The Otherness of the Femme Fatale:
A Look at La Otra * 1946 & Dead Ringer * 1964
A Look at La Otra * 1946 & Dead Ringer * 1964
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A review by Paulette Reynolds * October 23, 2025
La Otra (aka The Other)
1946
Directed by Roberto Gavaldón
Screenplay (as The Other Woman) by José Revueltas,
Jack Wagner, and Roberto Gavaldón, from a story by Ryan James.
Link for La Otra with English subtitles:
https://ok.ru/video/3162583861926
Starring Dolores del Río/María and Magdalena Méndez, Agustín Irusta/Roberto Gonzalez, Víctor Junco/Fernando, José Baviera/Lawyer de la Fuente
Dead Ringer
1964
Directed by Paul Henreid
Screenplay by Albert Beich, Oscar Millard
Story by Ryan James
Starring Bette Davis/Margaret DeLorca and Edith (Edie) Phillips, Karl Malden/Sgt. Jim Hobbson, Peter Lawford/Tony Collins, Philip Carey/Sgt. Hoag, Jean Hagen/Dede Marshall, Cyril Delevanti/Henry
1946
Directed by Roberto Gavaldón
Screenplay (as The Other Woman) by José Revueltas,
Jack Wagner, and Roberto Gavaldón, from a story by Ryan James.
Link for La Otra with English subtitles:
https://ok.ru/video/3162583861926
Starring Dolores del Río/María and Magdalena Méndez, Agustín Irusta/Roberto Gonzalez, Víctor Junco/Fernando, José Baviera/Lawyer de la Fuente
Dead Ringer
1964
Directed by Paul Henreid
Screenplay by Albert Beich, Oscar Millard
Story by Ryan James
Starring Bette Davis/Margaret DeLorca and Edith (Edie) Phillips, Karl Malden/Sgt. Jim Hobbson, Peter Lawford/Tony Collins, Philip Carey/Sgt. Hoag, Jean Hagen/Dede Marshall, Cyril Delevanti/Henry
“Fate is always loaded with a great dose of irony.”
La Otra and Dead Ringer highlight the talents of iconic Delores Del Rio in the original 1946 story and its twin sister, the 1964 version of Dead Ringer, starring the legendary Bette Davis. Both films concentrate on the fascinating question of deception - will the ‘good one’ get away with her crime of passion? Can she pull it off?
La Otra and Dead Ringer highlight the talents of iconic Delores Del Rio in the original 1946 story and its twin sister, the 1964 version of Dead Ringer, starring the legendary Bette Davis. Both films concentrate on the fascinating question of deception - will the ‘good one’ get away with her crime of passion? Can she pull it off?
The title La Otra (The Other) goes beyond simply describing what is to come: It’s a deep focus on the inner world of “the other” sister, María, the one who lives in the shadow of a great mansion, where her twin sister lounges in luxury. Many years ago María loved a man, but selfish Magdalena snagged him for herself. This charts the course for both as they stand at her dead lover’s final resting place. She never faulted him for choosing her more manipulative twin, as she finds it easier to blame the conniving Magdalena, who charmed him into providing her with a life of wealth and privilege.
But a more subtle aspect of both films is the otherness that these four women inhabit. Femme fatales Magdalena Montes de Oca and Margaret DeLorca opt for living in comfort as trophy wives. Yet, despite the lure of instant gratification, these women are never really taken seriously, even by their closest circle of friends. Their lifestyles are as separate and unreachable as the sun, leaving us to remember the old proverb, “All that glitters is not gold”.
But a more subtle aspect of both films is the otherness that these four women inhabit. Femme fatales Magdalena Montes de Oca and Margaret DeLorca opt for living in comfort as trophy wives. Yet, despite the lure of instant gratification, these women are never really taken seriously, even by their closest circle of friends. Their lifestyles are as separate and unreachable as the sun, leaving us to remember the old proverb, “All that glitters is not gold”.
The Other can take many forms: It could be a witch living on the edge of the forest, a superwoman saving the world with her special powers, a person of color trying to succeed in a terribly white world, or just a shy child trying desperately to fit in at school. But whatever the mode, it’s always someone who sits outside of society’s exclusive circle; whether by gender, age, class or income tax bracket.
