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Released by: Kino Lorber
Released on: April 21st, 2015
Directed by: Michael Winner
Cast: Faye Dunaway, John Gielgud, Marina Sirtis
Year: 1983
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The Movie
Leave it to Death Wish 3 director Michael Winner to sleaze up a period piece about highway robbery in the 17th century.
The Wicked Lady was an early eighties production from the legendary Cannon Films, indicative of that company's tendency to take classic literature - see Curtis Harrington's production of Mata Hari or Just Jaeckin's Lady Chatterly's Lover - and insert the required sex and violence selling points. The end results, as such, are a mixed bag of stiff upper lip British pleasantries and unabashed T & A bawdiness.
Indeed, director Michael Winner's penchant for the extreme is set on full display here in The Wicked Lady, and its tale of one Lady Barbara Skelton, a kept and bored woman who feels trapped in her marriage, seeking out adventure and excitement by joining up with the notorious highwayman, Jerry Jackson. Love, sex and political intrigue all make their way into the film's plot, but it all suffers from some hammy, over the top acting, particularly from Faye Dunaway in the title role.
Dunaway's performance is hysterically bad here, hampered likely by an awkward script and a general distaste for the role. One moment coquettish, and like an over-the-top cartoon the next, there is no medium speed for Dunaway here: she's either relentlessly evil, or infuriatingly sly. Her character of Lady Skelton is certainly easy to hate here, so in this way her performance succeeds, but man... one can only take so much mugging.
Elsewhere, the tonal shifts between prurient nudity and behind-the-scenes intrigue become jarring, and one finds this film fighting itself between the source material and a desire to spice things up a bit, most infamously the nude whipping scene between Dunaway and future Star Trek star Marina Sirtis. All of this makes sense, given Winner's reputation as somewhat a sleaze and sadist himself, although as a viewer this doesn't really make The Wicked Lady much fun to watch, other than to marvel at how awesomely awkward it all is, at the end.
Video/Audio/Extras
Kino Lorber and Scorpion Releasing have partnered to release this good looking, Region A Blu-Ray in AVC encoded 1080p high definition framed at 1.85.1 widescreen. There's a healthy bit of grain to the print, with nicely rendered flesh tones - and there's a lot of flesh on display here, lemmy tell ya - and balanced audio mix in English LPCM format. A few flecks of dirt and debris to cross the screen here and there, but it's nothing that will mar anyone's viewing experience.
Unfortunately, there are no extras, other than the film's original trailer. Sirtis had a bit to say about this film when interviewed for the Cannon Films documentary, Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films, so it would've been nice to hear more recollections about the film's apparently troubled production history from its stars. Sadly, Michael Winner left us a few years ago, as it would've been equally awesome to have had a commentary track from the director who gave us so many sleazy and violent epics over the years.
The Final Word
The Wicked Lady is a bit of bawdy fun, sure, but nothing that warrants a return trip or repeat viewings. If anything, it's a step back in time to when Cannon Films were throwing just about anything to the wall to see what would stick. Granted, the company were more hits than misses in this writer's opinion, but The Wicked Lady is just kind of a bust.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
