Horace Vendig always gets what he wants. Even as a poor youth, he charmed his way into high society by getting the father of his friend, Martha, to foot the bill for his Harvard education. When Vic, another childhood pal, is invited to Horace's mansion for a party, he brings along Mallory Flagg, who happens to bear a striking resemblance to Martha. As Vic and Horace reunite, old resentments rise to the surface.
Zachary Scott
Horace Woodruff 'Woody' Vendig
Louis Hayward
Vic Lambdin
Diana Lynn
Martha Burnside / Mallory Flagg
Sydney Greenstreet
Buck Mansfield
Lucille Bremer
Christa Mansfield
Martha Vickers
Susan Duane
Dennis Hoey
Mr. Burnside
Edith Barrett
Mrs. Burnside
Raymond Burr
Pete Vendig
Joyce Arling
Kate Vendig
Charles Evans
Bruce Endicott McDonald
Robert J. Anderson
Horace Vendig as a Child
Arthur Stone
Vic Lambdin as a Child
Ann Carter
Martha Burnside as a Child
Edna Holland
Libby Sims
Frederick Worlock
J. Norton Sims
John Good
Bradford Duane
Claire Carleton
Bella
Harry Cheshire
Lawyer Nevin (Uncredited)
Douglas Evans
George (Uncredited)
Jesse Graves
Phillips, Mansfield's Servant (Uncredited)
Sam Harris
Man in Office (Uncredited)
George McDonald
Freddie Atwood (Uncredited)
Bert Moorhouse
Prescott (Uncredited)
Fred Nurney
Mrs. Vendig's Lover (Uncredited)
Dick Ryan
Servant (Uncredited)
Larry Steers
Political Dinner Dais Attendee (Uncredited)
Director
Edgar G. Ulmer
Novel
Dayton Stoddart
Screenplay
Alvah Bessie
Screenplay
S.K. Lauren
Screenplay
Gordon Kahn
August 21, 2019
7
I don't want to be a man. Never! I wish there weren't any men in the whole world.
Ruthless is directed by Edgar G. Ulmer and adapted to screenplay by S.K. Lauren, Gordon Kahn and Alvah Bessie from Dayton Stoddart's novel Prelude to Night. It stars Zachary Scott, Louis Hayward, Sydney Greenstreet, Diana Lynn, Lucille Bremer and Martha Vickers. Music is by Werner Jansen and cinematography by Bert Glennon.
Even as a boy Horace Vendig always got what he wanted. Then into adulthood and he manipulates himself into high society. Now a fully fledged tyro of commerce he is even more cruel and impervious to how his actions harm others. But when Horace (Scott) reunites with his old best friend Vic Lambdin (Hayward) and he falls a foul of the bitter Buck Mansfield (Greenstreet), all the resentments come crashing together as one!
"Animals kill for food or love. You and I spoil the jungle because we kill for profit, a taste of victory and revenge. Then we destroy each other after"
It was a one time hard to locate picture, where even in early releases it had been shorn of 25 minutes, but now it's out there, a full one hour and forty four minutes of Ruthlessness! Ok, that might be over selling it a touch, but this is a pretty spicy piece of greedy film noir, a scathing attack on capitalism, a telling of the corruption of a man's soul and the bitter treatment he hands out to those who care for him.
Tagged as a sort of baby brother to Citizen Kane, which is fair enough in fact, but that be in narrative drive more than visual panache. There's some nice expressionistic touches, with Glennon (Crime Wave) proving what a very talented cinematographer he was (see his Westerns output), but the pic does lack for noirish visual menace to marry up with the sour lead characterisation. Which is a crime given it's Ulmer (The Black Cat/Bluebeard/Detour/Strange Illusion) in the directors chair.
However, where the pic shines bright is with the performances, Ulmer getting his cast to turn in impressive portrayals of the human condition. The ladies are especially great (Lynn has a dual role) as they nail the respective heartbeats of women buffeted by Horace's duality of twisted emotions and lofty avarice ambitions. In short we get very mature turns in a film that's very much mature in thematics. Add it to your Ulmer "to see lists" post haste. 7.5/10
Status:
Released
Original Language:
English
Budget:
$0.00
Revenue:
$0.00