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Universal International Pictures
Universal Pictures
Not part of a collection.
This woman in his arms was now the wife of the man he called his best friend!
Mitch Wayne is a geologist working for the Hadleys, an oil-rich Texas family. While the patriarch, Jasper, works hard to establish the family business, his irresponsible son, Kyle, is an alcoholic playboy, and his daughter, Marylee, is the town tramp. Mitch harbors a secret love for Kyle's unsatisfied wife, Lucy -- a fact that leaves him exposed when the jealous Marylee accuses him of murder.
CinemaSerf
Dec 14, 2025 · via TMDB
I don’t suppose there is anything very original about this plot. Very rich, widowed, oil man “Jasper” (Ian Keith) has two spoilt grown-up children. “Kyle” (Robert Stack) is a wastrel alcoholic, “Marylee” (Dorothy Malone) is a lady of, let’s say, easy virtue. The son is best friends with the company’s geologist “Mitch” (Rock Hudson) and it’s these two men who meet the secretary “Lucy” (Lauren Bacall). Both take an instant shine to her, and after some vulgar displays from “Kyle” you might have put your cash on her choosing “Mitch”, but for some pretty inexplicable reason she succumbs to what she perceives is a decent vulnerability underneath the gin and corn-liquor exterior, and agrees to marry him. This ought to be the end of things, but “Mitch” can’t get her out of his head, “Marylee” can’t get “Mitch” out of her’s and poor old “Lucy" has to sit back and slowly realise that maybe she chose the wrong man! With toxicity oozing out of just about everyone’s pores, there is a gunshot and then a trial, but will the truth be told or will the venom still thrive? Hudson does enough here, as does Bacall, but it’s really Stack who steals the show as his dipsomania becomes all conquering and Malone, though more sparingly used by Douglas Sirk, who ably proves her character has a jealous streak a mile wide. It’s a melodrama par excellence that contrasts greed, envy, ennui and even a little lustful behaviour from four actors who bounce off each other effectively throughout. It’s also quite a well written drama with just enough nastiness in the dialogue and just enough kindness to (very) occasionally temper that - usually from Bacall, and as we end the film with the scenes with which we started it we have a mystery bubbling under for much of it, too. It’s not a million miles from Tennessee Williams’s “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and reminds us just how corrupting booze can be.
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
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Rock Hudson
Mitch Wayne
Lauren Bacall
Lucy Moore Hadley
Robert Stack
Kyle Hadley
Dorothy Malone
Marylee Hadley
Robert Keith
Jasper Hadley
Grant Williams
Biff Miley
Robert J. Wilke
Dan Willis
Edward Platt
Dr. Paul Cochrane
Harry Shannon
Hoak Wayne
John Larch
Roy Carter
Roy Glenn
Sam
Maidie Norman
Bertha
William Schallert
Reporter
Dani Crayne
Blonde
Gail Bonney
Hotel Floorlady (uncredited)
Robert Brubaker
Hotel Manager (uncredited)
George Calliga
Restaurant Patron (uncredited)
Kevin Corcoran
Boy on Electric Hobbyhorse (uncredited)
Bess Flowers
Restaurant Patron (uncredited)
Chuck Hamilton
Policeman (uncredited)
Don C. Harvey
Hotel Doorman (uncredited)
Phil Harvey
College Boy at Party (uncredited)
Bert Holland
Court Clerk (uncredited)
Mathew McCue
Commuter (uncredited)
Harold Miller
Restaurant Patron (uncredited)
Ralph Moratz
Plane Attendant (uncredited)
Barry Norton
Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)
Cynthia Patrick
Waitress (uncredited)
Jack Perrin
Courtroom Spectator (uncredited)
Floyd Simmons
Beer Drinker (uncredited)
Ray Spiker
Bar Patron (uncredited)
Bud Westmore
Makeup Artist
Douglas Sirk
Director
Albert Zugsmith
Producer
Frank Skinner
Original Music Composer
Sammy Cahn
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Bicara Cinta
2020
The Pied Pipers of Harlow
1965
Sign in to vote
Battle your watched movies head-to-head
Community Top Movies
Evil Dead II
1987 · 14 wins
The Dark Knight
2008 · 14 wins
Halloween
1978 · 13 wins
Final Destination
2000 · 12 wins
Halloween II
1981 · 11 wins
Trivia
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