This movie, Dual Alibi made in 1947 is a really interesting find, a forgotten or neglected gem some might say. This movie has a very interesting plot line set against the backdrop of a travelling circus. The movie opens with the circus owner recruiting a bunch of unemployed men to carry around sandwich boards advertising the circus. The circus proprietor recognises one of the sandwich men as someone who was once part of a famous double act with his twin brother who entertained thousands of people with their death defying stunts on the flying trapeze.
The circus owner is shocked to see the extent of the degradation that this once famous and highly paid performer had fallen into and the former star tells his former boss how he had ended up in the situation that he found himself in. The film goes into flashback mode showing the twins signing contracts to bring their trapeze act to Blackpool from Paris. Before they leave for Britain the twins and the circus owner buy tickets for the French national lottery and whilst in the UK one of the twins wins the jackpot of one million French Francs (at the time worth about £2012 then and the equivalent of about a quarter of a million pounds today).
Unfortunately this lottery ticket is stolen by an unscrupulous person who intercepts the letter from the lottery agency and in addition one of the twins gets involved, or so he thinks, with the girlfriend of the very shady individual who stole the ticket but the lottery winner doesn’t realise that the ticket has been stolen by this particular man. The realisation that enough money to allow the twins to give up their dangerous trapeze act has been swindled out of them sends them into rage and legal action and ultimately onto to dangerous and destructive paths.
I won’t say any more about the plot as I don’t want to give too much more away. However this is a gripping tale with many twists and turns and a dramatic ending. I was delighted to discover this movie which is one that I had not come across before and really enjoyed watching. I hope you enjoy this film as much as I did.
