Dual Alibi ** (1947, Herbert Lom, Phyllis Dixey, Ronald Frankau, Terence De Marney, Abraham Sofaer, Eugene Deckers, Ben Williams) – Classic Movie Review 13,477

Herbert Lom stars as both de Lisle twin French acrobats, along with the ‘Queen of Striptease’ Phyllis Dixey, in the 1947 British film noir thriller Dual Alibi.

Director Alfred Travers’s 1947 British film Dual Alibi tells the story of the de Lisle twin French acrobats, whose top act is hired by a British promoter for his Blackpool show. Herbert Lom stars as both Jules and Georges de Lisle, along with the ‘Queen of Striptease’ Phyllis Dixey, Ronald Frankau, Terence De Marney, Abraham Sofaer, Eugene Deckers, and Ben Williams.

Dual Alibi is a satisfactory low-budget, French and Blackpool-set film noir thriller about trapezist Herbert Lom masquerading as his own twin in order to get back a stolen national lottery ticket worth a million francs. It starts when spiv publicity agent Mike Bergen (Terence De Marney) asks his cigarette girl girlfriend Penny (Phyllis Dixey) to get the ticket from Lom, but when she doesn’t, De Marney swaps it for a losing one, so the twins plan to get it back and kill De Marney in revenge.

The Cromwell Brothers’ trapeze act brings the real flavour of the circus, and there is fragrant Blackpool as well as circus atmosphere, but it is mainly Lom’s fine dual turn that gives the film the fair success it has. The plot is reasonably ingenious, and there is fast moving direction Alfred Travers, who has to cover a lot of ground in just 81 minutes.

It is written by Vivienne Adès, Stephen Clarkson and Alfred Travers, based on an original story by Renalt Capes.

It is made by British National Films at Elstree Studios and distributed by Pathé Pictures International (UK).

Running time: 81 minutes.

Release date: 3 June 1947 (London).

Phyllis Dixey

Phyllis Dixey (10 February 1914 – 2 June 1964) was known as the ‘Queen of Striptease’. She formed her own company of girls in 1942 and rented the Whitehall Theatre in London to put on The Whitehall Follies striptease show revue, remaining there for the next five years. But she left the stage in the late 1950s, bankrupt, and worked as a cook in the early 1960s.

The cast

The cast are Herbert Lom as Jules de Lisle / Georges de Lisle, Phyllis Dixey as Penny aka Gloria Gregg, Terence De Marney as Mike Bergen, Ronald Frankau as Vincent Barney, Abraham Sofaer as French Judge, Eugene Deckers as French ringmaster, The Cromwell Brothers as trapeze act, Ben Williams as Charlie, Clarence Wright as M. Mangan, Beryl Measor as Gwen Harold Berens as Ali, Sebastian Cabot as Loterie Nationale official, Andreas Malandrinos as French Judge, Marcel Poncin as French lawyer, Wallas Eaton as court official, Gerald Rex as call boy, Margaret Withers as Blackpool landlady, H G Guinle, Leonard Sharp, Ernst Ulman, Eric Mason, Griffiths Moss, and Gerald Conway.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,477

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