User reviews

I unabashedly admit that Dirk Bogarde is one of my favorite actors, so naturally, two of him is better. In "Libel," directed by Anthony Asquith, he has a dual role - that of a baron, Sir Mark Sebastian Loddon, and Frank Welney, an actor and a lookalike in his barracks during World War II. When Mark returns from the war, he can't remember a lot of his past life and is haunted by images of events during the war that he can't connect with. Another soldier sees the baron on television and believes that he is really Frank Welney, and the story is published in a tabloid. Mark's wife (Olivia de Havilland) insists that for the sake of their young son, he sue for libel. He does.

This is an often-told story, but I enjoyed it anyway. Bogarde is excellent as the uptight, insecure Mark and the cocky, nosy Frank, and while there is a strong resemblance between the two men, Welney's coloring and hairstyle is different, as is his manner. De Havilland turns in another marvelous, emotional performance as a woman who starts out believing her husband is indeed the man she loved before the war... and then having her doubts.

Well directed and holds one's interest.

Dirk Bogarde carries the main burden of this interesting courtroom drama co-starring Olivia de Havilland. Bogarde is an English barrister accused of being an imposter by a wartime buddy who has mistaken a look-alike they both knew in a POW camp as the man who has become Sir Mark Loddon. His understanding wife stands by him and encourages him to sue for libel but soon comes to have doubts of her own. Toward the climax, she turns on her husband and accuses him of "stealing" her love. Bogarde and de Havilland both have some excellent dramatic moments but it is Bogarde who rivets the attention with his fascinating dual role, achieving a distinct difference between the two men with just a slight change of hair style and a shift in attitude. Wilfred Hyde-White and Robert Morley are good in supporting roles as opposing barristers. It all moves smoothly under Anthony Asquith's crisp direction and all of the domestic scenes were filmed at the Duke of Bedford's magnificent country estate, giving production values a touch of elegance. The POW flashbacks are quite convincing--and the courtroom twist toward the end is nicely handled--if not quite convincing. Sometimes confusing--but always absorbing. MGM should release this one to video!

Updated to make the protagonists be World War II veterans instead of World War I, Libel made its Broadway debut in 1935 after a run in London and ran for 159 performances during the 1935-36 season. Playing the role Dirk Bogarde does here was the screen's original Dr. Frankenstein, Colin Clive.

As for Bogarde due to movie screen magic he gets to play two roles, the respected titled English Lord with American wife Olivia DeHavilland and a Canadian fellow prisoner of war who was a traveling player and who looks like him. Worse than that, we see in flashback how he envied him.

Into their happy lives intrudes another former POW Paul Massie who knew both men in the camp and makes the startling accusation that the one stole the identity of the other who died during the war. This indeed is a case of Libel and one for the courts to straighten out.

Bringing the suit on Bogarde's behalf is Robert Morley and defending Massie is Wilfrid Hyde-White, they make a fine pair of antagonists. What is the truth, for that you have to watch Libel.

Though Olivia is first billed, the film clearly belongs to Dirk Bogarde who delivers a fine poignant performance of a man tortured by doubt, there are things tucked away in his mind that he prefers not dealing with. Olivia gets her innings in when even she starts to doubt the identity of the man she's been married to.

This film also gives we Yanks a chance to see Richard Dimbleby who was a combination of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite, that kind of trusted voice of the British Empire for the BBC. In fact Dimbleby is hosting Bogarde and DeHavilland on a tour of their mansion when Massie spots them on a bar television and sets everything in motion.

Libel holds up very well today it could probably be easily remade for something like the Iraq or Afghan war in about 15 years time.

This Anthony Asquith directed movie is one of Dirk Bogarde's finest movies. I would rank up there with Bogarde's performance in Victim (1961). Here, he plays the double role of portraying Sir Mark Loddon and his POW look-alike, Frank Welney.

As the movie begins, one of his fellow POWs, Jeffrey Buckernham (Paul Massie) sees Loddon on TV giving a tour of his plush country estate with his American wife, Lady Loddon (Olivia de Havilland). Convinced that Loddon is Welney, Buckenham arranges to have a newspaper call him out which, in turn, forces Loddon to sue the newspaper for libel. However, he, himself, is not totally convinced about his own identity in that there are certain blank spots in his memory resulting from his escape from the POW camp many years previously.

This is one of those great courtroom dramas in which the two opposing attorneys--Sir Wilfred (Robert Morley) represents Loddon and Wilfrid Hyde-White (Hubert Foxley) represents the defense for the newspaper in for Loddon's libel suit. Loddon's low point of the trial occurs when his own wife takes the stand, believing that he is not her husband.

