The Four Sided Triangle (1953 UK)

What is a four-sided triangle, one might ask. In this case, it's two men and one woman - but the woman has been duplicated, so there are now two women, yet the two are exactly the same. A tough concept to grasp? - something, like a 4-sided triangle, which is beyond our ability to grasp in this reality? It's an intriguing sci-fi concept and a great starting point, though the execution here never rises above the mediocre.
The story, based on a 1939 novel, mostly takes place in an English village. It begins when the 3 main characters are children; the two boys and the girl are all close friends, though the girl favors one of the boys. It skips to when they are adults; the young men (Stephen Murray & John van Eyssen) return from college and begin work on a new invention. The woman (Barbara Payton) returns from America and the triangle re-establishes.

There is some vague talk by one of the inventors on how this new, fabulous machinary works - but it's kept, let's say, very vague. They've figured out a way to duplicate any object - as long as it fits in the receptacle (about 3 by 4 by 2 feet, though they can build larger receptacles if they want). So, think the gadgets from The Fly films; in those, objects/beings are transported; here, they're duplicated - less dangerous?).

The role of the two young scientists seems to be that of the standard benefactors to humanity: their invention should eliminate food shortages, for example, and perhaps poverty all-together. A couple of important British officials are contacted and informed to facillitate this. It seems straightforward, until one of the inventors and the woman announce their engagement. The other inventor, the odd man out, has difficulty with this - this is human frailty & unpredictability intruding into perfection.
This doesn't follow the usual course of 'mad scientist' movies, however. The dissatisfied inventor does not kidnap the object of his desire to do what we all expect; it's all more civilized than that. The woman understands his grief and agrees to the duplication, almost in a ritualistic fashion. This is where the film veers into unsatisfactory directions: the 2 women never meet or interact (too much trouble FX-wise those days?).

It becomes rather dull, with most of the story about the psychological impact on the 2nd identical woman who, since she is a complete duplicate, also loves the same man; she thought she could handle being with the other guy, as a form of sacrifice, but it's too depressing for her (it was hinted early in the film that she had suicidal tendencies to begin with). The possible impact on the world of such a machine is glossed over and the ramifications of such godlike power to create living beings is all but ignored (there was a glitch to duplicating living things which the unsatisfied scientist corrected through some resuscitation methods - I didn't quite get this).

The other facet to the film I didn't like was the narration, provided by the '5th' main character, a local doctor who is friends with the 3 (then 4) principals. It seemed unnecessary to me, belaboring all the developments within the story. The actor (James Hayter) playing the doc is very good and that's a problem - he dominates much of the tale which should have been all focused on the triangle/quadrangle. The ending also was quite pedestrian and predictable. BoG's Score: 6.5 out of 10

ABOVE: behind-the-scenes stills, shooting on location at Weymouth.
4-Sided Trivia: this was made for a cheap 25,000 pounds by Hammer Films; actress Payton's later life eerily mirrored the tragic aspects of her character here. A Star Trek TNG episode much later in 1992, Second Chances, also tackled the prospect of having 2 identical humans. There was also the later film, The Prestige, in 2006, starring Hugh Jackman & Christian Bale.