The Man Who Haunted Himself

While driving home from his London office in his Rover P5B, Harold Pelham, a director of Freeman, Pelham & Dawson, a marine technology company and very conservative creature of habit, seems to undergo a sudden personality change and starts to drive both fast and recklessly on his way home, imagining himself in a sports car, and ending in a serious high-speed crash. On the operating table, he briefly suffers clinical death, after which there briefly appear to be two heartbeats on the monitor.

After he recovers from the accident Pelham notices odd things occurring and people acting strangely and he gradually finds his life in turmoil. Friends, colleagues and acquaintances claim to have seen him in places where he has no memory of being or doing things he can't remember, involving behaving in rash ways quite against his usual character. When he gets home from work, a friend is at his house for a drink which he doesn't recall arranging, and an attractive girl at the company swimming pool casts him a knowing glance. At bed time, he and his wife have a somewhat tense but amicable discussion about their recent lack of a love life. His wife also notices a mysterious silver car (a Lamborghini Islero) which she sees parked outside their house, but gives it no further thought. The driver of the car is then seen lighting a cigarette and snapping the match stick in half after he blows it out.

There seems to be a spy at work trying to force a merger with a rival company. Pelham drives to the research and development centre in Rugby to try and see where the leak began.

Soon, he suspects there is a "double" masquerading as him. On a night out at the company club with his wife, he hopes to energize their relationship by indulging her request to go gambling, but he is tense and clearly not interested. As they are about to leave, he bumps into the attractive girl, who sees his wife a short distance away and says "I didn't know you were married." His wife sees the exchange and is furious, suspecting the worst. She threatens to leave him. He finds out where the girl lives and confronts her; confused, she makes it clear that "he" was having an affair with her. He angrily denies the affair; the woman, hurt and almost hysterical, yells at him to leave.

At the barber he is told "I cut your hair yesterday".

At work, Pelham finds out that apparently he was supporting a merger that he now opposes with the board. He confronts an executive of the other company, who explains how the two of them had clandestinely arranged the deal in a series of meetings, to "his" (the double's) benefit as well as the company's, when "he" revealed a "top secret" technology breakthrough his company was about to make. When he confronts the rival firm (run by Ashton) he is reminded of three secret meetings: at the top of The Monument; in the London Planetarium; and in a boat on The Serpentine.

He phones home and due to a misunderstanding Luigi. his butler, thinks he is asking for Mr Pelham. Luigi says "I will just get him". He drives home quickly.

Distraught and unable to explain the unfolding events, he consults a psychiatrist, Dr Harris, and undergoes extended treatment in his clinic, where Harris explains that he doesn't believe Pelham is mad, but perhaps was acting out of a subconscious desire to break out of his obsessively rigid lifestyle. The doctor persuades him to adopt some less conventional behaviour, so he goes to work dressed quite differently. However, during his time away, the double finalized the merger and took his wife out on the town, culminating in their going home and sleeping together. Finally, Pelham phones his home from the office and is astonished when the phone is answered by someone claiming to be himself. On edge, he drives to his house as quickly as possible, and inside comes face to face with his double, who calmly insists he is the real Pelham, pointing out the uncharacteristic clothes he is wearing. The family and his best friend are all there and side with the double.

After asking the others to let the two of them speak alone, the double tells the "real" Pelham that the new clothes were a mistake, and explains how on the operating table the double was "let out", but there is only room in this world for one of them. Both insist they will go to the police.

The real Pelham drives off in his Rover a greatly agitated state. The double quickly leaves and pursues him in the sports car. Dr Harris the psychiatrist sees both and is shocked. After a high-speed chase in the rain, somehow the two cars speed towards each other on a bridge. The real Pelham swerves off a bridge into the river, and just before he hits the water his image fades away. The double stops and looks down into the water, and then, to the audible sound of a double heartbeat, he briefly clutches his heart as if in extreme pain, but it soon subsides and he appears to become calm: there is only one Pelhams again.

Fairholt, Monken Hadley, which featured as the home of Harold Pelham in the film.

The Strange Case of Mr Pelham was originally published in 1957.[5]

The film was one of the first greenlit by Bryan Forbes while he was head of EMI Films.[6] The film was announced in August 1969.[7]

According to Roger Moore's autobiography, My Name Is Moore, this film was part of a series of small budgeted films featuring star actors working for substantially less than their usual fees. Moore says that the film should have been successful, but amateurish marketing made this impossible. Box-office results were disappointing.[8]

Though initial reviews were negative,[9][10] the film is considered by many as one of Roger Moore's best non-Bond films.[11] It has also had many recent positive reviews on internet sites,[12][13][14] including one naming the film as an under-rated classic.[15]

Roger Moore said this was his favourite film from his own work.[16]

The film was released on DVD format in 2005 with a PG rating. The DVD includes special features including a commentary by Roger Moore and Bryan Forbes.

A new HD restoration from the original film elements was released in a dual-format package on 24 June 2013 by Network.[17] The Blu-ray disc is in a widescreen aspect ratio as was used in cinemas. Special features include - 34 minute music suite of Michael J. Lewis's original score; a commentary track recorded in 2005, featuring Roger Moore and Bryan Forbes; the original theatrical trailer; four image galleries, including storyboards; and promotional material in PDF format for reading on a PC. An article is available on Network's website detailing the transfer and restoration of the film.[18]

The 1969 Lamborghini Islero GTS that appeared in the film, registration YLR 11G, sold at auction in 2010 for £106,400. It is one of only five right-hand-drive versions of the model to be built.[19] The car was auctioned again in March 2020, achieving a hammer price of £265,000 (£296,800 including commission, fees, etc.).[20]

• The Man Who Haunted Himself on IMDb
• The Man Who Haunted Himself at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Man Who Haunted Himself at AllMovie