7/10
Two beats
19 August 2016
Roger Moore has always taken his acting lightly. However you do not build a successful career in both UK and USA television and become a successful international film star without a modicum of talent.

In The Man Who Haunted Himself, Moore plays a wealthy business executive Harold Pelham whose company is considering getting involved in a merger. We initially see Pelham dressed conservatively and driving home carefully. Somewhere along the road he seems to have become possessed, he speeds up his car and gets involved in a terrible car accident.

As he recovers from his injuries, an alter ego is unleashed, more cavalier, risk taking, dashing and begins to live Pelham's life. This Pelham uses cunning to make his company's share sale to be even more profitable. He has a casual affair and even has a perked up sex life with his wife.

The real Pelham slowly realises that a doppelganger is on the loose and tries to get his life back on track.

Not a raised eyebrow in sight in this film. This is regarded as Moore's favourite film and he really shows his acting chops, Moore even gets to make a reference to James Bond, a role he would next play.

The film is really an updated version of Jekyll & Hyde but there is a sense of eeriness as the film concentrates on the real, more dull Pelham when he hears reports of the other double's activities such as thrashing someone in snooker, dabbling in some industrial espionage or being in some swanky club leaving him confused.

Director Basil Dearden might have shown a dated view of London for even the early 1970s but he gets a uniformly excellent performance from his cast and you genuinely wonder how the film will end as to which Pelham will win out.
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