Movie review - "This Desired Body" (1959) ** aka "Way of the Wicked"

Belinda Lee found herself mostly in comedies and crime films while in Britain; Europe gave her better roles, albeit mostly playing femme fetales. Here she's a hooker who goes to live in a small coastal town, working at a mussell factory, where she is pursued by two men, Maurice Ronet and Daniel Gelin.

Reviews dismissed this was a knock off of And God Created Woman - it would've been better had it followed that template more. The situation is fine, as are the actors - it's set up as if it's going to build to a climax but becomes a squib. Ronet does punch someone out who dies and goes to prison but that's about it. 

 

The action cries out for a tragic climax, gangsters, cops, something - I was hoping the bar owner who sleeps with Lee would pull out a gun but no.

Some surprises, like it being set around a mussel factory and the girl Dany Carrel who pines over Ronet doesn't get him in the end.

Location shooting in a seaside town. Acting is fine. Lee is excellent as a woman who has been around the traps; very sexy strutting around in some tight gear. A bit too much men slapping women.  The main issue is it trundles along when it should build.