How sad is this?

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

SHE PLAYED WITH FIRE is a fine British crime thriller with less emphasis on plot and more emphasis on atmosphere than usual for this genre. The dependable Jack Hawkins plays an insurance investigator looking into a mysterious fire, only to end up coming face to face with a woman from his past. He gradually gets drawn into a murkier and murkier plot involving blackmail, arson, and murder, and the story keeps you involved from that point. Hawkins is a fine presence in 1950s cinema and he's very effective here, his presence bolstered by some well-chosen supporting actors including Dennis Price, Geoffrey Keen, Bernard Miles, Patrick Holt and a briefly-spotted Christopher Lee.

The esteemed British writing-producing-directing team of Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder seemed to divide their work between stylish thrillers and broad comedies – though not always each member of the unit would be responsible for their entries in any one particular genre, Gilliat's efforts tended to be more serious and therefore generally worthier of attention and less prone to become dated with the passage of time.Anyway, this film again features Christopher Lee in just one scene (albeit an amusing one as a black-eyed movie star attempting to pull off an insurance fraud!) and, in a more substantial role than in the previously-viewed PORT AFRIQUE (1956), Dennis Price. The elaborate plot also involves arson, fake paintings, a blackmail scheme, and even the shaky rekindling of an old romance. The rather mismatched stars are Jack Hawkins (immediately prior to embarking upon his international/movie spectaculars phase with the same year's THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI) and American Arlene Dahl (just as unconvincingly married here to asthmatic and unbalanced aristocrat Price) who run the gamut of emotions trying first to hide their prior affair then facing it head-on following Price's fiery death, Hawkins accusing Dahl of the murderous deed and then compromising his position in the insurance firm he works for by sticking by her (even if he knows the blaze was deliberately ignited) and fend off the inevitable vultures – knowledgeable of this fact – over Price's estate. This being the 1950s, everything works its way satisfactorily towards a happy ending – down to Hawkins' associates literally chasing after him out on the streets in the final scene to retract his decision to resign rather than bring shame upon his colleagues and superiors! As I said, the film is classy (even managing a few dream sequences to cloud Hawkins' mind during his mission) and reasonably absorbing (the identity of the chief blackmailers is quite a surprise) throughout – but taking care to also provide meaty supporting turns by the likes of Ian Hunter (as the proverbial "friend of the family"), Geoffrey Keen (as Hawkins' sympathetic superior), Bernard Miles (a similar role to the one he had just played in Hitchcock's THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH {1956}), Greta Gynt as a middle-aged nymphomaniac(!) and Michael Goodliffe (as a dogged Police Inspector). Incidentally, the print I watched sported the somewhat more appropriate U.S. moniker of SHE PLAYED WITH FIRE and, while pristine enough, suffered from the occasional jerkiness

Thank God for Turner Classic Movies! You'd never see this in "The States" otherwise. Hawkins and Dahl (though both obviously older than the ages their roles call for) are great: He as a man caught in an ever-tightening noose by a series of very believable coincidences; She as the old flame who ignites emotions which lead him astray. Scenes in the manor are well-thought-out and very suspenseful. The lighting even adjusts as the moon slips between the clouds! The plot will keep you guessing when you think you know the score. 2 quibbles (which clarify themselves after viewing, but give nothing away here and now): 1) USA release is titled "She Played With Fire". They shoulda called it: "HE Played With Fire". 2) It doesn't end the way it begins. You'll see what I mean when you watch. And, by all means, do!

I saw this film when a child and it has haunted me ever since, mainly because of the very dark and disturbing dream sequences experienced by the insurance investigator played by Jack Hawkins.These are typically Sidney Gilliat with glimpses of vignettes - a technique he has used elsewhere as in his later underrated thriller Endless Night. Brilliantly conceived.As a previous reviewer has commented, the film captures London from the 50's very well - a London I remember as a kid so seeing it again by accident on afternoon TV recently was a nostalgic experience. A great old movie which should be on DVD.