Woman of Straw is a 1964 British crime thriller directed by Basil Dearden and starring Gina Lollobrigida and Sean Connery.[2][3] It was written by Robert Muller and Stanley Mann, adapted from the 1954 novel La Femme de paille by Catherine Arley.[4]
| Woman of Straw | |
|---|---|
 Original film poster | |
| Directed by | Basil Dearden |
| Written by | Robert Muller Stanley Mann Michael Relph |
| Based on | La Femme de Paille 1956 novel by Catherine Arley |
| Produced by | Michael Relph |
| Starring | Gina Lollobrigida Sean Connery Ralph Richardson |
| Cinematography | Otto Heller |
| Edited by | John D. Guthridge |
| Music by | Norman Percival |
Production company | Relph-Dearden Productions |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date |
|
Running time | 122 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1.7 million[1] |
Plot
editPlayboy Tony Richmond schemes to acquire the fortune of his uncle Charles Richmond, a tyrannical, wheelchair-using tycoon, by persuading Maria, the new personal nurse he has hired, to marry the old man. After his uncle's demise Maria becomes a murder suspect. Lollobrigida's character is the Woman of Straw of the title.
Cast
edit- Gina Lollobrigida as Maria Marcello
- Sean Connery as Anthony 'Tony' Richmond
- Ralph Richardson as Charles Richmond
- Alexander Knox as Detective Inspector Lomer
- Johnny Sekka as Thomas
- Laurence Hardy as Baynes, the butler
- Peter Madden as yacht captain
- Danny Daniels as Fenton
- Michael Goodliffe as solicitor
- Noel Howlett as assistant solicitor
Production
editThe film was shot at Pinewood Studios, Audley End House in Saffron Walden, Essex and in Majorca in the Balearic Islands between August and October 1963.[5] The Majorca footage, including much footage in a boat off the coast, was shot on location in September 1963. Gina Lollobrigida was reportedly "demanding and temperamental" during the filming, frequently clashing with Connery and Dearden.[5]
Critical reception
editThe Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "With three accomplished performers, a well-handled supporting cast (led by the ever-reliable Alexander Knox), with palatial settings and a harmonious sense of colour, this run-of-the-mill melodrama could hardly fail to offer a mild thrill or two. Richardson has the eyes to penetrate one's nerve when the dark glasses of a dead man slip; and Sean Connery turns up a contemporary-type Hamlet, sneer, sable and all, capable of showing any of his prototypes how to deal with the cowardice of conscience. But this type of script needs a flamboyant sense of dramatic symbolism to bring it to life – a towering Wellesian view of a lift climbing slowly past arches and chandeliers, a more shattering use of the visual imagery of polished cars such as Losey can make, a touch of Hitchcock to sharpen suspense and turn the howl of a dog into something inhuman instead of noises off. Any film of such glamorous pretensions cannot fail to evoke memories of what can be done with similar material. Even Beethoven echoing from yacht to shore fails to carry the titanic irony of Richmond's necromantic homecoming, and the reason lies, as so often in British films, in a reluctant approach to the theme."[6]
In The New York Times, Eugene Archer wrote, "what could be more archaic than the sight of James Bond himself, Sean Connery, stalking glumly through the very type of old-fashioned thriller he usually mocks? That is exactly what we have in "Woman of Straw," and you can be certain that Mr. Connery did not look one bit more unhappy than yesterday's audience at the Criterion, where the hapless British film crept into town. For, despite the fancy trappings laid on by the respected old producer-director team of Michael Relph and Basil Dearden, this handsomely colored exercise is the kind of pseudo-Victorian nonsense that Alfred Hitchcock long ago laid to rest".[7]
References
edit- ^ "Move Towards Bigger Budget Films". Variety. 27 November 1963. p. 19.
- ^ "Woman of Straw". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
- ^ "Woman of Straw (1964)". Archived from the original on 16 December 2017.
- ^ Goble, Alan (1 January 1999). The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 9783110951943 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b Burton, Alan; O'Sullivan, Tim (2009). The Cinema of Basil Dearden and Michael Relph. Edinburgh University Press. p. 290. doi:10.3366/edinburgh/9780748632893.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-7486-3289-3. S2CID 193528676.
- ^ "Woman of Straw". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 31 (360): 94. 1 January 1964 – via ProQuest.
- ^ Archer, Eugene (1 October 1964). "Gina Lollobrigida Stars in 'Woman of Straw'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 17 April 2020.