Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

So much average

I'll tell you why so serious

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

For some reason this film has a "B-movie" quality about it and I think it has something to do with the lead actress, Diana Dors. Although some have referred to her as, "the English Marilyn Monroe", she just doesn't seem to have the "on-screen presence" that Marilyn had. At least, I don't think so. Because of this, while she is certainly very pretty, I never quite got that intrigued with her performance in this picture. Her acting seemed kind of bland and "wooden". Be that as it may, in this film she plays "Phyllis Hochen" who is the conniving wife of a rich wine-maker ("Paul Hochen") played by Rod Steiger. But she doesn't love him. Instead she is having an affair with a local rodeo cowboy named "San Sanders" (Tom Tryon). Being terribly unhappy with Paul she schemes to get rid of him. Anyway, so much for the plot which is pretty basic and has been used any number of times. While I don't want to sound terribly negative, I will say that one thing I didn't care for was the technique used which had her telling her story from a jail cell in the past tense. Now, I realize that this is a typical film-noir technique but (when used) it often seems to take some of the mystery out of it. Anyway, add in an average script, weak directing (John Farrow) and mediocre acting all around and it pretty much rates a "5 out of 10". While it wasn't "great" I suppose it was an "okay" way to spend an hour and a half.

Diana Dors is seen on death row telling her story of how her own greed lead to her downfall. She is married to wealthy vineyard owner Rod Steiger whom she met in a bar, but bored spending the day taking care of his elderly mother, she is soon involved in an affair with rodeo horseman Tom Tryon. She commits a murder which her husband is blamed for.I have seen several films with blonde bombshell Diana Dors, and I just don't get her appeal. She certainly isn't beautiful enough to rank up there with Marilyn Monroe or Jayne Mansfield; She's sort of a second-rate "Baby Doll" with a bit of a Gloria Grahame type pout thrown in and is truly unbelievable here as the vixenish wife. She has twice as much hair as Mansfield and Monroe combined, and a head too small which looks like a lion who needs his mane trimmed. She just looks ridiculous. In an attempt to soften his demeanor from early villain roles, Rod Steiger sensitizes his personality in an effort to move into a leading role. His character does have many different nuances-soft at times yet strong in his business dealings, but ultimately stupid for ending up with Dors. The usually lovely Beaulah Bondi, one of my favorite character actresses ever, plays a character that grates on the nerves. Had this been a better script with a better leading lady, it would have been genuinely chilling to see Bondi's fear grow during the spooky storm that ends up with a visit by death. In fact, had the film been in black and white and released during the height of the film noir era, it could have ranked a lot higher in ratings. But late RKO's color films looked somewhat washed out and were poorly photographed, so it is not too surprising that they were only a few films away from turning strictly into a TV studio.Marie Windsor, whose days as a film noir femme fatale were over, is wasted here as Dors' pal. I feel bad for Rod Steiger here; He really tries to do something with his character, but the script defeats him and he comes off as a small touch of class in an otherwise trashy story. This is a film that works better as a pulp fiction book with a colorful cover that leaves everything else to the imagination.

Next to last movie by John Farrow,this work is a return to the style of some of his earlier films Noirs ,particularly "Alias Nick Beal" and above all William Irish's (aka Cornell Woolrich)" the night has a thousand eyes" :what was written in the stars in the 1948 effort (thus everything man does to change his fate is pointless) has become a supernatural (shall we say divine?) intervention.This immanent justice,the old lady believes in it and she is sure that God will know his own.Ray Milland portrayed the Devil in "Alias Nick Beal" which was an updated Faust .Diana Dors portrays another devil with a red dress on.The title says it all: "the unholy wife" is a Christian movie (In Irish's books the Gods are closer to the Greek divinities) ,which the presence of a priest in the family (the husband's brother) reinforces . The story,which is a long flashback ,is a long confession -and becomes a true one ,in the religious sense of the term in the last sequence.There's an unusually inventive use of colors ,with blue ,yellow and black predominance .Hot Diana Dors 'look sharply contrasts with the prisoner in jail.Farrow 's obsession of time running out recalls "the big clock" (remade as " no way out" by Roger Donaldson with Johnny Depp); it was also present in "night has a thousand eyes" .Time becomes a matter of life .The big clock invented by Farrow and Latimer in 1948 was a splendid metaphor of this time which is rarely on man's side.

As devoted to Blonde Bombshells as I am to food and oxygen, on first viewing The Unholy Wife I really wanted / NEEDED this film to be great. It's not - but DO SEE IT. Forget the plot and just absorb yourself in Hollywood's version of mid-fifties womanhood as a drippingly lacquered Dors, encased in silver lame', is unconvincingly rammed down the audiences throat as a heartless, lusting bitch. Enjoy.