The flipside of this coin reveals the dark side of Otherness – those of the working class, like María Méndez and Edie Phillips, struggling daily simply to exist in a world that doesn’t support them. The Other is a very popular trope in storytelling, where the main character lives just outside of society’s reach, learning to be self-reliant, because in the urban jungle only the strong survive.
The flipside of this coin reveals the dark side of Otherness – those of the working class, like María Méndez and Edie Phillips, struggling daily simply to exist in a world that doesn’t support them. The Other is a very popular trope in storytelling, where the main character lives just outside of society’s reach, learning to be self-reliant, because in the urban jungle only the strong survive.
The films were made 18 years apart, with La Otra released on November 20, 1946 in Mexico and 1947 in the U.S. Warner Bros. owned a script, but opted not to use it because another Davis vehicle, A Stolen Life, utilized a similar good-evil twin storyline.
Dolores Del Rio stars in La Otra, a film saturated with dark shadows and endless dialogues on meaning and nothingness, plus a healthy measure of depression so essential to the film noir genre. Its somber tones eclipses even the traditional French approach so popular during the 1940s. María (Del Rio) is struggling to carve out a meaningful existence as a manicurist, while fending off the unwanted attention from rich clients - and putting off marriage plans with her lover, Roberto.
Dolores Del Rio stars in La Otra, a film saturated with dark shadows and endless dialogues on meaning and nothingness, plus a healthy measure of depression so essential to the film noir genre. Its somber tones eclipses even the traditional French approach so popular during the 1940s. María (Del Rio) is struggling to carve out a meaningful existence as a manicurist, while fending off the unwanted attention from rich clients - and putting off marriage plans with her lover, Roberto.
“You only see the bad in life, whereas together we could find happiness,” he sighs in frustration.
María doesn’t want to get married because her life is a daily battle, and she sees marriage as just another act that will only compound her troubles. For her, there is safety in singleness. She sees her detective boyfriend as a daydreamer who's unrealistic in the face of life's grinding poverty. Yet she spends the last of her tiny paycheck on a lighter for him, as they tenderly exchange presents on Christmas Eve.
The main theme here is deception and the passion that’s driving it. Earlier, María left her sister‘s fancy mansion after the death of her husband, a man she once loved - and lost - to her cunning twin, Magdalena Montes de Oca.
The main theme here is deception and the passion that’s driving it. Earlier, María left her sister‘s fancy mansion after the death of her husband, a man she once loved - and lost - to her cunning twin, Magdalena Montes de Oca.
“You always know how to talk to me, and how to steal the best from me. Our parent’s affections, their pampering, their praise. And finally, the man I could have married. There is one thing I’m sure of - I felt his death much more than you.”
Now she wanders the streets, unemployed for refusing the sordid attentions of a very wealthy patron. Drifting aimlessly, she repeatedly sees an advertisement for the national lottery and begins to wonder what life would have offered if she had only chosen a different path. She’s remembering the exchange that took place in Magdalena’s suite of rooms.
“Fate is always loaded with a great dose of irony,” Magdalena knowingly smirks. “The smart thing to know is how to accept this dose. You haven’t learned how to face the world with the weapons it uses - with cunning, with cynicism, with hypocrisy, with crime. I’m speaking only of small weapons, not last resorts.”
“Fate is always loaded with a great dose of irony,” Magdalena knowingly smirks. “The smart thing to know is how to accept this dose. You haven’t learned how to face the world with the weapons it uses - with cunning, with cynicism, with hypocrisy, with crime. I’m speaking only of small weapons, not last resorts.”
Fate? The lottery is for five million dollars - the same amount from the de Oca estate that Magdalena stands to inherit.
Fast-forward to María killing Magdalena among the desolate shadows of her room, and emerging into the other-worldly brightness of her dead sister’s realm. Cinematographer Alex Phillips makes skillful use of the interplay between the light and dark of the shifting environments that María must inhabit.
