THE UNHOLY WIFE

I have a coupe of unprovable theories about why THE UNHOLY WIFE (1957) looks and sounds as bad as it does. Although shot by ace cinematographer Lucien Ballard (who photographed a lot of great movies including Stanley Kubrick's THE KILLING (1956) and Sam Peckinpah's THE WILD BUNCH (1969), UNHOLY has a washed out look and dialogue that was clearly looped during post-production. These two factors serve as minor distractions in what is otherwise a fairly decent little film noir which really should have been produced in black and white.

When UNHOLY went into production at RKO in 1957 that studio was in the process of getting out of the movie production business. In fact, what was left of the RKO studios was eventually sold to Lucille Ball and her husband, Desi Arnaz, who transformed it into their own studio/production company, Desilu. But someone in the head office made the decision to shoot UNHOLY in Technicolor and here's where my two theories come into play. 

One, the studio had a bunch of unused Technicolor film stock on hand and the producers decided that rather than incur any additional expenses, they'd simply use what was available. I think it's possible that the film stock was well past it's "sell by" date and as a result, the colors turned out slightly blurry, with noticeable blackness around the frames. Nothing is sharp and well defined and Lucien Ballard was too good a DP not to deliver first rate work.

My second theory is that the decision was made to shoot in color only to find that there was no color film available. Perhaps some hapless production assistant was dispatched to the corner drug store to purchase as much color film stock as could be had and said stock was more suitable for home movies than major Hollywood productions. Because that's what UNHOLY looks like at times, someone's semi-well lit home movies. If someone reading this can either prove or disprove these theories I'd love to hear from you. As I said it's not a deal breaker because the film is certainly worth your time, just be aware that the overall production looks like it was made on the cheap and the quick.

British sex symbol (dubbed the British Marilyn Monroe) Diana Dors stars as Phyllis Hochen, a femme fatale who commits cold blooded murder and frames her wine making husband Paul (Rod Steiger in a somewhat subdued, at least for Steiger, performance). Phyllis has the hots for rodeo cowboy San Sanders (Tom Tryon) and plans to run away with the tall, dark and handsome stud after securing the conviction of Paul. But the web of lies spun by Phyllis becomes increasingly entangled and she ends up being convicted for a murder which she really didn't commit. It's all terribly ironic and it's classic noir material.

The supporting cast includes Arthur (MONSTER ON THE CAMPUS) Franz, Beulah (IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE) Bondi, and noir icon Marie (NARROW MARGIN) Windsor in a small part. Look quick or you'll miss Hal (THE ANDY GRIFIFTH SHOW) Smith in one scene as a doctor. 

 Director John Farrow does yeoman like work here but he made better noirs in his career including THE BIG CLOCK (1948), WHERE DANGER LIVES (1950), and HIS KIND OF WOMAN (1951). 

UNHOLY WIFE was a financial flop, a factor which led to the end of Dors short lived American filmmaking career. She soon returned to her native Great Britain where she enjoyed a long career in films and on television.