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The Girl in Black Stockings
The Girl in Black Stockings
Directed by	Howard W. Koch
Written by	Richard Landau
Based on	"Wanton Murder"; 1954 short story in Death Under the Table; by Peter Godfrey
Produced by	Aubrey Schenck; (executive producer)
Starring	Lex Barker; Anne Bancroft; Mamie Van Doren;
Cinematography	William Margulies
Edited by	John F. Schreyer
Music by	Les Baxter
Production; company	A Bel-Air Production
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date	September 24, 1957 (U.S.); copyright 1956
Running time	73 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The Girl in Black Stockings is an American B-movie mystery film released by United Artists in 1957. Directed by Howard W. Koch, it stars Lex Barker, Anne Bancroft, and Mamie Van Doren.^[1]

Plot

A lodge in Kanab, Utah, is where Los Angeles lawyer David Hewson goes for a peaceful vacation. He is quickly attracted to Beth Dixon, a switchboard operator and a personal assistant to lodge owner Edmund Parry.

The murder of playgirl Marsha Morgan, her throat cut, disrupts the peace and quiet. Sheriff Holmes begins the investigation, starting with the wheelchair-using Parry, who admits to hating the dead woman, and Parry's possessive sister Julia, who helps him run the lodge. It turns out David once dated Morgan as well.

A new guest, Joseph Felton, checks in. The sheriff's suspects also include guests Norman Grant, a drunken actor, and his ambitious girlfriend, Harriet Ames. A missing kitchen knife believed to be the murder weapon is found by Indian Joe, who works at the lodge.

Beth eavesdrops on a phone call Felton makes from his room. She overhears him speaking to a man named Prentiss. Felton is later found killed by drowning, and it turns out he was a private detective. David becomes more and more convinced the Parrys are behind all this. Ames is seen kissing Edmund Parry, which does not please Edmund's sister or Grant. Shortly thereafter, Ames is brutally murdered.

To his shock, David arrives as Beth holds a knife to Julia Parry's bloody throat, claiming to have stabbed her in self-defense. It turns out, however, that Prentiss is Beth's husband, and he had hired the private investigator Felton to find the psychologically disturbed Beth, who is responsible for all the murders.

Cast

Lex Barker as David Hewson
Anne Bancroft as Beth
Mamie Van Doren as Harriet Ames
John Dehner as Sheriff Holmes
Ron Randell as Edmund Parry
Marie Windsor as Julia Parry
John Holland as Norman Grant
Diana Vandervlis as Louise Miles
Richard Cutting as Dr. Aiken
Larry Chance as Joe
Gene O'Donnell as Felton
Norman Leavitt as Amos
Gerald Frank as Frankie
Stuart Whitman as Prentiss
David Dwight as Judge Walters
Karl MacDonald as Deputy
Dan Blocker as Bartender
Mark Bennett as Brackett

Production

The movie was based on a story Wanton Murder by South African author Peter Godfrey that was set in the Transvaal. The film rights were sold through Godfrey's American based sister, Vonne Godfrey. The filmmakers relocated the story to Utah.^[2]

The movie's working title was Black Stockings.^[3] It was filmed on location in the small Utah city of Kanab;^[4] the lodge in the film is the real-life Parry Lodge in Kanab, which had often served to house movie crews filming in the area.^[5] Filming also took place at Three Lakes and the Moqui Cave in Utah as well as Fredonia, Arizona.^[5] The filmmakers had shot Quincannon, Frontier Scout also in the area.

The Girl in Black Stockings was Van Doren's first film after the birth of her son and her consequent release from Universal.^[6]

Production began in July 1956.^[3]

Like much of Bel-Air's output,^[7] The Girl in Black Stockings was a low-budget exploitation film released as a second feature.^[8]

Reception

The film took 14 months to be released. Variety called it a "welcome addition to the general program market... Richard Landau’s well-developed screenplay has received good direction from Howard W. Koch, and the various technical contributions all measure up. Deserving a nod for the overall result is exec producer Aubrey Schenck."^[9]