Intrigue

A switched-locale remake of L'Intruse (1935) about a jinxed, hard-luck dame, Vicki Moore (Brenda Marshall), and the men who show her that life is worth living no matter how ponderous and complicated.

Singapore troubled heiress Vicki Moore (Brenda Marshall) believes she has a jinx on her due to the curse hurled at her by the widow of a man she supposedly drove to suicide after playing with his emotions, leading to the collapse soon afterwards of her father's (Gilbert Emery) business. One night, David Ritchie (David Bruce), a former associate of her father, encounters her drunk on gin in a waterfront bar. He takes her back to his rubber plantation and tries to give her a fresh start in life.

At a dockside bar in Singapore, a group of wealthy people, including David Ritchie (David Bruce) and Jim (Jerome Cowan) and Alice North (Rose Hobart) are shocked to see Vicki Moore (Brenda Marshall), a former acquaintance, drunk and down on her luck. David remembers when he first met Vicki, the night her father, Sir Stanley Moore (Gilbert Emery), agreed to lend him the money for his rubber project: Vicki returns from an evening out to find Roy Bennett (Douglas Walton), a former lover, waiting in her room. He threatens to kill her and, as she runs out of the room, kills himself. The next day when the police question the Moores and David, Mrs. Bennett (Dorothy Tree), Roy's wife, accuses Vicki of murder and puts a curse on her. From that time, men associated with Vicki have died or lost everything. This night, after the rest of the party leave the bar, David returns to talk to Vicki. She is rude and demands that he buy her drinks, but when a fight breaks out in the bar, David carries Vicki back to his plantation. The next morning he explains to a hungover Vicki that he owes his success to her father and intends to pay him back by taking care of her. Leaving her to decide for herself if she will stop drinking, David returns to Singapore. There he finds his fiancée, Claire Weston (Virginia Field), has arrived two weeks early. He makes an excuse to avoid taking her to the plantation and returns alone because he intends to take Vicki back to Singapore. A heavy storm blows in that night, however, forcing David to remain at the plantation, and he succumbs to his attraction to Vicki. The next morning, David tells Vicki about Claire and she pretends that the previous night meant nothing to her. Angrily, David leaves for town, but a broken bridge forces him to return unexpectedly. A distraught Vicki confesses that although she cares for him, she always lashes out when she is hurt. After the bridge is repaired, David leaves for town, but his business suffers because he cannot decide between Vicki and Claire. Finally, David decides to re-open the Moore copper mines in order to restore Vicki's inheritance. Meanwhile, Claire drives out to the plantation, determined to learn what has happened between her and David, and finds him with Vicki. Vicki talks to Claire and realizes that Claire is more interested in David's position than in him. Because of this, when David asks Vicki to marry him after the mines are opened, she accepts, but then learns that her husband, John Wetherby (Richard Ainley), whom she believed to be dead, is alive and wants money from her. Vicki suggests that they drive out to the mines to talk to David and on the way they have a serious automobile accident. When David learns that Vicki is married, he leaves the hospital without seeing her. Vicki recovers and begs David's friend North to give David a letter. In return she promises never to see David again. In the letter, she transfers complete ownership of the mines to David. When David learns that Wetherby died that morning, he rushes after Vicki and finds her waiting in the dockside bar for a ship. They leave the bar together and Vicki finally believes that her jinx is broken.