The Great Impostor is a biographical film released in 1961 and directed by Robert Mulligan. It is based on the true story of Ferdinand Waldo Demara Jr., a young man who gained notoriety in the 1950s for impersonating a range of professionals, including a monk, a prison warden, a surgeon, a teacher, and a psychologist.
Tony Curtis plays the lead role of Demara, who is shown at the start of the film as a disillusioned young man struggling to find his place in the world. He steals a boat and pretends to be a royal navy officer before being caught and imprisoned. However, while in jail, he reads a book on medicine and decides to become a doctor by assuming the identity of a military surgeon. He manages to fool everyone, including his colleagues, and is hailed as a hero when he saves lives during a military operation.
This success leads him to impersonate many other professionals over the years, including a prison warden named Dr. Robert Boyd, who institutionally reformed convicts with kindness and understanding. He also poses as a psychologist and improvises a philosophy to treat his patients, which proves highly effective. He even pretends to be a teacher at a boys' school, where he introduces controversial methods that ultimately benefit his students.
Throughout the film, Demara must navigate the challenges of maintaining his elaborate falsehoods and evading discovery, while also grappling with personal and ethical dilemmas. He struggles with his sense of identity and purpose, and at times, it seems that his lies are catching up with him.
The film is a witty and entertaining exploration of the art of deception, as well as a glimpse into the mind of a talented fraudster. It highlights the changing social values and attitudes of the 1950s, and is anchored by Curtis' charismatic performance and the film's stylish direction.
