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Repeat Performance

 Repeat Performance
type
TVTItem
 Repeat Performance
label
Repeat Performance
 Repeat Performance
page
RepeatPerformance
 Repeat Performance
comment
Repeat Performance is a 1947 film directed by Alfred L. Werker.The story opens seven minutes before midnight on New Year's Eve, 1946. Sheila Page, an actress (Joan Leslie) shoots and kills her husband Barney (Louis Hayward). Sheila, in a daze, flees her apartment and soon makes her way to a bar where her friends, including poet William Williams (Richard Basehart in his film debut) are ringing in the New Year. Sheila tells William that she just killed Barney. William suggests that they go to John Friday, a theater director and a mutual friend, for advice.As Sheila and William are mounting the stairs to Barney's apartment, Sheila says disconsolately that 1946 was a miserable year for her, that everything went wrong with Barney, and that if she could do the year over again, she could fix all her mistakes. She turns around—and William isn't there. She knocks on John's door, and he lets her in, but he gets confused when she starts talking about her role in a play that as far as John knows, doesn't exist. It turns out that it isn't Jan. 1, 1947, it's Jan. 1, 1946. Sheila has traveled back in time a year! She rushes back home and finds Barney very much alive. She can fix all her mistakes!Or can she? Sheila decides that the first thing she'll do is not go to London, where Barney met Paula Costello, the playwright who had an affair with Barney and wrecked Sheila's marriage. But moments later, Paula, a total stranger to Sheila now that the timeline has been reset, crashes Sheila and Barney's New Year's party. As the year goes on, Sheila struggles to avoid her tragic fate...
 Repeat Performance
fetched
2024-02-14T03:55:03Z
 Repeat Performance
parsed
2024-02-14T03:55:03Z
 Repeat Performance
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Repeat Performance / int_2d97c18b
type
Pool Scene
 Repeat Performance / int_2d97c18b
comment
Pool Scene: How does the film show that Sheila and Barney have relocated to Los Angeles like Sheila wanted? By having Barney walk past a fool festooned with bathing beauties, of course. Barney does a Double Take at two hot women in swimsuits that walk past him.
 Repeat Performance / int_2d97c18b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Repeat Performance / int_2d97c18b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Repeat Performance
hasFeature
Repeat Performance / int_2d97c18b
 Repeat Performance / int_3c0a4666
type
Noodle Incident
 Repeat Performance / int_3c0a4666
comment
Noodle Incident: It's crucial to the plot that William is locked up an insane asylum. But the film never says why William was committed, only that it was because of something that happened while he was out and about with Mrs. Shaw, his bitchy patron. The reason for this is that in the source novel, William was a cross-dresser who went by the name "William and Mary Williams." There was no chance of getting away with this in 1947 under the Hays Code.
 Repeat Performance / int_3c0a4666
featureApplicability
1.0
 Repeat Performance / int_3c0a4666
featureConfidence
1.0
 Repeat Performance
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Repeat Performance / int_3c0a4666
 Repeat Performance / int_3dfdc686
type
Time-Passes Montage
 Repeat Performance / int_3dfdc686
comment
Time-Passes Montage: A quick one has the theater marquee announce July 4 and Labor Day showings of Sheila's play, interspersed with scenes of Barney and Paula doing romantic stuff.
 Repeat Performance / int_3dfdc686
featureApplicability
1.0
 Repeat Performance / int_3dfdc686
featureConfidence
1.0
 Repeat Performance
hasFeature
Repeat Performance / int_3dfdc686
 Repeat Performance / int_3f45f1e6
type
Adaptational Heroism
 Repeat Performance / int_3f45f1e6
comment
Adaptational Heroism / Adaptational Villainy: In the source novel Barney is the protagonist who kills his lover and tries to fix his mistakes, and the character of Sheila is an abusive alcoholic. This was changed, supposedly because the producers didn't think Joan Leslie would be credible as a villain.
 Repeat Performance / int_3f45f1e6
featureApplicability
1.0
 Repeat Performance / int_3f45f1e6
featureConfidence
1.0
 Repeat Performance
hasFeature
Repeat Performance / int_3f45f1e6
 Repeat Performance / int_428fef0b
type
"Pan from the Sky" Beginning
 Repeat Performance / int_428fef0b
comment
"Pan from the Sky" Beginning: The first shot is a camera panning down from the stars to the city of New York, as a narrator muses about fate and how Sheila Page will get a chance to change her life.
 Repeat Performance / int_428fef0b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Repeat Performance / int_428fef0b
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1.0
 Repeat Performance
hasFeature
Repeat Performance / int_428fef0b
 Repeat Performance / int_52989fee
type
Narrator
 Repeat Performance / int_52989fee
comment
Narrator: Apparently the producers were worried that 1947 theatergoers would get confused. So there's narration (by an uncredited John Ireland) in the opening scene about how Sheila Page is going to get a chance to change her fate, and more narration as Sheila is coming to the door of John's apartment, specifically stating that she's traveled back in time a year. ("She made a wish—a tragic one, at a tragic time.")