Fast-forward to María killing Magdalena among the desolate shadows of her room, and emerging into the other-worldly brightness of her dead sister’s realm. Cinematographer Alex Phillips makes skillful use of the interplay between the light and dark of the shifting environments that María must inhabit.
The artificial luminosity where she finds herself is not limited to her new living quarters - indeed, Magdalena moved in a hectic swirl of people, parties, and playboys. She soon realizes that her new world is a shallow valley of conspicuous consumption, and no amount of glittering jewels can fill up the empty spaces within her.
Yet another pain awaits her as she needs to convince Roberto (now acting as a lead detective in the death of Magdalena’s sister) that she is the queen of her castle. But she’s caught in a web of Magdalena’s construction, built on grim secrets that she must now share as her legacy, too.
Yet another pain awaits her as she needs to convince Roberto (now acting as a lead detective in the death of Magdalena’s sister) that she is the queen of her castle. But she’s caught in a web of Magdalena’s construction, built on grim secrets that she must now share as her legacy, too.
Spanish films always promise a great deal of passion and the cast does not hold back. Tension builds between Roberto (played by Agustín Irusta) and María with each encounter, separating them behind a wall of memories and missed opportunities.
The second half of the film unfolds pretty much the same as in Dead Ringer, with a few dramatic twists. La Otra is a film to be watched and savored as the very best in Mexican film noir - and Dolores Del Rio does not disappoint us.
The second half of the film unfolds pretty much the same as in Dead Ringer, with a few dramatic twists. La Otra is a film to be watched and savored as the very best in Mexican film noir - and Dolores Del Rio does not disappoint us.
In both stories, the transformed twins must convince an unknown world that they exist, and one could say that the title of Del Rio’s film applies to both films. For La Otra, the title originally meant The Other Woman, but looking at it from a class perspective adds another layer of meaning for the viewer. Who was really deceived but María herself, as she was convinced that her life would be more satisfying up in the big house.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in Dead Ringer, starring Bette Davis as Edie Phillips and Margaret DeLorca. Both films are a warning that the echelons of wealth and privilege will only tolerate the upper crust, and herein is the truth that María and Edie both discover: They don’t fit - not because they killed to get in - but because they were born into a different class altogether. The traditional moral code still applies here, for our murderers must be punished; and yet the underlying message about class divisions reaches beyond the Doppelgänger trope presented in these classic films.
Released in 1964, Dead Ringer was the half-way point through a legendary career that spanned 58 years and 124 films for Bette Davis, who was 55 and firmly into her late middle-aged period. One could say that she channeled her frustration at Hollywood’s lack of good roles for older women into her character as Edie Phillips. Fueled by a barely-contained rage, she lashes out at her sister Margaret DeLorca after the funeral of her stolen love. This other sister absolutely hates Margaret for stealing her man and making him miserable, but she also hungers for the wealthy and pampered lifestyle that her devious sister hijacked.
Edie’s rage is like a bottomless well – rage at her sister for having ruined her life (and the life of Mr. DeLorca), rage at herself for settling on a second-best lifestyle, and rage at her controlling boyfriend, Jim. She’s overwhelmed by the mounting bills for her seedy nightclub and his constant pestering to quit, marry him and settle down on a chicken farm. The tender love that existed in La Otra between Maria and Roberto is absent in this updated version, and here detective Jim Hopson is only interested in his dreams of a tradwife and baby chicks. (Bette Davis on a farm?)
One look at Margaret’s lavish bedroom gives Edie another reminder of what she’s missed in terms of the luxurious side of life – a mansion full of servants, furs, jewelry, and a well stocked clothes closet for any social occasion. Her sister’s tactless offer of her second-hand finery sparks a long dormant bed of resentment, loss, and fury.
One look at Margaret’s lavish bedroom gives Edie another reminder of what she’s missed in terms of the luxurious side of life – a mansion full of servants, furs, jewelry, and a well stocked clothes closet for any social occasion. Her sister’s tactless offer of her second-hand finery sparks a long dormant bed of resentment, loss, and fury.
