Fortune Is a Woman (1957)

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.

This film was shown tonight on TURNER CLASSIC FILMS channel under it's American title, SHE PLAYED WITH FIRE. The title (to be honest) is misleading, but understandably so - Arlene Dahl's character is innocent of anything connected with fire, but for her American fans it suggested sexual promiscuity, which translates into more box office. Jack Hawkins was one of the great tragedies of British cinema in the middle years of our last century. From the 1940s to the 1970s (when he died) he was in many films, several of them classics (such as THE FALLEN IDOL where he is supporting Ralph Richardson, and BEN-HUR when he plays a Roman general who befriends Charleton Heston). He had superb classic profile, including large but well trimmed eyebrows, and a firm nose. He could do comedy as well as drama. But his biggest asset was his great speaking voice - a true British trumpet without forced affect (as even Olivier's could be at times). But at the height of his international career, Hawkins developed larynx cancer, and to save his life his voice box was removed. He continued acting, but the words were spoken by other actors imitating his voice. Sometimes (as when he played Emperor Franz Josef in OH, WHAT A LOVELY WAR) he did not say anything in the film - he just appeared briefly. It was a sad conclusion to a fine career.Many of his roles were as a detective or policeman. Think of him as Chief Inspector Gideon in John Ford's GIDEON'S DAY, or as the aviation investigator who is trying to come to grips with eccentric Jimmy Stewart in NO HIGHWAY IN THE SKY. And, of course, he played crooks too. Think of him as the leader of the ex-army band in THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN. Here he is a type of investigator - an insurance adjuster for a firm like Lloyd's of London. He discovers that a fire that destroyed some classic paintings at a great country house was covered by a policy of his own company. The policy was taken out by Dennis Price (the conniving Louis Mazzini-D'Ascoygne in KIND HEARTS AND CORONETS), who is married to Arlene Dahl. But Dahl and Hawkins had known each other five years before and had a heavy romance. It collapsed, and they haven't seen each other since. Normally astute, Hawkins gives a quick look-over of the damage and okays the payment. Subsequently Price takes out more insurance on the house's main section. But Hawkins notices something odd concerning the house when he is shown the estate - he remembers having seen the country house in a position that he could not have physically been at before. Later it dawns on him - he has seen a picture that was painted by an old master of the house in that position. He finds the picture again in the apartment of an American (John Phillips, the British actor who frequently played Americans - he is the American Ambassador in ROMANOFF AND JULIET). He questions Phillips and finds out the picture is an original that a woman (who sounds like Dahl) sold to Phillips. That's nice, except that Hawkins realizes that the original was one of the pictures supposedly destroyed in the fire.Hawkins now suspects a forgery and arson fraud case. Knowing that the house should be empty, Hawkins returns to it at night to examine some of the paintings. He finds an apparently dead Price and a raging fire. After sending for the fire department (pretending to be Price), Hawkins returns home. He keeps a low profile, having his associate Geoffrey Keene conduct the investigation. As a result, Dahl gets 30,000 pounds. Hawkins at first confronts Dahl months afterward, but subsequently realizes his suspicions about her are not supported by fact. He proposes to her, and they marry. They plan to return the money, but instead they find that she is facing blackmail, and that circumstances are making Hawkins look like a co-conspirator.The film is talky at times, but it goes along pretty well, and the closing noose around Hawkins and Dahl as they make one blunder after another without trying is a nice touch. I should add that the film ends with a plausible explanation of what happened the night of the second fire, but it could easily have ended differently. I like it on the whole, and felt that it gave Hawkins and Dahl some good moments (note Dahl's scene with blackmailer Bernard Miles). Certainly I was glad for the opportunity to see this rarely shown film on television.

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.

Hawkins is an insurance investigator who coincidentally meets old flame Dahl who is married to dennis Price. The aftermath of this meeting includes two fires, a possible murder , blackmail and bigamy?? Sterling support from Geoffrey Keen and his real life father as Hawkins employers. There are enough red herrings here to keep everyone happy and Hawkins as always is superb. This is the kind of film that reminds everyone of an England that is no more. Slow cars, fur coats ,dancing and supper at a nightclub. Where Scotland yard looks it should and the coppers look like michael goodlife. The minor characters are well rounded and blend into a believable plot. And the old house in the fog coupled with the smoke from the fires remind us of the smog filled London of the 50s.Oh how I love old British films.