Back to the vaults we go! (though my next movie will be another flick from 2013)
The Unholy Wife (1957)
Plot Summary:
This movie starred Rod Steiger as Paul and Britain's answer to Marilyn Monroe in Diana Dors as Phylis. The acting is...very uneven. Steiger was clearly sleepwalking in this flick as he was mumbling along and just seemed unmotivated to give much of a performance while Dors was quite good. After watching the movie I read a review on IMDB from a user who completely changed my view of the film as the unholy wife wasn't really Dors but rather Steiger!
The plot is basically this in a nutshell: Steiger is a big time vineyard owner and is a big shot in Napa Valley. He gets into an argument with his best friend and they patch things up. Dors, who's fed up by her husband plans to kill him using the excuse of a prowler around the house for the shooting but rather than killing Steiger she accidentally kills his friend which forces her to recalibrate her plan and through manipulation gets Paul to admit killing his friend and sets things up so that Paul is easily convicted for murder.
Now here's where the reviewer totally changed my view of the movie as towards the end of the film Steiger talks to his priest brother (played by Arthur Franz) and admits he married Dors because she has a son and a "war wound" has left him impotent. The reviewer said that that was more likely a 1950s way of saying that Steiger was really gay and needed an heir to his vineyard empire.
Well that snapped things in place for me as Steiger seemed cold and condescending to Dors throughout and without any kind of intimacy she basically was pushed into finding another suitor because of sheer boredom and being lonely as Paul was more interested in his business. The movie actually makes Dors VERY sympathetic and one could see the hypocrisy within the story as her eventual downfall is
and Steiger's priest brother turning a blind eye to it.
The movie is a bit lurid and does have some good twists and turns but like I said the unevenness of the acting by the leads kinda sinks it. However, it's worth a watch if you can see it just to see it within the prism of Steiger's character being gay as it turns the story on its head a bit. Apparently this was a "ripped from the headlines" kind of story which saw two other filmed versions with the same scenario. One from the previous year and a TV movie in the late '80s starring Ann-Margret. I will attempt to locate said versions whether I find them or not it'll be a LOOONG time before they're reviewed.
Anywho this gets about 2 stars for me.