The Unholy Wife Reviews

A provocative crime thriller which has Dors (in the British actress' first US picture) marrying wealthy wine seller Steiger and then falling in love with rodeo star Tryon. She concocts a plan to kill Steiger and use as her alibi a prowler that her mother-in-law has reported outside their home. In actuality, the prowler is Tryon who secretly visits Dors whenever Steiger isn't around. Her plan backfires when she kills a friend of Steiger's instead, though she is able to con her husband into taking the blame. Sure that he will be acquitted, Steiger agrees but then winds up in the slammer after Dors' false testimony. She then is convicted of poisoning her mother-in-law--a crime she did not commit. All in all, an example of justice working in mysterious ways. As good as the film is, it in no way lived up to its ad campaign: "Half angel, half devil, she made him half a man." THE UNHOLY WIFE's plot is somewhat reminiscent of that of THEY KNEW NOT WHAT THEY WANTED (1940).