This film showed up on TCM in November 2008 with no IMDb rating or comments. Personally I'd rate it around 6.3.
**very minor spoilers**
Lady of Vengeance is a small UK crime drama with some pleasant twists. It seems completely predictable at first... Dennis O'Keefe as William T. Marshall, a ruthless American publisher who abuses his staff, employees, and even those in his personal life. Eileen Elton is Melissa, his ward, who is desperate to escape his control and experience life. Her story is told in flashback, as the film opens with her demise. She runs off with Larry Shaw (Vernon Greeves), a well-known but low-life musician. Anton Diffring ably plays Karnak, a criminal genius and philatelist who Marshall tries to blackmail, then ultimately bribe, into aiding him in his vengeance scheme. Finally there's Ann Sears as Katie Whiteside, Marshall's long-suffering (and secretly smitten) personal secretary, who tries to save Marshall from himself.
There are some definite weaknesses to the film... stiff characters and dialogue, some very predictable moments, obvious limitations of the budget, very few sympathetic characters, and some unclear writing. It's not always obvious as to when we're in a flashback. The music is at times awkwardly cheerful. And worst of all is the pat, semi-happy ending, capped off with a deus ex machina, 'wages of fear'-esque bit of irony.
What does work is the twisting narrative. Tension is maintained by never knowing exactly what Marshall is up to, nor what he knows. And the true villain of the story shifts several times. There's even a minor taste of the 'Tales From the Crypt' ironic style. Not a bad diversion if you're a crime drama fan and have a tolerance for the limitations of B-movies.
**very minor spoilers**
Lady of Vengeance is a small UK crime drama with some pleasant twists. It seems completely predictable at first... Dennis O'Keefe as William T. Marshall, a ruthless American publisher who abuses his staff, employees, and even those in his personal life. Eileen Elton is Melissa, his ward, who is desperate to escape his control and experience life. Her story is told in flashback, as the film opens with her demise. She runs off with Larry Shaw (Vernon Greeves), a well-known but low-life musician. Anton Diffring ably plays Karnak, a criminal genius and philatelist who Marshall tries to blackmail, then ultimately bribe, into aiding him in his vengeance scheme. Finally there's Ann Sears as Katie Whiteside, Marshall's long-suffering (and secretly smitten) personal secretary, who tries to save Marshall from himself.
There are some definite weaknesses to the film... stiff characters and dialogue, some very predictable moments, obvious limitations of the budget, very few sympathetic characters, and some unclear writing. It's not always obvious as to when we're in a flashback. The music is at times awkwardly cheerful. And worst of all is the pat, semi-happy ending, capped off with a deus ex machina, 'wages of fear'-esque bit of irony.
What does work is the twisting narrative. Tension is maintained by never knowing exactly what Marshall is up to, nor what he knows. And the true villain of the story shifts several times. There's even a minor taste of the 'Tales From the Crypt' ironic style. Not a bad diversion if you're a crime drama fan and have a tolerance for the limitations of B-movies.