''Fugitive Lady'',

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

: , is a 1950

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...

–

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Sidney Salkow Sidney Salkow (June 16, 1911 – October 18, 2000) was an American film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulf ...

and

Marino Girolami Marino Girolami (1 February 1914 – 20 February 1994) was an Italian film director and actor. Biography Marino Giorlami was born on 1 February 1914 in Rome, Italy. Formally a Professional boxer, Girolami ended his boxing career when he was 20. ...

(

Uncredited In general, the term credit in the artistic or intellectual sense refers to an acknowledgment of those who contributed to a work, whether through ideas or in a more direct sense. Credit in the arts In the creative arts, credits are an acknowledg ...

). It stars

Janis Paige Janis Paige (born Donna Mae Tjaden; September 16, 1922) is an American retired actress and singer. Born in Tacoma, Washington, she began singing in local amateur shows at the age of five. After high school, she moved to Los Angeles, where she b ...

Binnie Barnes Gertrude Maud Barnes (25 March 1903 – 27 July 1998), known professionally as Binnie Barnes, was an English actress whose career in films spanned from 1923 to 1973. Early life Barnes was born in Islington, London, the daughter of Rosa Eno ...

, and

Massimo Serato Massimo Serato, born Giuseppe Segato, (31 May 1916 – 22 December 1989) was an Italian film actor with a career spanning over 40 years. Serato was born in Oderzo, Veneto, Italy and started appearing in films in 1938. He played leading roles in ...

. ''Fugitive Lady'' is based on the novel '' Dark Road'' by

Doris Miles Disney Doris Miles Disney (December 22, 1907 – March 9, 1976) was an American mystery writer. She wrote 47 novels, many of which were best sellers; several were made into feature films or TV movies. In 14 of her writing years Disney published two n ...

Film editing Film editing is both a creative and a technical part of the post-production process of filmmaking. The term is derived from the traditional process of working with film stock, film which increasingly involves the use Digital cinema, of digital ...

was done by

Nino Baragli Nino Baragli (1 October 1925 – 29 May 2013) was an Italian film editor with more than 200 film credits. Among his films in English, ''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'' (1966) and '' Once Upon a Time in the West'' (1968), both directed by Sergio L ...

. It was shot at the Scalera Studios in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Plot

The wealthy industrialist Ralph Clementi (

Eduardo Ciannelli Eduardo Ciannelli (30 August 1888 – 8 October 1969), was an Italian baritone and character actor with a long career in American films, mostly playing gangsters and criminals. He was sometimes credited as Edward Ciannelli. Early life Ciannelli ...

) after being released from a tavern in a drunken state he leaves his car near

, but came close to

Lake Nemi Lake Nemi ( it, Lago di Nemi, la, Nemorensis Lacus, also called Diana's Mirror, la, Speculum Dianae) is a small circular volcanic lake in the Lazio region of Italy south of Rome, taking its name from Nemi, the largest town in the area, that ...

, not noticing the broken road, he plunges into a ravine: the Ralph dies. Since he had taken out insurance on the life of himself in the amount of £100,000, his wife Barbara (

) is going to collect the prize of the policy. Jack Di Marco ( Tony Cento), insurance investigator, also thanks to the half-sister of the victim, Esther (

), which appears detached from the

sister-in-law A sibling-in-law is the spouse of one's sibling, or the sibling of one's spouse, or the person who is married to the sibling of one's spouse.Cambridge Dictionaries Online.Family: non-blood relations. More commonly, a sibling-in-law is referred ...

and her fake pain, investigates the history of the protagonists. Esther secretly harbored feelings for her half-brother, now no longer young, but Ralph was in love with Barbara, a singer in nightclubs, and he married her. But over time the affection of Barbara at her husband had been reduced to a forced patience; in her life she had returned to her former lover, Jim West (

). Discovered by Ralph, she tried to get a divorce from him, but the man denied the satisfaction. Unable to separate from him legally, she decided to get rid of him. In a stormy night, she led a drunk Ralph to get into the car; two exchanged signs were the cause of the accident. Jim, who was also unaware of the intent of the fact, thanks to a confession of the villa caretaker, he feels that in planning the incident was Barbara. With these, disgusted about the perfidy of woman abandons her, she shoots him to death behind him. At the sight of Jack, who secretly has witnessed the murder, Barbara flees from the villa by car, but perishes in the same incident, which she herself organized, that happened to her husband.

Cast

as Barbara Clementi *

as Esther Clementi *

as Jim West *

as Ralph Clementi * Tony Cento as Jack De Marco *

Alba Arnova Alba Arnova (15 March 1930 – 11 March 2018) was an Italian-Argentine ballerina and film actress. Life and career Born in Buenos Aires as Alba Fossati, daughter of two Italian emigrants, Arnova studied piano at the Conservatory and enrolled ...

as Francine *

Dino Galvani Dino Galvani (born Candido Galvanoni; 27 October 189014 September 1960) was an Italian-British actor, who made his career in Britain on stage and radio and in films. He is remembered for his role in the popular BBC radio comedy series '' ITMA'' ...

as Giuseppe * Rosina Galli as Teresa * John Fostini as Beppo * Luciana Danieli as Maria * Michael Tor as Bob * Alex Serberoli as Chauffeur * Joop van Hulsen as Druggist *

Giulio Marchetti Giulio Marchetti (9 June 1911 – 1 December 1993) was an Italian stage, film and television actor and presenter. Life and career Born in Barcelona, Marchetti was the grandson of the operetta actor and comedian Giulio and the son of the theatr ...

as Giovanni

Reception

Critical response

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' staff wrote in a review of ''Fugitive Lady'': " Mr. Frankovitch has unwound this meandering claptrap, which is recounted in an interminable series of flashbacks by practically everybody in the cast, against the eye-popping magnificence of Rome's cafe society playground. John O'Dea has pounded out a laboriously one-dimensional scenario,

's direction is vacuous and fumbling and the cast responds accordingly. As the passion-blinded spouse,

grits his teeth and grins like an agonized possum.

, who is also Mrs. Frankovitch, does a stiff but at least restrained job as his protecting sister. And

makes an honest but unsustained try as the gigolo. But Miss Paige, who ranges from Louisa M. Alcott demureness to snarling tantrums, takes the cake for water-level histrionics. Just why Mr. Frankovitch bothered with such a diabolically dull heroine is anyone's guess. Maybe

, who wrote the original novel, knows. At any rate, somebody should have opened a window to let in some more air—and scenery."

References

Sources

* *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fugitive Lady 1950 films Republic Pictures films Films directed by Sidney Salkow 1950 crime drama films Italian crime drama films British crime drama films 1950s English-language films Films shot at Scalera Studios Italian black-and-white films British black-and-white films 1950s British films 1950s Italian films