Wicked as They Come

Wicked as They Come
	Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Ken Hughes
Produced by	M.J. Frankovich; Maxwell Setton
Written by	Ken Hughes; Sigmund Miller; Robert Westerby
Based on	novel Portrait in Smoke by Bill S. Ballinger[1]
Starring	Arlene Dahl; Philip Carey; Herbert Marshall
Music by	Malcolm Arnold
Cinematography	Basil Emmott
Edited by	Max Benedict
Production; company	Frankovich Productions
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	22 May 1956 (UK); February 1956 (US);
Running time	94 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

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]

Plot

Poor girl from the slums Katherine Allenbourg 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's determined to land someone wealthier and photographer Larry Buckham, whom she meets at her London hotel, fills 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 more passion in her, but Kathy's 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. Someone in the shadows begins stalking her. Kathy picks up a gun and shoots, killing her husband. No one believes her tale of a prowler and Kathy is tried, convicted and sentenced to die.

Realizing that Larry is the man behind this turn of events, Tim reveals to him something he only just discovered, an explanation for Kathy's cruel treatment of men. When she was a girl, 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

Arlene Dahl as Kathleen 'Kathy' Allen, née Allenbourg
Philip Carey as Tim O'Bannion
Herbert Marshall as Stephen Collins
Michael Goodliffe as Larry Buckham
Ralph Truman as John Dowling
Sid James as Frank Allenbourg
David Kossoff as Sam Lewis
Faith Brook as Virginia Collins
Frederick Valk as Mr. Reisner
Marvin Kane as Mike Lewis
Patrick Allen as Willie
Gil Winfield as Chuck
Jacques B. Brunius as Inspector Caron

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References

Goble, Alan (1 January 1999). "The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film". Walter de Gruyter – via Google Books.
"Wicked As They Come (1956)". Archived from the original on 14 January 2009.

External links

Wicked as They Come on IMDb
Wicked as They Come at AllMovie

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[1] Goble, Alan (1 January 1999). "The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film". Walter de Gruyter – via Google Books.

[2] "Wicked As They Come (1956)". Archived from the original on 14 January 2009.