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 is pretty good. I didn't know until the last few minutes whether Dirk Bogarde was the Fifth Earl Baronet of Chichester-on-Rhymes and Aylesworth House -- or whatever his title and estate were called -- or a lower-echelon con man who had taken his place.Everything is hunky dory for the wealthy English aristocrat who lives happily with his wife, Olivia De Havilland,in his mansion. He's handsome, loving, and friendly, but he suffers from an uncertain memory due to unpleasant war experiences. He's an ex POW who spent a lot of time as an army major in a German prison camp; his companions were the low-brow actor, also played by Bogarde, who resembled him and was good at impersonations, and the Canadian Buckinham, who disapproves of the actor and his pretensions.Years after the war, Buckinham shows up and accuses Bogarde of being NOT the Fourth Earl of Muckle-on-Yare and the Abbey Grange, but of being the ambitious actor instead. The actor presumably murdered the Duke during an escape and took his place, imitating him peerlessly, or rather peerfully.Shanda! Bogarde takes the tabloid paper that printed the accusation to court and sues for libel. We're all rooting for the justification of the Viscount Greystoke because he seems like such a nice guy, but as the trial progresses more and more doubt is cast on his real identity and evidence emerges that suggests he did in fact murder the aristocratic Bogarde, First Baronet of Cumberbatch-on-Treacle, and took his place. Even his loving wife is convinced. Bogarde doesn't help. In the witness box he loses his poise, begins to stutter and sweat, and generally radiates an aura of deceit.I'll leave it at that. The direction is competent, no more than that, but Bogarde is quite good, and De Havilland is as elegant as ever, British in style if not nationality. She came from the family that developed the famous De Havilland Mosquito during the war but was raised on the San Francisco peninsula. She attended the tiny Notre Dame High School in Saratoga, which has (or had until recently) a charming walled-in campus full of tall evergreens.The movie doesn't exactly rush headlong through the narrative -- which is, I understand, taken from an old incident in France. It's not, say, "Witness for the Prosecution." It's less inventive, though hardly more believable. In all, worth catching. Nobody breaks down on the witness stand and cries out, "I DID IT. I DID IT! But I didn't want to kill him; I only wanted to FRIGHTEN him! (Sob.)"

This film seems to be based on the true story of Martin Guerre, the sixteenth century Frenchman who went off to war and came back a changed man. Some of these changes turned out to be so great that his neighbors suspected it wasn't really Martin. It turned out they were right; it was an impostor, Arnaud du Tilh, so clever he even fooled Martin's wife. The real Martin eventually showed up and Arnaud confessed his crime. IN 192 the story was made into a film starring Gerard Depardieu as Arnaud. American audiences will be more familiar with Sommersby (1993), an adaptation of the same story starring Jodie Foster and Richard Gere, set after the American Civil War.

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.