Having just seen "Libel" on TCM, I was pleasantly surprised....certainly, it is not a great film, but still was very entertaining, and the settings were extremely well done. The story line has been done before, but the acting of some very good English stalwarts plus Olivia de Havilland as an American wife to an English Baron, makes it well worth watching. Dirk Bogarde (never a favourite of mine) does an excellent job in a dual role, and is ably supported by Robert Morley, Paul Massie and Wilfred Hyde-White. There is no doubt that the producers of this film have come up with a film that still stands up today, and be proud of the end result. There are some very clever twists and the use of flash-backs was excellent. I can recommend this to everyone

Libel is directed by Anthony Asquith and adapted from Edward Wooll's play by Anatole de Grunwald and Karl Tunberg. It stars Dirk Bogarde, Olivia de Havilland, Paul Massie, Robert Morley, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Anthony Dawson and Richard Wattis. Music is by Benjamin Frankel and cinematography by Robert Krasker.

A shell-shocked ex-WWII prisoner of war with amnesia is accused of being an impostor by one of the guys he was imprisoned with. This sends him spinning into the middle of a Libel court case that could destroy everything in his life.

A splendidly stylish mystery/drama that offers up two Dirk Bogarde's for the price of one. The big question throughout is if Bogarde, in the shoes of Sir Mark Sebastian Loddon, is actually a doppleganger that he was in the war with called Frank Welney. Loddon has the riches, the estate and a beautiful loving wife, Welney was a struggling actor and something of a mischievous imp. The big narrative thrust is that Loddon is not sure himself, he can only remember certain things, thus we are never sure either as the plot twists and turns and the court case simmers away with dramatic force.

Bogarde is great in his dual role, with a voice change for each character and different hair styles to help the viewers differentiate. In the court we have a trio of classy character actors, with Hyde- White and Morley as the opposing lawyers (wonderful to witness this) and Watiss as the judge presiding over the trial. Havilland isn't asked to do much until late in the day, but then she shines bright and puts some emotional punch into proceedings. The great Krasker photographs it in crisp black and white, while Asquith directs with a smoothness that undercuts the coincidences and conveniences that exist in this sort of story.

All the highlights of a court room drama are here, and it's a cracking mystery to boot. 8/10

All is ducky in the fine English manor, some years after WWII. The lord of said manor, portrayed by the elegant Dirk Bogarde, is happily married to a beautiful American (Olivia De Havilland) and they have a charming little boy. But for his WWII PTSD, which haunts him from time to time with an irritating tune in his head--and causes a tendency to stammer. the usual bad dreams and insomnia, his life is fine. The fly appears in the ointment in the person of a soldier who knew him in the war and insists he's a fraud. Much of the drama takes place in the courtroom as he sues for libel and the complicated war experience, complete with plot twists, comes out. Bogarde shows his mettle as an actor, playing a dual role very convincingly. Not until the very end does the audience learn the whole story. It's a tight drama, with the added fillip of byplay between the superb prosecutor (Wilfrid Hyde-White) and defense attorney (Robert Morley). Well worth seeing!

Sir Mark Loddon has been having a hard time of it since he returned from WWII. He was in a German prison camp and then was injured badly during his escape. Everyone, including himself, assumes that his emotional state and spotty memory of things that happened before his escape are due to his wartime trauma. We call it PTSD now, they called it "shell shock" back in the day. He's subject to night terrors and he is always seeing some terrifying reflection in mirrors, water, whatever.

And then along comes somebody from his past, Jeffrey Buckenham, who escaped with Loddon. Buckenham is saying that Loddon is in fact an impoverished actor named Frank Wellney who could have passed for Loddon as far as looks go and who was always trying to find out personal details about Loddon and impersonating him. Wellney, along with he and Loddon, escaped the prison camp together. The three got separated, and (from a great distance) Buckenham witnessed what he believes is the aftermath of the murder of one body double by the other. Only after seeing Loddon on a TV program about famous English castles and noticing that Loddon has the same finger missing as Wellney had has Buckenham decided to come forward with his suspicions.

Buckenham doesn't want blackmail money. Instead, he wants to expose Wellney for the fraud that he is. Buckenham goes to a local newspaper and tells them his tale and the paper prints it, with a great deal of publicity being stirred up since Loddon is quite wealthy and owner of a large manor. Loddon wants to ignore the whole thing and let it blow over, but his wife, Margaret (Olivia De Haviland), says they must sue the paper and Buckenham for libel as otherwise this scandal would always hang over their son. So Loddon becomes a reluctant plaintiff. But why is he so reluctant?

Thus the rest of the film is a courtroom drama with lots of interesting turns including a surprise witness with a story that turns out to have a kind of Frankenstein monster twist to it. The really interesting part of the plot's dynamics is that Loddon was so terribly wounded and shell-shocked in the aftermath of the escape that he himself begins to doubt who he is and what exactly he has done to the missing Mark Loddon, if he in fact is not Mark Loddon himself.

