Repeat Performance (1947)

August 4, 2023 10:32 AM

Broadway star, Sheila Page (Joan Leslie), shoots Barney (Louis Hayward), her murderous husband on New Year's Eve. She flees her apartment and goes to her producer, John Friday (Tom Conway). When she arrives, it is New Year's day, a year earlier. She has been given the chance to live life over and correct the errors of the past only to find that the end will be the same although the path will be different.

Directed by Alfred L. Werker. Written by Walter Bullock.

Average review of 3.3 on Letterboxd.

Currently streaming on Kanopy in the US. JustWatch.

This series, about time loop movies, is one I sponsored myself. I'll be using the tag #DejaVuDay It will be a double-sized batch.

Donate $25 or more to MeFi and you can MeMail me a request for a themed day of your own. I'll fill up the sidebar on FF with six movies that fit your theme.

posted by DirtyOldTown (5 comments total)

Is this the oldest time loop movie? Almost certainly not. But you were surprised by the 1947 date, too, weren't you?
posted by DirtyOldTown at 11:24 AM on August 4, 2023 [1 favorite]

Is this the oldest time loop movie? Almost certainly not.

Wikipedia, at this moment in time, seems to think it is, with the next loop movie coming out in 1964.
posted by hanov3r at 1:49 PM on August 4, 2023

I did a time loop project and I couldn't find an earlier movie. So it may or may not be the first, but let's just say it is.

There's really only one time loop here, so it barely counts (but it does count!). I also don't think it's really worth going out of your way to see it. There are some fun bits but it kind of drags.

This was remade (or adapted again, since the movie was based on a novel) as a made-for-TV movie, Turn Back the Clock in 1989. I never managed to find a legit copy of it, though.
posted by edencosmic at 1:41 PM on August 5, 2023

I enjoyed Repeat Performance, but then as a TCM fan it's right in my wheelhouse. The late 40's was an interesting time for proto-fantasy/sci-fi films; perhaps WWII got audiences to think outside the box. I think a case might be made that 1946's It's A Wonderful Life preceded it as a variation on the time loop movie. Repeat Performance would also make a good double bill with 1945's Dead of Night.

TCM's intro to Repeat Performance details the film's interesting history, and its outro details the radical changes from book to screenplay (note: don't watch the outro before watching the movie!).
posted by fairmettle at 5:03 PM on August 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

Like kissing a girl through a plate glass window.

An alcoholic character's assessment of drinking ginger ale in Repeat Performance.
posted by fairmettle at 3:34 AM on August 7, 2023