Starring Edmund Lowe, Valerie Hobson, Wera Engels, Murray Kinnell, Henry Mollison, Spring
Byington
Directed by Alan Crosland

Print: black/white
Runtime: 68 min.
Genre: drama
Print Quality: B

The Great Impersonation is based on the E. Phillips Oppenheim espionage novel of the same
name, previously filmed in 1921. During WW I, drunken, dissolute British nobleman Everard
Dominey (Edmund Lowe) wanders into the African jungle, where he meets his exact double,
German spy Von Ragenstein (also Edmund Lowe). The scene shifts back to England, where,
apparently, Von Ragenstein has assumed Dominey's identity after the latter is reported
killed. The actual identity of the protagonist is kept secret until the very end. Either way, it's
a story of redemption: If he's really Von Ragenstein, he may very well be persuaded to cast
his lot with the British; if he's really Dominey, he might just sober up and assume his proper
place in society. The film is brightened by the presence of two former Bride of Frankenstein
co-stars: Valerie Hobson, then only a teenager, delivers one of her best performances as
Dominey's distraught wife, while Dwight Frye goes through his usual 'Renfield' paces as a
roving lunatic. Both the 1935 Great Impersonation and the 1945 remake with Ralph Bellamy
and Evelyn Ankers were later included in Universal's 'Shock Theater' TV package, even
though both films are more suspenseful than shocking.