The casting is wonderful. De Haviland is great as a woman who at first completely believes in her husband, but after all of this testimony is beginning to have doubts. Wilfred Hyde-White and Robert Marley are the clever barristers. Anthony Dawson plays Mark's sly cousin who would inherit the entire Loddon estate if it can be proved that the person claiming to be Mark Loddon is an imposter. Finally there is Dirk Bogarde who convincingly plays both the aristocratic Loddon and the oily Wellney as two very different types of people, and also excels at playing whoever the troubled person is sitting next to Olivia De Haviland in the courtroom.

Like most courtroom dramas, especially British ones, it's not very cinematic. Director Anthony Asquith makes a stab at noir in the opening shots only to retreat to standard, stagy interior shooting for most of the rest. Even the flashbacks that take place in the German countryside feel like they're shot indoors. So with lack of directorial or cinematographic interest one falls back on the writing and acting, the former of which is typically Brit literate but dull while the later is, uncharacteristically for an English film, over the top and/or wooden. Bogarde is especially hammy which is highly unusual for him so one begins to suspect Asquith's hand in his performance. DeHavilland is simply boring. As is Paul Massie. About the only actor who shines is Wilfrid Hyde White as the nasty plaintiffs attorney. Give it a C.

PS...Hiccup and you miss Robert Shaw in a very early role as a sleazy tabloid newshound.

Dirk Bogarde was a marvelous actor, and this is a fine film. But if you insist on believable stories, you won't like it. It's as true to life as an Agatha Christie story, and just as entertaining.

The plot is this: An English lord and a penniless scoundrel who looks exactly like him are in the same POW camp during World War II. Years later, another veteran claims the scoundrel actually killed the aristocrat and has been impersonating him ever since. The whole thing winds up in court, putting the aristocrat's wife through some agonizing moments. Finally, when nobody can stand the suspense any longer, the truth is revealed.

The idea of someone meeting his exact double is as silly as it is unbelievable, and by the 1950s there were ways to verify whether a living man was the war veteran he claimed to be. So you can't take this seriously. But if you suspend disbelief, you will really enjoy it. Though it's not marketed as a mystery, it's ideal for mystery fans.

I had to talk my wife into watching this movie on TCM, because it looked to her like a gloomy psychological drama. Once she started watching, she couldn't turn away (especially when Dirk Bogarde was on the screen). She was still talking about it an hour after it ended. "What if something like that really happened?" she remarked. Well, it wouldn't, but ...

In London, veteran pilot Paul Massie (as Jeffrey "Jeff" Buckenham) sees a former World War II buddy on television. The show's reporter is interviewing handsome British aristocrat Dirk Bogarde (as Mark Sebastian Loddon) and his American wife Olivia de Havilland (as Margaret "Maggie" Loddon) about Mr. Bogarde's notable family estate. Bogarde has trouble remembering events from prior to his years as a prisoner of war in Germany. The experience made his memory unreliable and his hair turn grey, according to Bogarde. After watching the broadcast, Mr. Massie declares Bogarde an impostor...

"Libel" ends up being a little confusing, even though the identity problems in the plot are cleared up satisfactorily. For most of the running tome, the story favors one conclusion, making it seem less like a mystery; Bogarde does an excellent job, considering. Distracting, but important in the script, is his "grey" hair color. He looks more like a younger, blond man while his co-star's dated hairstyle makes Ms. De Havilland look like the older woman. Their age difference, five years, wasn't that big. As dueling lawyers, Robert Morley and Wilfrid Hyde-White ensure the courtroom scenes play engagingly.

******* Libel (10/23/59) Anthony Asquith ~ Dirk Bogarde, Olivia de Havilland, Paul Massie, Robert Morley

This movie is really good. A must for any Olivia DeHaviland fan or Dick Bogarde. During the court trial over libel accusations against the character Buckingham, during testimony, you can just see in Olivia's eyes about beginning to doubt whether her husband is really her husband. It is all in Olivia's eye movements and facial expressions. This movie is rated 7.1 currently on this site. I think it should be more like a 7.5 or so. I highly recommend it. It also has a grand ending.

A twisty mystery thriller from 1959. Dirk Bogarde stars in this story of man pretending who he is not. A royal couple are on TV giving a tour of their estate when one particular viewee seems intrigued by the man & soon feels this person of lineage is an imposter filing suit to bring the culprit to justice. It turns out they both were prisoners of war along w/a third fellow who had an uncanny resemblance to the royal. The accuser soon makes his case that one man had taken over the other's identity & is now leading a stolen life. The case soon becomes the talk of Britain as the truth is mined for all its worth & the real identity of the accused man is made known to all. This could've been better but lapses in obviousness are staggering when we have Bogarde playing multiple characters & no mention is made of them being related or twins (as in the famous Prince & the Pauper story) to explain away the remarkable coincidence. Olivia de Havilland plays the wife who now doubts the man she's been w/for years & veterans actors Robert Morley & Wilfrid Hyde-White (I remember him in the 80's on Buck Rogers) play the dueling barristers in the trial.

