Edward G. Robinson is "The Man with Two Faces" in this 1934 drama which also stars Louis Calhern, Mary Astor, and Ricardo Cortez. Astor and Robinson are Jessica and Damon Wells, sister and brother actors appearing in the out of town tryout of a play called "The Dark Tower." Astor's cruel, greedy, crooked husband, Stanley Vance (Calhern) is believed dead. Unfortunately he's not, and he shows up where the cast is staying.Damon Wells comes up with an idea of getting rid of Vance once and for all, and he uses Wells' greed to do it, telling him that a man, Chautard, is interested in buying Vance's and Jessica's part of the show for a great deal of money. Stanley eagerly meets Chautard at his hotel.This is a nice, short mystery that showcases both Robinson and Calhern. It's not the most believable plot - for one thing, Astor becomes shell-shocked when her husband appears and does everything he tells her, as if she has no mind of her own. That seemed rather odd. However, the acting is good and the action goes by pleasantly.

From Warner Brothers Archive Collection, THE MAN WITH TWO FACES has Edward G. Robinson playing Damon Welles, a stage actor known for his character acting. Damon's sister Jessica(Mary Astor)is on the brink of a "come back" after suffering a nervous breakdown. Jessica stars in a play along side her brother. The play is produced by her lover, Ben Weston(Ricardo Cortez); and all is well until her ex-husband Stanley Vance(Louis Calhern)comes around. Vance has always seemed to have a hypnotic hold on Jessica; and makes it known he will take money to leave her alone. When the much hated Vance is found dead; just about anyone could be the murderer. Damon's skill of playing many characters and a Gideon Bible are important in solving the murder case almost given up on. A well written crime drama directed by Archie Mayo. Other players: Mae Clarke, Henry O'Neil, David Landau and Arthur Byron.

This 1934 film had a cast of movie legends along with Edward G. Robinson (Damon Welles) who also starred in "The Red House" and hundreds of other films. Mary Astor (Jessica Welles),who starred in "The Maltese Falcon" '41 with Humphrey Bogart. Even Mae Clarke (Daphne Martin) who was on "General Hospital '63 TV Series as Marge. Louis Calhern(Stanley Vance) played a nasty con-artist in this picture and was dispised by everyone, even Damon Welles. Louis Calhern starred in "Asphalt Jungle" 1950 along with Marilyn Monroe and had a long career in the 1920's to late 1960's. In 1934, this was considered a great drama or mystery, unfortunately, the plot was very poor, but the Actors made this a True Film Classic.

Great acting from Robinson, and a little over the top, but enjoyably so, from Calhern and Astor. Very stagey, but good setups and moving camera. Beware the plot synopsis in the TV Guide movie database. It seems to describe the ending of the play, but the movie (a censored version?), which played on TCM, has a more ambiguous ending which works better and is more interesting (to me, at least). (Not that I'm for censorship, but sometimes...) Ironically, the play had a happy ending, and that is the one described by TV Guide and Maltin. It's amusing to see when the established references contain reviews that were written by people who had not seen the entire film, and in some cases not at all.