The Man Who Lost Himself is a 1941 American comedy film directed by Edward Ludwig and starring Brian Aherne, Kay Francis and Nils Asther.Bubbeo p.97 Aherne plays a man who encounters his exact double and is later mistaken for the other man who is now dead. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Henry De Vere Stacpoole.Goble p.348 The novel was also previously adapted to film in 1920. The new version shifts the setting from London of the original to New York, although it features several British actors.
Plot Department store mogul Malcolm Scott escapes from a mental institution. At a bar, he encounters lookalike John Evans and they get drunk together.
John wakes up in Malcolm's home, where butler Paul and others mistakenly believe him to be Malcolm. As he attempts to persuade them otherwise, the real Malcolm is killed in a subway accident. Malcolm's estranged wife Adrienne has been romantically involved with Peter Ransome, while it appears Malcolm had been seeing a Mrs. Van Avery while also embezzling from his store with a man named Mulhausen who now wants to buy it from Adrienne.
John foils the scheme, and when a grateful Adrienne finally realizes who he really is, she decides she would like to marry her dead husband's dead ringer.
Cast Brian Aherne as John Evans / Malcolm Scott Kay Francis as Adrienne Scott Henry Stephenson as Frederick Collins S. Z. Sakall as Paul Nils Asther as Peter Ransome Sig Ruman as Dr. Simms Dorothy Tree as Mrs. Van Avery Janet Beecher as Mrs. Milford Marc Lawrence as Frank DeSoto Henry Kolker as Mulhausen Sarah Padden as Maid Eden Gray as Venetia Scott Selmer Jackson as Mr. Green William Gould as Mr. Ryan Russell Hicks as Mr. Van der Girt Frederick Burton as Mr. Milford Margaret Armstrong as Mrs. Van der Girt Wilson Benge as Butler Frank O'Connor as cab driver (uncredited)
References
Bibliography Bubbeo, Daniel. The Women of Warner Brothers: The Lives and Careers of 15 Leading Ladies, with Filmographies for Each. McFarland, 2001.
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