This film has been underrated by horror fans for a long time and I'm not 100% sure why. Perhaps availability might be one factor. The DVD was only first released 2006 and as with many catalog titles, you'd probably have to have been looking for it to know it even came out. The film was director by master director Robert Mulligan. He was the man behind such classics as TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, LOVE WITH THE PROPER STRANGER(still sadly MIA on DVD), INSIDE DAISY CLOVER, THE NICKEL RIDE and SUMMER OF '42. This story of twin brothers, one seemingly good and the other not so much, is an interesting departure from Mulligan's standard kind of drama. This one is the only horror-ish movie he ever made. It feels to me like a film that M. Knight Shyamalan saw before he made THE SIXTH SENSE. Or something that may have been at least a small point of reference for Christopher Nolan for his fantastic and oddly underrated classic THE PRESTIGE. Not that either of those films borrows directly from THE OTHER, but there is a certain artfulness in the storytelling of THE OTHER that is reminiscent of those later films. THE OTHER is truly fascinating though in that it is impressionistic and slightly obtuse and might have been a touch perplexing to the audiences who first saw it in 1972. It's almost an art film by way of horror. It's tricky not to relate it even slightly to THE OMEN, which was another evil kid movie that came out around the same time. THE OTHER is better though and more thought provoking than THE OMEN in my opinion. One thing that is obviously memorable in a time of face replacement effects is the fact that the twins(Niles and Holland) in the film were actually portrayed by twin actors(Chris Udvarnoky and Martin Udvarnoky). Seems pretty low-fi nowadays as I said, but I truly think it makes the performances more nuanced and interesting. Instead of finding a single actor to play the role and having them okay both parts, the film makers are forced to find twin actors that fit the part(s) and can act. In this case, the twins cast were unknowns as far as I'm aware and I'm often pleasantly surprised by unknown actors as I have no baggage attached to them from previous roles. These twins apparently never acted again in any other movies. Obviously it's impossible to expect most actors to not work on multiple films, but it makes for a unique experience when they make only one feature like this. Very impactful stuff.
The transfer on Twilight Time 'a new Blu-ray is bright, colorful and full of rich detail. Included as an extra is a lovely isolated score track featuring Jerry Goldsmith's lovely music for the film.