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Films: M is for...

Man Who Haunted Himself, The

Basil ‘Room for one more inside, sir’ Dearden demonstrates his unparalleled ability to be shocking very slowly, as a moustachioed Roger Moore survives a car crash, only to find a rollicking doppelganger has been making his life hell while he’s been unconscious in hospital. Cue much worried confrontation with the missus, Thorley Walters and Anton Rodgers, before a climactic Moore-on-Moore car chase brings things to a dramatic conclusion. Top drawer intrigue, with corner-cutting continuity errors failing to blunt the best performance Rog has ever given (as Rog himself concurs).

6 Comments

6 Comments

  1. Glenn A

    January 12, 2011 at 9:50 pm

    A classic for those of us who like Rover P5Bs. Roger would only survive in one of these Prime Ministerial cars as it was built like a tank and looked like one. However, except for the chase at the end, the rest of it is rather dull.

  2. Glenn Aylett

    February 25, 2023 at 7:28 pm

    Probably only remembered by hardcore Rog fans, in the same way Sean Connery’s grim crime film The Offence( made after Diamonds Are Forever) is only appreciated by a few Connery fans. The Man Who Haunted itself, which Rog said was one of his finest roles, is a complex story that is far removed from The Saint and The Persuaders that he was best known for at the time and while a bit of a slog in places, is a decent film overall. I quite like the chase with the doppelganger at the end which is like a bad acid trip.

  3. Sidney Balmoral James

    February 25, 2023 at 9:09 pm

    Didn’t Basil Dearden die in a car accident on the M4, the same road on which they filmed the car accident that features in this – his last – film? One of several strange, car-related deaths in movie history – see also Princess Grace, dying in an accident on the Corniche, where she famously drove in To Catch a Thief, and Paul Walker, of Fast and Furious fame, dying in a crash that might have been in one of the films. Rog is good in this, because he doesn’t over-do the ‘what’s happening to me?’ bit like some actors might have done but it remains a fairly dull film. I’ve always admired The Offence, because it doesn’t really stint on being as dour as possible, and tops it all with a score by Harrison Birtwistle.

  4. Glenn Aylett

    February 26, 2023 at 10:37 am

    @ Sidney, Basil Dearden died on the M4 a year after the film was released and probably not far from where the Rover crashed.
    The Man Who Haunted Himself isn’t a bad film- the plot is different and Rog plays it completely straight- just you only really want to watch it for the two scenes with the Rover as parts of it drag. The Offence is excellent: Connery not long after playing his most light hearted portrayal of 007 plays a brutal detective who beats a suspect to death and is traumatised by his previous cases. I rate it highly, even if The Offence flopped at the box office.

  5. Richardpd

    February 26, 2023 at 1:05 pm

    That’s two films to add to my every growing list of ones to look out for on Talking Pictures!

  6. Glenn Aylett

    February 26, 2023 at 4:46 pm

    @ Richardpd, The Offence is the better of the two as Connery made it shortly after Diamonds Are Forever and the contrast is enormous, as he swaps Las Vegas for some unnamed brutalist new town where the sun never shines and the character he plays is anything but heroic, a detective sergeant traumatised by his work who snaps and beats a suspect to death, played brilliantly by Ian Bannen, who mocks him continuously until he is killed in the cells.

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