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Wicked as They Come

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Wicked as They Come (Portrait in Smoke in the United States) is a 1956 British film noir directed by Ken Hughes and starring Arlene Dahl, Philip Carey and Herbert Marshall.[2] It is based on a novel 1950 novel Portrait in Smoke by Bill S. Ballinger.[3] The novel was also adapted for TV in 1950.[4]

Wicked as They Come
Theatrical release poster
Directed byKen Hughes
Written byKen Hughes
Sigmund Miller
Robert Westerby
Based onnovel Portrait in Smoke by Bill S. Ballinger[1]
Produced byMaxwell Setton
StarringArlene Dahl
Philip Carey
Herbert Marshall
CinematographyBasil Emmott
Edited byMax Benedict
Music byMalcolm Arnold
Production
company
Film Locations
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release dates
  • 22 May 1956 (1956-05-22) (UK)
  • February 1956 (1956-02) (US)
Running time
94 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Plot

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Poor girl from the slums Katherine Allenborg trades on her looks. She enters a beauty contest, then charms the elderly gentleman running it, Sam Lewis, into fixing it so she will win first prize, a trip to Europe. She promptly abandons Sam.

On a plane to London, after changing her name to Kathy Allen, she is attracted to Tim O'Bannion, who works for an ad agency. However, she is determined to land someone wealthier, and photographer Larry Buckham, whom she meets at her London hotel, fits the bill. Invited to use his charge account at a department store for a wedding dress, Kathy makes many purchases, pawns the merchandise, and leaves Larry without a word.

She gets a job at Tim's advertising firm and seduces Stephen Collins, the man who runs it, and who is married. Tim arouses passion in her, but Kathy is strictly out for herself. She demands Collins divorce his wife Virginia, whose father John Dowling owns the agency. Virginia tries to pay her off, but Kathy requests a transfer to the agency's Paris headquarters, where she immediately uses her wiles to get Dowling to marry her.

Anonymous threats begin by mail and phone, and someone in the shadows begins stalking her. Kathy picks up a gun and shoots through the door, accidentally killing her husband. No one believes her tale of a prowler and Kathy is tried, convicted and sentenced to die.

Realising Larry is the prowler, Tim reveals to him something he only just discovered, an explanation for Kathy's cold treatment of men: when she was a teenager, she was brutally assaulted. Larry has a change of heart and confesses to stalking her. Kathy's prison sentence is reduced, and she hopes Tim will give her another chance once she gets out.

Cast

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Production

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In May 1955 it was announced Mike Frankovich had purchased the screen rights to the novel, to be made under his deal with Columbia. It was the third property Frankovich had purchased, the others being Joe MacBeth and ''Wise Guys Never Work.[5] The film would be made by an associated company, Film Locations, run by Maxwell Setton.[6]

Laurence Harvey was offered a lead role but turned it down.[7] Lead roles eventually went to Arlene Dahl, Phil Carey and Herbert Marshall.[8]

Filming was to have started in London on 28 November 1955 but eventually started on 2 December 1955.[9]

Lawsuit

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In March 1957 Arlene Dahl filed suit against Columbia for $1,000,000 claiming the advertising for the film was "obscene, degrading and offensive."[10] She said she was humiliated by the use of composite drawings and photographs advertising the film.[11] The case went to trial in May. The judge was unsympathetic during the hearing, saying he felt the photograph was refined.[12] The case was dismissed in August.[13]

Critical reception

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The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "This is a rather disagreeable film. The story is a novelettish 'shocker', and the heroine's appalling morals are glibly excused on the grounds that she was attacked when a young girl. This seems a disappointing film to come from Ken Hughes, who has shown signs of developing into an interesting director. Arlene Dahl hardly suggests a convincing femme fatale, and the acting generally is no more than adequate."[14]

The Los Angeles Times said it was "written and directed with humor as well as ironic drama".[15]

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "mediocre", writing: "Thirties-style story (cf Baby Face [1933]) looks thin; not played with much flair."[16]

Filmink said "The film would have been better off following the lead of the poster art rather than the script: at heart this should have been a campy Joan Crawford vehicle but it’s far too reticent and dull."[17]

British film critic Leslie Halliwell said: "Busy melodrama which interests without edifying."[18]

References

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  1. ^ Goble, Alan (1 January 1999). The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 9783110951943 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ "Wicked as They Come". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
  3. ^ "Fiction In Brief: Connecticut Heaven Doomed Eden Paid in Full Hemming in Earnest", New York Times 6 August 1950: BR9.
  4. ^ Review of tv production at Variety
  5. ^ "Buys 'Portrait in Smoke'", Chicago Daily Tribune 15 May 1955: q2.
  6. ^ "SETTON TO FILM BALLINGER NOVEL: Own Company to Begin Work in London Next Month on 'Portrait in Smoke'", Special to The New York Times. 4 October 1955: 39.
  7. ^ "Drama: Laurence Harvey Faces Heavy Duty; Lew Ayres' Religious Films Unique", Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times (1923-1995); Los Angeles, Calif. [Los Angeles, Calif] 17 October 1955: B11.
  8. ^ "Drama: Autry Frames His Life Film; History of Ballet Due; Dahl Partners Set", Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times 22 December 1955: B7.
  9. ^ "Drama: Noted Heavy Raymond Burr Sets Up Company; Kelly, Sinatra to Team", Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times 4 October 1955: B9.
  10. ^ "ARLENE DAHL SUES ON AD: Actress Charges Film Publicity Is Obscene and Degrading", New York Times 7 March 1957: 25.
  11. ^ "Arlene Dahl Suit Over Ads Delayed", Los Angeles Times 16 April 1957: 22.
  12. ^ "New York Justice Tells Arlene Dahl Photo Is 'Refined'", Chicago Daily Tribune 2 May 1957: c6.
  13. ^ "ACTRESS LOSES SUIT: Miss Dahl Sought $1,000,000 Over Ads for Movie", New York Times 27 August 1957: 31.
  14. ^ "Wicked as They Come". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 23 (264): 94. 1 January 1956 – via ProQuest.
  15. ^ Arlene Dahl "'Wicked;' 'Nightfall Good Meller'", Scheuer, Philip K. Los Angeles Times 17 January 1957: B9.
  16. ^ Quinlan, David (1984). British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959. London: B.T. Batsford Ltd. p. 399. ISBN 0-7134-1874-5.
  17. ^ Vagg, Stephen (14 November 2020). "Ken Hughes Forgotten Auteur". Filmink.
  18. ^ Halliwell, Leslie (1989). Halliwell's Film Guide (7th ed.). London: Paladin. p. 1115. ISBN 0586088946.
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