Lady of Vengeance

Not to be confused with Lady Vengeance.
Lady of Vengeance

Original British quad poster
Directed by Burt Balaban
Produced by Burt Balaban
Bernard Donnenfeld
Written by Irve Tunick
Starring Dennis O'Keefe
Music by Phil Cardew
Cinematography Ian D. Struthers (as Ian Struthers)
Edited by Eric Boyd-Perkins
Production
company
Princess Production Corporation
Rich & Rich Ltd.
Distributed by United Artists
Release dates
 August 1957
Running time
 73 minutes
Country United Kingdom

Lady of Vengeance is a 1957 black-and-white British crime film directed by Burt Balaban, and starring Dennis O'Keefe, Patrick Barr, Anton Diffring, "and introducing" Ann Sears, in her first film role.[1]

Producer/director Burt Balaban (1922-1965) [2] was the son of Barney Balaban, president of Paramount Pictures from 1936 to 1964, and cousin of actor Bob Balaban, of Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and Gosford Park (2001).[3] Burt Balaban's other credits as producer/director include Murder, Inc. (1960) and The Gentle Rain (1965).[4]

Poster tagline

"A shocking woman... a shocker of a story!" [5]

Plot

When 21-year-old Melissa Collins (Eileen Elton) commits suicide, her guardian, the domineering American newspaper publisher William T. Marshall (Dennis O'Keefe), searches (in flashback) for a reason. He finds it in a letter he receives from Melissa, after her death. In this she asks Marshall to take revenge on her lover, philandering musician Larry Shaw (Vernon Greeves), who caused her such pain he made life not worth living. Marshall hires criminal mastermind, Karnak (Anton Diffring), an avid philatelist. He promises him a rare stamp in exchange for planning the torturous murder of Larry Shaw. Meanwhile, Marshall's loyal secretary, Katie Whiteside (Ann Sears), attempts to calm her boss's obsessive desires for vengeance. Matters become additionally complicated however, when Karnak targets the wrong man.

Cast

Critical reception

Dennis Schwartz writing in Ozus' World Movie Reviews, called the film a "tedious noir crime drama about the insanity of revenge";[6] Leonard Maltin also described the film as "tedious";[7] and TV Guide noted, "the plot is very confusing, making it hard to follow this picture. Slack direction does little to help."[8]

External links

References

  1. ↑ "Lady of Vengeance". BFI.
  2. ↑ "Burt Balaban". BFI.
  3. ↑ "TCM Schedule for Thursday, September 25, 2014 -- What's On Tonight - George C. Scott".
  4. ↑ "Burt Balaban". IMDb.
  5. ↑ "Lady of Vengeance". flickfacts.com.
  6. ↑ "ladyofvengeance".
  7. ↑ "Lady of Vengeance (1957) - Overview - TCM.com". Turner Classic Movies.
  8. ↑ "Lady Of Vengeance". TV Guide.
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