The Wicked Lady (1945)

The Wicked Lady is a British adventure film first released in 1945, directed by Leslie Arliss.  The film stars Margaret Lockwood, James Mason, Patricia Roc, Griffith Jones and Michael Rennie.  Our overall rating for this film is: good.


17th Century England.  Barbara Worth isn’t content with stealing her best friend’s fiancé and marrying him solely for his wealth.  As Lady Skelton, she embarks on a career of highway robbery, striking up an alliance with the notorious highway man Jerry Jackson.  Barbara has no qualms over betraying her partner in crime, but she is surprised when he makes an unexpected return from the gallows...

The most controversial and successful film made by the British film production company Gainsborough Pictures, The Wicked Lady is the cinematic equivalent of the oft-derided sub-genre of historical fiction known as the bodice ripper.  It was an incredibly daring film for its day, with more female cleavage and overt references to sex than had beeen encountered in virtually any other British film to this point.  Today, it feels somewhat tacky thanks to some hammy performances, wafer thin characterisation and some toe-curlingly bad dialogue.   Margaret Lockwood and James Mason look like they’re appearing in pantomime, both failing to make their characters remotely convincing.   Yet, despite all its manifest failings, The Wicked Lady is immense fun to watch, and it’s a pity that director Leslie Arliss didn’t go the extra mile and make this a totally unbridled comedy.  It is infintely better than Michael Winner’s absolutely dire 1983 remake.

© James Travers 2008

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