MAN IN THE MIRROR (1936)
Article #1002 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-12-2003
Posting Date: 5-10-2004
Directed by Maurice Elvey
Featuring Edward Everett Horton, Renee Gadd, Stafford Hilliard

A meek business partner finds his life complicated when his reflection walks out of a mirror and meddles with his life.

This obscure and somewhat minor British comedy is fairly well acted, and it holds the attention well enough, though I did find it somewhat short on laughs. The most interesting thing about it is that it gives Edward Everett Horton a chance to play two roles. Actually, this isn’t strictly true, because he and his reflection are the same person; however, they are opposite halfs of the same person, and are different enough in character that they could be thought of as different people, and there’s certainly no problem throughout in differentiating them. The special effects are also very good indeed; the scenes of the man and the reflection talking together are some of the most convincing of that sort I’ve seen. I just wish the movie were a little more amusing, though it is nice to see Horton play someone a little different from his usual persona.