Rent The Wicked Lady (1945)

3.6 of 5 from 73 ratings
1h 39min
Rent The Wicked Lady Online DVD & Blu-ray Rental
  • General info
  • Available formats
Synopsis:
Barbara (Margaret Lockwood) after stealing her best friend's fiance and marrying him, becomes bored with her life in a country mansion and takes to highway robbery as a thrilling way to put some excitement into her life. One night she meets the dashing Captain Jackson (James Mason), a fellow highwayman, and the two embark on a passionate and nocturnal affair. Barbara's unusual habit of sleeping all day does not go unnoticed, and when she is recognised as a robber; she turns to murder to keep her secret.
Actors:
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Directors:
Producers:
R.J. Minney
Writers:
Magdalen King-Hall, Leslie Arliss
Studio:
Carlton Video
Genres:
Action & Adventure, Classics, Drama, Romance
Collections:
Cinema Paradiso's 2024 Centenary Club: Part 3, Getting to Know..., Getting to Know: James Mason, Holidays Film Collection, Introducing a British Film Family, Remembering Timothy West, Romantic Film Pairings for Valentine's Day, That's All Fawkes! Top 10 Films Set in the Stuart Era, Top 10 British Actresses of the 1940s, Top Films
BBFC:
Release Date:
15/03/2004
Run Time:
99 minutes
Languages:
English Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono
Subtitles:
English Hard of Hearing
DVD Regions:
Region 2
Formats:
Pal
Aspect Ratio:
Full Screen 1.33:1 / 4:3
Colour:
B & W
Bonus:
  • Original Theatrical Trailer
BBFC:
Release Date:
Not released
Run Time:
104 minutes

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Reviews (1) of The Wicked Lady

Only Wicked? - The Wicked Lady review by Steve

Spoiler Alert
30/01/2024

Well, a bit more than wicked. Margaret Lockwood, as the arriviste aristocrat turned highway robber, kills in cold blood as well as offing rivals on the turnpike. Including James Mason as a thigh slapping bandit who becomes her accomplice for a while in crime and in the boudoir. This was the most successful film at the box office as Britain came out of war.

It's probably the definitive Gainsborough melodrama, set during the infamously lawless Restoration period. Most of it had to be reshot for the US market, and not only because of the ostentatiously low cut gowns. This broke the Hays code in every direction, with adultery and crime committed for pleasure and without repentance.

It was a huge personal success for Lockwood who as well as the mayhem gets to deliver some venomous dialogue. James Mason is reliably lusty as a villainous sidekick . If Griffith Jones and Patricia Roc are anodyne back up as the moralistic good guys, well that's their role and besides most of Roc's support is in her costume.

Shame there wasn't a better director, because although this is a lot of fun, the pacing is a little slow. But it is incredibly salacious. The period is recreated well, though much of it in the studio and on back projection. The cross-dressing heroine gives the film transgressive cult status, though the fetishism is muted. It's a bawdy romp and welcome escapism after WWII.

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