Sylvia (1965 film)

Plot

Sylvia West seems just about perfect in the eyes of California millionaire Frederic Summers, who proposes marriage to her. She is beautiful, brilliant, financially independent, writes poetry and seems to personify exactly what he wants in a woman.

But as a precaution, Summers brings in a private investigator, Alan Macklin, to do a background check. Macklin travels to Sylvia's hometown of Pittsburgh, where to his surprise he learns that Sylvia is a former prostitute and a blackmailer whose fortune mainly comes from illegal means.

Sylvia was raped by her stepfather Jonas and then became a prostitute. She pretended to be married to Oscar Stewart. Librarian Irma tells Macklin that Sylvia always liked to read.

Sylvia became friends with Jane, a fellow prostitute, and helped her out once during an emergency. Sylvia was raped by a client, Bruce Stamford III, who offered her a bribe to keep quiet about it. Sylvia took the money and invested it, using advice from Jane's husband. The investments helped Sylvia became financially independent.

Macklin meets Sylvia and says he is interested in her poetry. The two of them fall in love. He confesses the truth and she is upset. He refuses to give his report to Summers and Sylvia eventually forgives Macklin and they get together.

Cast

Production

The film was based on a novel by E.V. Cunningham, a pen name for Howard Fast. The novel was published by Doubleday in 1960 and was popular enough for Fast to write another suspense-mystery novels under the pseudonym of E.V. Cunningham, with titles which were women's names. (Others included Penelope.)

Film rights were bought by producer Martin Poll in April 1961. Poll called the film "a suspense love story". who originally set the film up at Paramount as a coproduction with Paul Newman and Martin Ritt's company - Newman was going to star and Ritt direct. Fast was hired to write a script and filming was to star December 1961. This did not happen. The project was reactivated in 1964 with Sydney Boehm writing the script and Robert Reed as a possible star. Carrol Baker, who had just made The Carpetbaggers and Mister Moses, was hired to play the lead. David Miller was signed to direct. The male lead role eventually went to George Maharis, star of Route 66. Miller was replaced as director by Gordon Douglas.

Reception

Bosley Crowther of the New York Times called it a "travesty of a film... it is hard to tell whether Carroll Baker... is worse than the script. Both are incredibly awful. Miss Baker is as lifeless as a stick, and the script... is a collection of all the clichés of bordello literature" and said that Gordon Douglas and Martin Poll "should both have their mouths washed out, their wrists slapped and their credentials as filmmakers taken away."