Back in her shabby rooms over the nightclub, Edie surveys her present situation and devises a slick plan in a hurry, tricking her sister into coming over for a visit. Curious as to how her sister has been living, Margaret can’t say no. Once there, she can barely conceal her pleasure at Edie’s sparse life, which increases her insistence that she take her gift of quick cash. But Edie turns feral and kills her, making the death look like Edie’s suicide.
Taking up her sister’s persona, she now lives the good life, spending money and shrugging her shoulders at everyone for the next six months. She soon discovers that Margaret’s life included a very greedy boyfriend, who has some demands - and threats - of his own. And it doesn’t help when Jim uses Edie’s death as a convenient excuse to drop in for some impromptu interrogation sessions that end up on Memory Lane.
Dead Ringer’s main surprise here is Karl Malden’s Jim and his struggle to keep his flame of obsessive love burning, even in the face of Edie/Margaret’s lack of enthusiasm for his attentions. (Again, who is deceiving who?) Edie keeps up the pretense of being Margaret DeLorca, all the way to her ultimate fate, which is a departure from the 1946 original story.
Dead Ringer’s main surprise here is Karl Malden’s Jim and his struggle to keep his flame of obsessive love burning, even in the face of Edie/Margaret’s lack of enthusiasm for his attentions. (Again, who is deceiving who?) Edie keeps up the pretense of being Margaret DeLorca, all the way to her ultimate fate, which is a departure from the 1946 original story.
Like most films, the male narrative portrays Edie as failing to make it in a man’s world, as her bartender confides in Jim that she’s losing her lounge, “Edie's a soft touch, sergeant... and take it from me, a soft touch is a bad risk [As a business owner].”
His well-placed comment came at a time when America’s feminist movement was beginning its second wave with Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique. Edie’s (and MarÍa’s) descent into the realm of The Other becomes complete when she constantly ignores Jim’s retirement plans, as Hollywood usually punishes single women without children.
His well-placed comment came at a time when America’s feminist movement was beginning its second wave with Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique. Edie’s (and MarÍa’s) descent into the realm of The Other becomes complete when she constantly ignores Jim’s retirement plans, as Hollywood usually punishes single women without children.
Eighteen years separates these two films, and the contrast between them is stark, both in the production and acting elements. La Otra looks and feels like a definitive noir film, hitting all the high marks from the golden era of dark urban post-WWII movies. Dead Ringer, however, teeters between Grand Guignol kitsch and a trashy look that tarnishes some 'thriller' films from that era.
These two films contain a few similar elements, yet are as different as night and day: This film noir is set in a busy Mexican city, where its bright lights fade into dark streets of despair. Maria clings to her existential dread like a threadbare coat, shifting from fatalism to hopelessness in a single sentence. And like the backside of a coin, the 1960s city of LA represents Edie’s Neo-noir environs, flash-forwarding us into the harsh glare of Southern California, where secrets and murder can bake in the unrelenting sun of revenge and alienation.
These two films contain a few similar elements, yet are as different as night and day: This film noir is set in a busy Mexican city, where its bright lights fade into dark streets of despair. Maria clings to her existential dread like a threadbare coat, shifting from fatalism to hopelessness in a single sentence. And like the backside of a coin, the 1960s city of LA represents Edie’s Neo-noir environs, flash-forwarding us into the harsh glare of Southern California, where secrets and murder can bake in the unrelenting sun of revenge and alienation.
La Otra’s ending - like the entire classic - recalls the sorrow of the 1937 French film noir Pepe le Moko, right down to that cigarette lighter given so lovingly to her lost love. If you get a chance, binge-watch both films, appreciating that silver screen sisters Delores Del Rio and Bette Davis created unforgettable women, brave enough to fight for what they wanted - no matter what the final outcome.
Link for La Otra with English subtitles: https://ok.ru/video/3162583861926
Link for La Otra with English subtitles: https://ok.ru/video/3162583861926
COPYRIGHT 2012/2025. Paulette Reynolds. All CineMata Movie Madness blog articles, reviews, faux interviews, commentary, and the Cine Mata character are under the sole ownership of Paulette Reynolds. All intellectual and creative rights reserved.
