The Unholy Wife

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The Unholy Wife is a color 1957 drama film produced and directed by John Farrow. The screenplay was written by William Durkee and Jonathan Latimer.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The film begins with a woman telling her story from prison. In the flashbacks, the woman marries a rich vintner (Steiger) from Napa Valley. Soon after the marriage, the woman Phyllis (Dors) begins having eyes for a local rodeo rider and starts an affair with him. One night while her husband is away, Phyllis’ elderly mother-in-law thinks a burglar is breaking into the house so she calls the police. Phyllis sees this as an opportunity to kill her husband and blame the burglar for the crime. The plan backfires a day later when Phyllis instead kills the husband’s best friend. Not wanting to go to jail she convinces her husband to confess to the killing and they concoct a story that would set her husband free after a trial. Unfortunately for the vintner, Phyllis instead lies at the trial and the husband is put away for murder. The “unholy” wife finally get the punishment she deserves when her mother-in-law dies of poisoning and the blame goes to Phyllis is sent to prison – for a crime she had nothing to do with.