typical 'mad scientist' movie of the Thirties or Forties, his hunchbacked assistance would have kidnapped Lena and forced her through the duplication process. This would have been hackneyed, but serviceable. But British filmmakers of the Fifties were above such crude melodrama. Instead, Bill simply persuades Lena to go along with his lunatic idea. This is highly improbable in itself, but even more so because of its blindingly obvious flaw. The perfect duplicate (called Helen) will have all Lena's memories and feelings and will also be in love with Robin.
The idea of two identical women both in love with the same man (and not even knowing which of them is the original and which is the duplicate) raises another raft of possibilities which are not taken up. Instead, it takes a further 15 minutes before Helen reveals her feelings for Robin and the movie delivers the surprise plot twist that audiences had anticipated from the first moment Bill reveals his plan.
Bill is not fazed by this disappointment. He simply cooks up another gizmo that will suck out all Helen's memories and leave her free to form new attachments. Having taken years to develop the duplicator, this radical new device is ready in days (if from the start Helen had been physically identical to Lena, but devoid of all memories, yet another story possibility emerges. But I digress).
Helen, amazingly, agrees to this despite the fact that a complete loss of memory is tantamount to her death. Even more improbably, Lena agrees to assist in the procedure (is that girl helpful, or what?). It works, but in another lazy plot development the equipment catches fire and the laboratory burns down, killing Bill and one of the two women. But which one?
This little dilemma is hopelessly contrived and relies on two further improbabilities (how many more times will I have to use that word?). Not only must the two women be dressed identically, but the survivor has to lose her memory.
It is Lena that survives (the trauma of the fire gave her temporary amnesia - as it does). Whew!
There is no way of avoiding the fact that this is all a complete dog's breakfast!
Having savaged this poor little movie, I am now embarrassed to admit how much I enjoy it (it is Fifties SF, how could I not?). But I am frustrated. Four-sided Triangle could never have been a really good movie but if, at the very outset, the writer and producer had just spent a couple of hours brainstorming the story it could have been a hell of lot better than it is.
Damn, damn, damn!
There are only a handful of genuinely original SF ideas, so the trick is to select one and give it a twist. The perfect duplicator is a commonplace of SF. In this movie, the twist is to use it to solve the problem of a romantic triangle: duplicate the woman and both men can get the girl.
This is a dubious idea, but does have its possibilities. However, the movie doesn't grasp them. The triangle is set up at the very beginning, when the two scientists (Robin and Bill) are children and both smitten with Lena. But the movie then spends the next 25 minutes on the invention of the duplicator. We get the usual scenes of desperate endeavour, failures and setbacks, loss of funding, new funding and eventual triumph.
The movie then raises some interesting issues about how the duplicator should be used and all sorts of plot possibilities spring to mind. They are all discarded because it is at this point that the romantic triangle comes to the fore. Lena chooses Robin and this leads Bill to conceive his crazy plan to duplicate her, so she can marry both of them. Although this seems one of the lamest of the plot options, I was willing to go along with it.
However, the movie then takes a further 25 minutes to get to the point of the actual duplication. This means that the real story is shoe-horned into the final 27 minutes of the movie. Even then, it is undermined by some astonishingly shoddy plotting.
Firstly, how can Bill bring his plan about? In a typical 'mad scientist' movie of the Thirties or Forties, his hunchbacked assistance would have kidnapped Lena and forced her through the duplication process. This would have been hackneyed, but serviceable. But British filmmakers of the Fifties were above such crude melodrama. Instead, Bill simply persuades Lena to go along with his lunatic idea. This is highly improbable in itself, but even more so because of its blindingly obvious flaw. The perfect duplicate (called Helen) will have all Lena's memories and feelings and will also be in love with Robin.
The idea of two identical women both in love with the same man (and not even knowing which of them is the original and which is the duplicate) raises another raft of possibilities which are not taken up. Instead, it takes a further 15 minutes before Helen reveals her feelings for Robin and the movie delivers the surprise plot twist that audiences had anticipated from the first moment Bill reveals his plan.
Bill is not fazed by this disappointment. He simply cooks up another gizmo that will suck out all Helen's memories and leave her free to form new attachments. Having taken years to develop the duplicator, this radical new device is ready in days (if from the start Helen had been physically identical to Lena, but devoid of all memories, yet another story possibility emerges. But I digress).
Helen, amazingly, agrees to this despite the fact that a complete loss of memory is tantamount to her death. Even more improbably, Lena agrees to assist in the procedure (is that girl helpful, or what?). It works, but in another lazy plot development the equipment catches fire and the laboratory burns down, killing Bill and one of the two women. But which one?
This little dilemma is hopelessly contrived and relies on two further improbabilities (how many more times will I have to use that word?). Not only must the two women be dressed identically, but the survivor has to lose her memory.
It is Lena that survives (the trauma of the fire gave her temporary amnesia - as it does). Whew!
There is no way of avoiding the fact that this is all a complete dog's breakfast!
Having savaged this poor little movie, I am now embarrassed to admit how much I enjoy it (it is Fifties SF, how could I not?). But I am frustrated. Four-sided Triangle could never have been a really good movie but if, at the very outset, the writer and producer had just spent a couple of hours brainstorming the story it could have been a hell of lot better than it is.
Damn, damn, damn!