She Played with Fire (1957)

An insurance investigator runs into an ex-girlfriend, who is still as beautiful as he remembered her, but is now married. He soon finds himself involved in arson, blackmail, and murder.

Director:

Sidney Gilliat

Writers:

Sidney Gilliat (screenplay), Frank Launder (screenplay)

Stars:

Jack Hawkins, Arlene Dahl, Dennis Price

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jack Hawkins	...	Oliver Branwell
Arlene Dahl	...	Sarah Moreton
Dennis Price	...	Tracey Moreton
Violet Farebrother	...	Mrs. Moreton
Ian Hunter	...	Clive Fisher
Malcolm Keen	...	Old Abercrombie
Geoffrey Keen	...	Michael Abercrombie
Patrick Holt	...	Fred Connor
John Robinson	...	Berkeley Reckitt
Michael Goodliffe	...	Sgt. Barnes
Martin Lane	...	Det. Con. Watson
Bernard Miles	...	Mr. Jerome
Christopher Lee	...	Charles Highbury
Greta Gynt	...	Vere Litchen
John Phillips	...	Willis Croft

Storyline

Oliver Bramwell, an insurance inspector, arrives at Lewis Manor where he is to investigate a fire that broke out there on Christmas Eve. He rings the bell and to his amazement he finds himself face to face with Sarah, the woman he once loved in Hong Kong and who, one day, disappeared from his life without apparent reason. Love resurfaces and when Tracey, the owner of the manor and Sarah's husband, dies in a second fire, the couple is reunited. Nevertheless, Oliver suspects Sarah of having tricked him and murdered Tracey with a view to attaining her ends. Fortunately his suspicions are allayed and he can marry Sarah. They are first very happy, until a blackmailer starts preying on them...

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Plot Keywords:

british noir | based on novel | britain | 1950s | english tudor manor house | 

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Taglines:

Were Her Lips an Invitation to Love...or Murder?

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 July 1958 (USA)

Also Known As:

She Played with Fire

Filming Locations:

Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

John Harvel Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.75 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Opening credits: The characters and incidents portrayed and the names used herein are fictitious, and any similarity to the names, characters or history of any person is entirely accidental and unintentional.

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Quotes

Vere Litchen: It was naughty of you to visit without calling me first, but I must say you carried it off very cleverly...

User Reviews

FORTUNE IS A WOMAN (Sidney Gilliat, 1957) ***

The esteemed British writing-producing-directing team of Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder seemed to divide their work between stylish thrillers and broad comedies – though not always each member of the unit would be responsible for their entries in any one particular genre, Gilliat's efforts tended to be more serious and therefore generally worthier of attention and less prone to become dated with the passage of time.

Anyway, this film again features Christopher Lee in just one scene (albeit an amusing one as a black-eyed movie star attempting to pull off an insurance fraud!) and, in a more substantial role than in the previously-viewed PORT AFRIQUE (1956), Dennis Price. The elaborate plot also involves arson, fake paintings, a blackmail scheme, and even the shaky rekindling of an old romance. The rather mismatched stars are Jack Hawkins (immediately prior to embarking upon his international/movie spectaculars phase with the same year's THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI) and American Arlene Dahl (just as unconvincingly married here to asthmatic and unbalanced aristocrat Price) who run the gamut of emotions trying first to hide their prior affair then facing it head-on following Price's fiery death, Hawkins accusing Dahl of the murderous deed and then compromising his position in the insurance firm he works for by sticking by her (even if he knows the blaze was deliberately ignited) and fend off the inevitable vultures – knowledgeable of this fact – over Price's estate. This being the 1950s, everything works its way satisfactorily towards a happy ending – down to Hawkins' associates literally chasing after him out on the streets in the final scene to retract his decision to resign rather than bring shame upon his colleagues and superiors!

As I said, the film is classy (even managing a few dream sequences to cloud Hawkins' mind during his mission) and reasonably absorbing (the identity of the chief blackmailers is quite a surprise) throughout – but taking care to also provide meaty supporting turns by the likes of Ian Hunter (as the proverbial "friend of the family"), Geoffrey Keen (as Hawkins' sympathetic superior), Bernard Miles (a similar role to the one he had just played in Hitchcock's THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH {1956}), Greta Gynt as a middle-aged nymphomaniac(!) and Michael Goodliffe (as a dogged Police Inspector). Incidentally, the print I watched sported the somewhat more appropriate U.S. moniker of SHE PLAYED WITH FIRE and, while pristine enough, suffered from the occasional jerkiness…