The acting in this film was superb and the storyline kept me interested. A must see if your into classic movies. I loved this movie. I'd really like to see it sold on video/DVD, it would be a great addition to my classic's collection.

This 1959 film for MGM is a British production with an American star. In its pairing of Hollywood legend Olivia de Havilland, in one of only half-a-dozen roles she played in the 1950s, and Rank's leading man Dirk Bogarde, 'Libel' might seem to promise the same twin-star power of Bogarde's later pairing with Judy Garland in 1963's 'I Could Go On Singing'. Or, at least, that's what I was hoping for.

Adapted from a courtroom drama, and a fairly convoluted one at that, the film is somewhat bogged down by its lengthy central courtroom scenes and obligatory flashbacks. Nevertheless, there is much of merit to enjoy in the production, especially for fans of British film actors of the 1950s and 1960s.

Paul Massie (who played Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde for Hammer) gives an energetic performance as a Canadian airman who suspects a fellow prisoner-of-war of being an impostor. He carries the first part of the film with strong support from a young Millicent Martin (of 'That Was The Week That Was' fame) as a girl whom he befriends because she owns a television he wants to use to watch Dirk Bogarde. Well, after all, who wouldn't want to watch Dirk Bogarde on TV?

Bogarde "greyed up" in other films, notably 1961's 'Victim', and here he does so in order to appear with dark hair as his younger self in flashback, but his measured performance as an older man is nonetheless a drag on the action until Massie arrives at his stately home to challenge his identity. And so it's off to court we go. Is Bogarde really Sir Mark Loddon the 7th Baronet, or is he in fact an actor by the name of Frank Welney?

Those with sufficient experience of how to plot a courtroom drama will be able to follow every step and predict the vast majority of them. Olivia de Havilland wrestles with a difficult part and loses by two falls and a submission. I'm sure I spotted at least one moment where she was channelling a schlock Joan Crawford, while at other times she joins Bogarde in a performance so measured it's boring.

At least there's plenty of Dirk on the screen, but in truth even his best efforts can't make the character of Sir Mark Loddon all that convincing. All the same, fans of Bogarde - myself included - will enjoy watching him try. Probably his finest moments, however, are in flashback as frustrated thespian Frank Welney, where Dirk gives us just a whismy of luvviness by way of contrast with upper-crust Sir Mark. In the first flashback scene, he's also particularly well served by some ambitious trompe-l'oeil special effects - judicious use of the pause button is recommended to help you work out how it's done.

The film features several judicious supporting turns from Robert Morley, Wilfrid Hyde-White and Richard Wattis as counsel for the prosecution, defence counsel and judge respectively. There is also a pair of marvellous cameos for star-spotters, which I won't spoil other than to tell you which characters to look out for. See if you can name two very different actors both making early film appearances playing nosy newspaper photographers.

I was able to see this film on a DVD imported from Spain. It boasts a crisp but unrestored 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen black-and-white print and good clear audio, with the exception of a few momentary dropouts at certain scene breaks, one of which did interrupt a good line of dialogue from Paul Massie. Massie unfortunately drifts into the background in the second half of the film as the Dirk flashbacks get going in earnest.

There just aren't enough truly first-rate courtroom drama movies, and so the second-rate ones are always worth a look for aficionados. I'm certainly glad to have seen 'Libel', and as a Bogarde fan I'll probably keep it in my collection now that I have a copy, but it could be quite a while before I decide to dust it off for a second viewing.

This movie employs good actors, particularly some of the great English character actors of the time. However, the premise of the plot- one person changing identities with another, ruined the movie for me. What I don't understand, and wish some other movie buff could explain, how do writers get paid for stories when they show an complete lack of basic understanding of the military. Even way back in WWII, English soldiers were fingerprinted, and most soldiers wore their dog tags religiously, particularly those who served in combat. I would imagine a baron would be particularly concerned that his remains arrive back in the family plot. These two facts of military life were never explained. The final insult to our intelligence came when a uniform of a near comatose patient is presented in the court room. Since the war ended in 1945, and the setting of the movie was contempory (1959), 14 years had elapsed. What happened to the soldier's identification tags? What efforts had been made to notify the patient's family? In real life, the question of responsibility would have generated a search to determine whether the patient was a British soldier. The two main characters were captured at the evacuation at Dunkirk, often referred as the Miracle of Dunkirk because 400,000 soldiers did excape. The number of majors captured at Dunkirk would have been relatively small, and if a hospital was stuck with a patient for long term care, it stands to reason a serious effort would be made to determine who their patient was.