LADY OF VENGEANCE

(director: Burt Balaban; screenwriter: Irve Tunick; cinematographer: Ian Struthers/story by Ian Struthers; editor: Eric Boyd-Perkins; music: Phil Cardew; cast: Dennis O’Keefe(William T. Marshall), Ann Sears (Katie Whiteside), Eileen Elton (Melissa Collins), Vernon Greeves (Larry Shaw), Anton Diffring (Karnak), Patrick Barr (Inspector Madden), Frederick Schiller (Schteigel), Humphrey Morton (Corbey), George Mulcaster (Bennett, servant); Runtime: 73; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Burt Balaban/Bernard Donnenfeld; UA (MGM); 1957-UK)

“Tedious noir crime drama about the insanity of revenge.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Tedious noir crime drama about the insanity of revenge. Director Burt Balaban(“Stranger From Venice”/”High Hell”/”Mad Dog Coll”) executes the melodrama in an uninspiring manner. Writer Irve Tunick comes up with a ludicrous plot and leaves off with a dreadful and unfulfilling contrived surprise ending.

The depressed 21-year-old Melissa Collins (Eileen Elton) commits suicide by jumping in front of an oncoming commuter train. In flashback, the gruff William T. Marshall (Dennis O’Keefe), the successful and domineering publisher of a London newspaper, an American, recalls how he forced his ward, Melissa, out of his Craighorn mansion in London for dating the slimy good-for-nothing musician Larry Shaw (Vernon Greeves). The publisher blames Larry for ruining her life and vows revenge. Back in real time the crazed obsessed publisher uses a most valuable rare stamp to hire master crime planner, Karnak (Anton Diffring), an avid philatelist, to plan the artistic slow torturous murder of the man who made his beloved ward’s life miserable in exchange for the valued rare stamp. The voice of reason is Marshall’s loyal and efficient secretary, Katie Whiteside (Ann Sears), who cautions her boss to do nothing crazy.

REVIEWED ON 10/6/2014 GRADE: C+