Woman of Straw

Woman of Straw (Basil Dearden, 1964) It wasn't much of a stretch for Sean Connery, in a filming break between From Russia With Love and Goldfinger, to play the cad Anthony Richmond in Woman of Straw (he also filmed Alfred Hitchcock's Marnie in the same period). His speaking voice is still "posh," the toupee is slightly fluffy (using the "drama" one, not the "action" one) and even the suits he wears would be reused in the third Ian Fleming adaptation. One who had seen Goldfinger first—a good bet as Woman of Straw did not do well at the box-office—could be forgiven for have a sense of deja vu watching him in this film and thinking he'd be drawing a Walther PPK and making a quip at any moment.

There is the added atmosphere provided by the sets of Ken Adam, which give the film added size and sheen—they even reuse the ridiculously long dining table for an intimate dinner joke.

So, there's a distracting shadow of Bond throughout the film, even though it's a different boiling pot of intrigue throughout. Richmond is the nephew and prince-in-impatient-waiting to kingpin Charles Richmond (Ralph Richardson), an irritable man of means, bitter due to the death of his wife and his confinement to a wheelchair. Charles is in constant need of care, but keeping a nurse around, given his cantankerousness is a problem. His home staff (Johnny Sekka, Danny Daniels) are only consistent because they are minorities and lower class—they have no other option than to put up with his obstinance and impotent sadism.

So "Tony"—acting as his uncle's solicitor—brings in a new nurse, Maria Marcello (Gina Lollobrigida), and she's a bit different. She's "foreign"—Italian, to be blunt about it—attractive, and a bit more assertive than the home-grown "angels of mercy" who have been dispatched, no doubt under emotional duress, from the old tycoon's employ. And this angel has a bit of a devil to her. She won't put up with Charles' guff and is just about to walk out of the situation when Anthony makes a proposal. 

What he proposes is this: stay in their employ, as "the old man" is less of an ogre with her, and maybe they both can profit by it. Tony's father was cut out of the family business by Charles and Tony knows that when the old man dies, he'll only inherit £20,000. But, if Maria marries the old man...and he dies...she'll inherit his fortune. The only thing Tony asks is £1M for providing the opportunity. Maria is attracted to Tony and her mother lives a poor existence in Italy and the money would certainly benefit her. So, she agrees to the plot.

Being a nurse is tough duty, even if one is a nurse in a gilded cage, but Maria sticks it out, doing battle with Uncle Charles about diet, exercise and medicine, while Tony purrs in her ear about the end-game. But, at one point, Maria decides that she's had enough and returns to Italy...only to be surprised that Uncle Charles travels there to ask her to come back. The old man evidently has a soft spot for her and so Tony's plan might actually work, so she relents, and Uncle Charles soon finds her to be indispensable. An extended yacht holiday cements their relationship, and Tony is pleased when Charles asks him to change his will—Tony will get £40,000 now—but Maria will become the new beneficiary, as he intends to marry her.

But, she'll only become the beneficiary...if he dies.

That's when the complications ensue and the film becomes one of small details and intricacies as opposed to personalities. The film falls off somewhat, despite adding a couple more characters—police investigators and such—and a murder plot that needs a bit too much suspension of belief to pull off.

And—spoiler alert (but is it really?)—the victim is actually the most interesting character—and player—in the movie. Richardson's thorny old coot is such an irascible sort that once he warms up, you miss him when he goes, leaving you with two conspirators, neither of whom you know too well and neither of whom are entirely trustworthy. 

What's an audience to do?

The filmmakers clearly intend sympathies to go with Lollobrigida's Maria, who is set up to "take the fall" for Charles' demise, but the collapse of the previously strong woman we witnessed—and Lollobrigida's playing of it—leave one a bit suspended (with very little suspense) and leaves her a woman in peril with only the actions of people we don't know to get her out of it. That third act weakness is an issue with other Dearden films I've seen, which can have terrific set-up's but unsatisfying (no, that's too strong a word—let's say "troubling") resolutions.

Now, back to Connery. Turns out his Tony Richmond is the dark side of Hamlet—taking revenge against his Uncle who ruined and cuckolded his father—but is in no way a hero. In fact, although Connery, once "established" in his career, played killers, cads, and cons throughout, he very rarely played the traditional villain role—the only other I can recall post-50's is the movie version of The Avengers. That his "bad guy" is only a shade more serious than his portrayal of his James Bond says a lot about the actor...and that particular character.*

On the whole, Woman of Straw, is a slightly better film than a "for completist's only" watch. It may interest those who like their Hitchcock-type films with a froth of soap opera.

* This is so "inside" that it only rates an asterisk: Connery's villain meets his well-deserved demise by a stunt contrivance that would be echoed in a not-too-believable method of tripping up Bond's fight-partner in the opening of Thunderball.  Deliberate? Like his mentioning of another of his films—Another Time, Another Place—later in that film?