 Repeat Performance / int_52989fee
featureApplicability
1.0
 Repeat Performance / int_52989fee
featureConfidence
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 Repeat Performance
hasFeature
Repeat Performance / int_52989fee
 Repeat Performance / int_5313c266
type
Bookends
 Repeat Performance / int_5313c266
comment
Book Ends: The film begins on New Year's 1946/7 and, after Sheila repeats the whole year of 1946, ends at the same time. It also begins with a pan down from the starry night, and ends with a pan up to the starry night.
 Repeat Performance / int_5313c266
featureApplicability
1.0
 Repeat Performance / int_5313c266
featureConfidence
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 Repeat Performance
hasFeature
Repeat Performance / int_5313c266
 Repeat Performance / int_61313315
type
Off the Wagon
 Repeat Performance / int_61313315
comment
Off the Wagon: Barney, an alcoholic, falls off the wagon on New Year's, and more decisively falls off the wagon later in the year. This is a major factor in the collapse of Barney and Sheila's marriage.
 Repeat Performance / int_61313315
featureApplicability
1.0
 Repeat Performance / int_61313315
featureConfidence
1.0
 Repeat Performance
hasFeature
Repeat Performance / int_61313315
 Repeat Performance / int_6a1a1f8a
type
Glasses Pull
 Repeat Performance / int_6a1a1f8a
comment
Glasses Pull: Paula does this as a come-on, taking her reading glasses off and making a suggestive comment to Barney as they go over his new play. It works.
 Repeat Performance / int_6a1a1f8a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Repeat Performance / int_6a1a1f8a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Repeat Performance
hasFeature
Repeat Performance / int_6a1a1f8a
 Repeat Performance / int_7241785e
type
You Can't Fight Fate
 Repeat Performance / int_7241785e
comment
You Can't Fight Fate: Discussed, and played with. It seems that mostly, you really can't fight fate. Sheila decides to not go to London to avoid meeting Paula, only for Paula to show up to Sheila's party uninvited. Sheila and Barney go to Los Angeles because Sheila is hoping to avoid any more contact with Paula, only for John Friday to send her Paula's play anyway. Everything plays out more or less the same, but as William points out to Sheila, some of the details are different. William proceeds to take the gun in Sheila's apartment and shoot Barney himself, rather than Sheila doing it. As he's being taken away William says to Sheila, about Fate, that "I don't think she cares about the pattern as long as the result is the same."
 Repeat Performance / int_7241785e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Repeat Performance / int_7241785e
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 Repeat Performance
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Repeat Performance / int_7241785e
 Repeat Performance / int_7cc1924a
type
Handshake Refusal
 Repeat Performance / int_7cc1924a
comment
Handshake Refusal: Paula says that she's broken things off with Barney and then awkwardly offers her hand. Sheila ignores her.
 Repeat Performance / int_7cc1924a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Repeat Performance / int_7cc1924a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Repeat Performance
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Repeat Performance / int_7cc1924a
 Repeat Performance / int_7eebe99c
type
The Alcoholic
 Repeat Performance / int_7eebe99c
comment
The Alcoholic: Barney admits this, initially refusing a drink at New Year's because "I'm the guy who can't take just one." Later dialogue establishes that his long-term Writer's Block is what drove him to drink. He falls Off the Wagon.
 Repeat Performance / int_7eebe99c
featureApplicability
1.0
 Repeat Performance / int_7eebe99c
featureConfidence
1.0
 Repeat Performance
hasFeature
Repeat Performance / int_7eebe99c
 Repeat Performance / int_89897126
type
New Year Has Come
 Repeat Performance / int_89897126
comment
New Year Has Come: The film opens with Sheila killing Barney minutes before midnight, New Year's 1946/7. After Sheila repeats the whole year of 1946, the film ends on New Year's again. The last line is William looking up at Sheila's apartment and saying "Happy New Year."
 Repeat Performance / int_89897126
featureApplicability
1.0
 Repeat Performance / int_89897126
featureConfidence
1.0
 Repeat Performance
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Repeat Performance / int_89897126
 Repeat Performance / int_8c78872
type
Writer's Block
 Repeat Performance / int_8c78872
comment
Writer's Block: Barney wrote a hit play eight years ago, which also made Sheila a big star. He hasn't been able to write anything since.
 Repeat Performance / int_8c78872
featureApplicability
1.0
 Repeat Performance / int_8c78872
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1.0
 Repeat Performance
hasFeature
Repeat Performance / int_8c78872
 Repeat Performance / int_928e13b9
type
He's Dead, Jim
 Repeat Performance / int_928e13b9
comment
He's Dead, Jim: It takes a policeman about two seconds to verify that Barney is dead.
 Repeat Performance / int_928e13b9
featureApplicability
1.0
 Repeat Performance / int_928e13b9
featureConfidence
1.0
 Repeat Performance
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Repeat Performance / int_928e13b9
 Repeat Performance / int_93ed8515
type
Set Right What Once Went Wrong
 Repeat Performance / int_93ed8515
comment
Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Once Sheila gets her magical time reset, she spends the whole year of 1946 trying to fix everything that went wrong. She fails, because You Can't Fight Fate.
