Lady of Vengeance

Not to be confused with Lady Vengeance.

Lady of Vengeance is a 1957 British film noir crime film directed by Burt Balaban and starring Dennis O'Keefe.^[1][2]

Lady of Vengeance
Original British quad poster
Directed by	Burt Balaban
Written by	Irve Tunick
Produced by	Burt Balaban Bernard Donnenfeld
Starring	Dennis O'Keefe
Cinematography	Ian D. Struthers (as Ian Struthers)
Edited by	Eric Boyd-Perkins
Music by	Phil Cardew
Production companies	Princess Production Corporation Rich & Rich Ltd.
Distributed by	United Artists
Release dates	August 1957 (1957-08) (United Kingdom) August 1957 (1957-08) (United States)
Running time	74 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Plot

When 21-year-old Melissa Collins (Eileen Elton) commits suicide, her guardian, the domineering American newspaper publisher William T. Marshall (Dennis O'Keefe), searches (in flashback) for a reason. He finds it in a letter he receives from Melissa, after her death. In this, she asks Marshall to take revenge on her lover, philandering musician Larry Shaw (Vernon Greeves), who caused her such pain he made life not worth living. Marshall hires criminal mastermind, Karnak (Anton Diffring), an avid philatelist. He promises him a rare stamp in exchange for planning the torturous murder of Larry Shaw. Meanwhile, Marshall's loyal secretary, Katie Whiteside (Ann Sears), attempts to calm her boss's obsessive desires for vengeance. Matters become additionally complicated however, when Karnak targets the wrong man.

Cast

• Dennis O'Keefe as William T. Marshal
• Ann Sears as Katie Whiteside
• Anton Diffring as Emile Karnak
• Patrick Barr as Inspector Madden
• Vernon Greeves as Larry Shaw
• Eileen Elton as Melissa Collins
• Frederick Schiller as Schleigel
• Jacqueline Curtis as Penny
• G. H. Mulcaster as Bennett
• Gerald Case as Hawley
• Jack McNaughton as Coroner
• Colin Croft as Bartender
• Andy Ho as Houseman
• Humphrey Morton as Corbey

Critical reception

Dennis Schwartz writing in Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews, called the film a "tedious noir crime drama about the insanity of revenge";^[3] Leonard Maltin also described the film as "tedious";^[4] and TV Guide noted, "the plot is very confusing, making it hard to follow this picture. Slack direction does little to help."^[5]