The first time I watched REPEAT PERFORMANCE was on Nickolodeon in the late 1980s, circa 1987-1988, when the cable channel was still showing old movies in the wee hours of the morning. I was caught up in the trials and tribulations of glamorous actress Sheila Page (Joan Leslie) who shoots her philandering horndog of a husband (Louis Hayward) in a fit of passionate rage on New Year's Eve and hears police sirens off in the distance, and wishes that she could live the past year all over again. She does. Will Sheila shoot her husband again? You'll have to find out for yourself. I can't spoil it for you. I can say this, however: REPEAT PERFORMANCE was one of the first movies put out by Eagle-Lion Films after the name change from Producers Releasing Corporation; it had been purchased by the J. Arthur Rank Organisation based in England with the purpose of making bigger-budgeted films. I had this movie on tape, taped over it for some unknown reason, and now it's hard to find. Darn. Anyway, fine movie. Ahhh, one more thing: Joan Leslie made a cameo appearance in the television remake TURN BACK THE CLOCK (1989) with Connie Sellecca and William Russ.

I sought this out because I saw the cool movie poster online and thought it looked like an interesting movie. The story is about an actress (Joan Leslie) who shoots her cheating husband (Louis Hayward) on New Year's Eve. She goes to see her producer friend for help but when she arrives at his apartment, she finds that time has turned back a year. She now has a chance to relive the past year and prevent things from happening that led to the shooting.Curious blend of fantasy and film noir melodrama is a nice starring vehicle for Joan Leslie. She's a little over the top at times but so is the rest of the cast. Louis Hayward, Tom Conway, and Virginia Field are all fine. Richard Basehart is miscast as Leslie's weird poet friend who's in love with her. Think of Clifford Webb in "Laura" and you can imagine how wrong Basehart is for a part like that. The 'Whistler' style narration is a bit much and the movie gives in to soap opera theatrics often. Still, it's interesting and enjoyable to watch, particularly for fans of Joan Leslie.

I've had a VHS copy of this for years from the early days of the Z channel. I had seen it even earlier than that and it was memorable. I've always found it fascinating, with an unusual plot line. Great Broadway background. I'm glad it's finally been restored. The old print badly restoration. I can't wait to see this released on DVD. Excellent performances all around. A real stunner for Joan Leslie who was never better. Hopefully she can provide a commentary track and how she got involved with this project. I'd heard about the restoration as there must be a lot of fans. See this one. Apparently I have to write ten lines so I hope this suffices.

This movie was featured on A&E Network numerous times around 1986-87. It was an excellent print and I was led by it to believe that it was on videocassette. Nik at nite also featured it numerous times during the same period. Unlike other subscribers I felt that Joan Leslie's per- formance was a little hammy and saccharine. Richard Basehart gave an interesting performance. Also interesting to see Natalie Schaefer from Gilligans Island. Eagle-Lion was an interesting "b" studio, and produced some films of real quality and memorableness. When I say this, I am especially thinking of "Hollow Triumph(the SCAR). Very interesting performance by Joan Bennett.