The cloning of sheep in Scotland is the most recent example of science's determination to do God's job for Him, and moviegoers have always been fascinated by cloning and its more terrifying aspects. Certainly Frankenstein is literature's (and Hollywood's) best-known example of man creating a being in his own image. Gustav Meyrink's 1916 novel Homunculus dealt with an artificial being, and one notable pupil who duped himself was showcased in the German silent classic The Student of Prague, which featured Paul Wegener (The Golem). Up to and including the Steven Spielberg multimega-smash Jurassic Park, and its recent record-breaking sequel The Lost World, the public predilection for doppelgangers has been in evidence. Metropolis (1926) The influential granddaddy of sci-fi epics placed cloning on display in a big way. To foment unrest among the populace, crazed scientist Rotwang (Rudolf Klein-Rogge) perfects a robotic duplicate of saintly Brigitte Helm in a Frankensteinish precursor of every mad doc lab the movies would subsequently unveil. The robot's dervish-like dancing stirs the passions, political and otherwise, of every male within vamping distance. The Saint's Double Trouble (1940) Preeminent cinema cad George Sanders often expressed disdain for the B films he appeared in throughout the early '40s. Notwithstanding, he delivered breezy, convincing portrayals as both The Saint and The Falcon, suave, sophisticated detectives each featured in their own series of RKO programmers. In this clever showcase for Leslie Charteris' detective, The Saint, Sanders assumes a second role as The Dutchman, the sleuth's criminal double. Close observers will spot the dab of putty applied to Sanders' nose in order to give his gangster impersonation a slightly more sinister edge. Unnatural (1952) This West German fantasy was actually the third lensing of the classic German fable Alraune. Erich von Stroheim is the doc off his rocker who collects the semen of a hanged man (yuck!) for use in his artificial insemination experiments. The resultant offspring is the strangely soulless Hildegarde Neff. Is von Stroheim her father, her lover or both? I reiterate -- yuck! Four Sided Triangle (1953) British horrormeister Terence Fisher directed this early Hammer yarn (or yawn) that features buxom Barbara Payton as the object of rival scientists' affections. Perfecting a duplicating machine, one of the lusting profs sees his innovation as the solution to the trio's romantic problems. Two Barbara Paytons does not a plausible film make. The Manster (1959) This gruesomely ludicrous Japanese shocker features an American man, Larry Stanford, who is the unknowing victim of wacky Dr. Suzuki's experimental enzyme injections. It isn't long before Stanford strips off his shirt to find an eye sprouting from his shoulder. Soon, a second head is crowding his collar. Eventually, the guy simply splits in two and gets into a heated fight with himself, hurling his hopping mad other half into a convenient volcano. The Human Duplicators (1964) Without a doubt, the finest of the clone films. Just peruse this list of players: Richard Kiel (Eegah!), Hugh Beaumont (Leave It To Beaver), George Nader (Robot Monster), Dolores Faith (The Phantom Planet), George Macready, Richard Arlen, Barbara Nichols and a cast of dozens. Alien Kiel pilots a dime store Christmas ornament to Earth in order to force Dr. Macready into aiding him in his cloning efforts. With such a stable of thespians on hand, does plot really matter? The Boys From Brazil (1978) Based on Ira Levin's novel, this one spins the torrid tale of little Hitlers being cloned across the globe. It's all the work of Dr. Josef Mengele, portrayed by Gregory Peck in a guttural, ranting, no-holds-barred performance. Laurence Olivier is his opposite number, a Simon Wiesenthalish Nazi-hunter who stalks the mad medico to his Paraguayan lair. Lengthy, lurid and lots 'o fun. And perhaps most terrifying of all ... Kissin' Cousins (1964) Skinflint mogul Sam Katzman produced this, perhaps Elvis' least-renowned film. As an Air Force officer, the King seeks to convince a passel of mountain moonshiners to allow the installation of ICBMs on the back forty. Among his major discoveries along the way are the existence of his look-alike hillbilly cousin and the stunning effect the mountain air has had on Yvonne Craig's lungs. Elvis, of course, had a real-life twin who died at birth, compounding the film's already notable weirdness.