Synopsis
On New Year's Eve, stage star Sheila Page (Leslie) shoots Barney (Hayward), her husband. Leaving Barney dead on the floor, she rushes out and tells her friend William Williams (Basehart) what she has done. He suggests she ask the advice of her producer, John Friday (Conway). As they climb the stairs to John's apartment, Sheila wishes that she could have the year over and avoid her mistakes. She turns to speak to William, but he is gone, and she soon learns that she has gotten her wish. Time has rewound, and the year is starting over.
Despite Sheila's foreknowledge and attempts to change things, events continue to occur that lead toward the same end. On New Year's Eve, a crazed Barney attempts to kill her. As Sheila backs away from him, Barney is suddenly shot and killed. The killer is William, the only other person who knows about the repeating year; he has come to save Sheila. He comments that the details of destiny may change, but the results remain the same.
Discussion
Repeat Performance, a highly unusual film, can be described as a 'fantasy noir.' The characters are controlled by their destinies, which cannot be altered. Despite Sheila's foreknowledge and her efforts to change the events of the prior year, the same unwanted events still occur and lead toward the end she wanted to avoid, the shooting death of Barney on New Year's Eve. Only the identity of the killer is different.
The women actors are fine in their roles. Joan Leslie is pretty and sincere as the time-traveling stage star. Virginia Field, a rather obscure British actress, has a nice part as a self-centered and catty playwright. The male actors are even more interesting. Louis Hayward specialized in charming characters, either romantic heroes or unstable connivers and philanderers. Here, he is definitely in unhinged and philandering mode. Tom Conway frequently played upright, loyal, and earnest characters, as he does here. Richard Basehart, in his first film, is young, vulnerable, intense, and slightly unbalanced.