 Repeat Performance / int_93ed8515
featureApplicability
1.0
 Repeat Performance / int_93ed8515
featureConfidence
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 Repeat Performance
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Repeat Performance / int_93ed8515
 Repeat Performance / int_9d12bbc1
type
Foreshadowing
 Repeat Performance / int_9d12bbc1
comment
Foreshadowing: In the opening scene William says that he would have been happy to shoot Barney for her. In the end, after Sheila replays 1946, that is exactly what Barney does. When Sheila tells William all about her time loop, he says that not everything is the same this time around: this time Barney is temporarily paralyzed, while last time he wasn't. This foreshadows William's realization that while you can't fight fate, you can tweak the details.
 Repeat Performance / int_9d12bbc1
featureApplicability
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 Repeat Performance / int_9d12bbc1
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 Repeat Performance
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Repeat Performance / int_9d12bbc1
 Repeat Performance / int_a8982539
type
Gray Rain of Depression
 Repeat Performance / int_a8982539
comment
Gray Rain of Depression: Rain is pounding against the windows throughout the sequence where Sheila fetches Barney from the hospital and takes him home, after a drunk Barney, openly flaunting his affair with Paula, fell from a box at the theater.
 Repeat Performance / int_a8982539
featureApplicability
1.0
 Repeat Performance / int_a8982539
featureConfidence
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 Repeat Performance
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Repeat Performance / int_a8982539
 Repeat Performance / int_ab5eea65
type
Dramatic Irony
 Repeat Performance / int_ab5eea65
comment
Dramatic Irony: As everybody drinks in the new year, Bess says "Don't wait for Barney, he won't show up on time." Sheila and the audience know that Barney won't show up because he's lying dead in Sheila's apartment.
 Repeat Performance / int_ab5eea65
featureApplicability
1.0
 Repeat Performance / int_ab5eea65
featureConfidence
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 Repeat Performance
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Repeat Performance / int_ab5eea65
 Repeat Performance / int_b7e0c5ff
type
Love Triangle
 Repeat Performance / int_b7e0c5ff
comment
Love Triangle: Sheila, Barney, and Barney's girlfriend Paula. Eventually Paula dumps Barney, which is what leads Barney to try to Murder the Hypotenuse.
 Repeat Performance / int_b7e0c5ff
featureApplicability
1.0
 Repeat Performance / int_b7e0c5ff
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 Repeat Performance
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Repeat Performance / int_b7e0c5ff
 Repeat Performance / int_d001deb0
type
Naked in Mink
 Repeat Performance / int_d001deb0
comment
Naked in Mink: Not naked in mink because this film was made in 1947, but Sheila rushes out of her apartment wearing a fur coat with nothing more than a slip underneath. This is plot-relevant moments later, when Sheila realizes that somehow she is wearing a dress, and realizes that she's traveled back in time a year.
 Repeat Performance / int_d001deb0
featureApplicability
1.0
 Repeat Performance / int_d001deb0
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 Repeat Performance
hasFeature
Repeat Performance / int_d001deb0
 Repeat Performance / int_dfbb1685
type
"Pan Up to the Sky" Ending
 Repeat Performance / int_dfbb1685
comment
"Pan Up to the Sky" Ending: The last shot in the movie has the camera panning up to a starry night, after William has been arrested.
 Repeat Performance / int_dfbb1685
featureApplicability
1.0
 Repeat Performance / int_dfbb1685
featureConfidence
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 Repeat Performance
hasFeature
Repeat Performance / int_dfbb1685
 Repeat Performance / int_e016e53f
type
Throwing Off the Disability
 Repeat Performance / int_e016e53f
comment
Throwing Off the Disability: Per movie tradition, Barney, who was paralyzed after his fall in the theater, eventually starts walking again. In this case it's at least Hand Waved in universe by a doctor saying that sometimes, people with paralysis like Barney's do recover.
 Repeat Performance / int_e016e53f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Repeat Performance / int_e016e53f
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 Repeat Performance
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Repeat Performance / int_e016e53f
 Repeat Performance / int_f6e05922
type
Sarcastic Clapping
 Repeat Performance / int_f6e05922
comment
Sarcastic Clapping: Barney, who is angry and drunk, claps sarcastically when he comes home and sees John holding Sheila's hand. (John is only trying to talk Sheila into starring in the new play.)
 Repeat Performance / int_f6e05922
featureApplicability
1.0
 Repeat Performance / int_f6e05922
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 Repeat Performance
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Repeat Performance / int_f6e05922
 Repeat Performance / int_name
type
ItemName
 Repeat Performance / int_name
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 Repeat Performance / int_name
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 Repeat Performance / int_name
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Repeat Performance / int_name
 Repeat Performance / int_name
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Repeat Performance

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Repeat Performance
hasFeature
New Year Has Come / int_c28fd35b
 Repeat Performance
hasFeature
Set Right What Once Went Wrong / int_c28fd35b
 Repeat Performance
hasFeature
Slipstream Genre / int_c28fd35b
 Repeat Performance
hasFeature
Time Travel Tales / int_c28fd35b