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Woman of Straw

55 votes

Anthony Richmond schemes to get the fortune of his tyrannical, wheelchair-using tycoon uncle Charles Richmond by persuading Maria, a nurse he employs, to marry him.

Status: Released

Released Date: 1964-04-28

Runtime: 122 mins

Director: Basil Dearden

Spoken language: English

Genres: Crime, Drama, Thriller

Original title: Woman of Straw

Production Companies: Michael Relph Productions, United Artists

Production Countries: United Kingdom

Cast

Maria Marcello

Gina Lollobrigida

Anthony Richmond

Sean Connery

Charles Richmond

Ralph Richardson

Detective Inspector Lomer

Alexander Knox

Johnny Sekka

Peter Madden

Danny Daniels

Laurence Hardy

Michael Goodliffe

André Morell

Noel Howlett

Douglas Wilmer

Third Executive (uncredited)

A. J. Brown

John (uncredited)

Robert Bruce

Reviews

Geronimo1967

I was pleasantly surprised with this film. "Charles" (Sir Ralph Richardson) is a wealthy man, a bully and an odious sort of creature, but one who has taken a shine to his nurse "Maria" (Gina Lollobrigida). She, in turn, has taken to the wastrel nephew "Tony" (Sean Connery) who is trying to manipulate her into marrying the old man for his £50m fortune then the two of them can spend it once he has shaken off his mortal coil. There is a slightly convoluted back story, but aside from that it is a simple and engaging tale of good old fashioned greed and avarice. It's cleverly tempered by just a shade of jeopardy - you are never entirely sure who is going to stab who in the back. You just know this is not going to end up with everything smelling of roses! It is long, and maybe could have shaved twenty minutes from the plot development stages - it is pretty obvious how the theme is going to pan out, but once it gets up an head of steam it's well written, well directed and all three work well together to create an entertaining feature that offers a pretty savage indictment on human venality.

2024-12-01

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