The Other Woman (1954)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Hugo Haas

Writer:

Hugo Haas (writer)

Release Date:

2 December 1954 (USA)

Genre:

Film-Noir

Tagline:

... Every Man She Touched - She Destroyed!

Plot:

A woman plots revenge on her former boss.

Plot Keywords:

Blackmail | Secretary | Husband Wife Relationship | Affair | Beautiful Woman

Cast

Hugo Haas	...	Walter Darman
Cleo Moore	...	Sherry Steward
Lance Fuller	...	Ronnie
Lucille Barkley	...	Mrs. Lucille Darman
Jack Macy	...	Charles Lester
John Qualen	...	Papasha
Jan Arvan	...	Police Inspector Collins
Karolee Kelly	...	Marion
Steve Mitchell	...	1st Assistant Director
Mark Lowell	...	2nd Assistant Director
Melinda Markey	...	Actress
Jan Englund
Arthur Marshall
Sue Casey
Sharon Dexter

Also Known As:

Turmoil (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

81 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #17020, Adult Audience)

Company:

Hugo Haas Productions

Cleo Moore's Baddest Bad Girl

B queen Cleo Moore is known affectionately as the "Queen of the B Movie Bad Girls" among latter-day movie buffs for her string of 1950's melodramas but actually in most of her films she's a fairly good girl who makes bad choices. That's not the case in THE OTHER WOMAN where she plays a malevolent blonde so vicious she comes close to making Ann Savage's legendary Vera in DETOUR look angelic.

Cleo stars as Sherry Stewart, a bitter film extra who is suddenly given a chance at a bit part with lines by film director Hugo Haas. Hopelessly incompetent at saying her three lines, she is gently replaced by another woman. Irrational and furious at Haas, she sets up an elaborate scheme to blackmail Hugo if not destroy him.

Although she looks sensational in one segment in a black gown and wrapped in white fur, Cleo's character is presented as cheap and a bit unbalanced and she receives some of the least flattering cinematography of her career, apparently to emphasize the character's hardness and lack of class. There are some good scenes (Sherry's disastrous attempt attempt at acting, her inner humiliation as the extras and crew smirk) but it seems a bit ironic for the less-than-spectacular director Haas to play a director with ambitions of art. This is one of Haas' better acting performances however as the luckless soul who doesn't know what has hit him, a staple film noir situation. Cleo is very good in a rather sketchy role as a vengeful blonde out of control. THE OTHER WOMAN is not likely to land on anyone's list of favorite movies but it is a fairly intriguing and unusual film noir set in Hollywood.