Robert Siodmak’s Phantom Lady has many interesting mirror moments, one where Ella Raines – dressed up as a floozy, for the purposes of going undercover to get intel from a frighteningly lascivious Elisha Cook Jr. on the mysterious woman in the outrageous hat. She smears lipstick on her mouth, focusing on the task at hand, caught up in her “role”, but then makes the mistake of making eye contact with herself. She shatters. It’s a dangerous moment. She can’t reveal her true self. The mirror won’t allow her to lie. The second mirror moment involves Franchot Tone, a supposedly kindly business associate of the man in jail for murder, the one Ella Raines is trying to exonerate. Tone’s character is a sculptor, with perfect white hands, and he, too, has an intriguing moment where he catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror, and the mask suddenly – alarmingly – falls away.
