Wicked as They Come Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

Wicked as They Come Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov February 26, 2026

Ken Hughes' "Wicked as They Come" (1956) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Indicator/Powerhouse Films. The supplemental features on the release include new audio commentary by critic Jose Arroyo; archival audio program with producer Maxwell Setton; vintage promotional materials for the film; and more. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

"You wouldn't remember me. I'm just someone you passed on the way up."

Instead of appearing in various small westerns, adventure films, and soapy melodramas, Arlene Dahl should have prioritized film noirs. The darker and sexier, the better, too. In the 1950s, Dahl made a couple of film noirs that provide all the evidence a smart studio executive would have needed to conclude that she was born to be a classic femme fatale. The best of these films is Allan Dwan’s Slightly Scarlet. In it Dahl is paired with another stunning beauty who did appear in several great film noirs, Rhonda Fleming, and one of the best macho actors from the post-war period, John Payne, who has big parts in two the all-time greatest film noirs, Kansas City Confidential and 99 River Street. However, Slightly Scarlet is a late film noir, shot in color, and Dahl was born to be a femme fatale in proper, lush black-and-white film noirs.

Harold Kress’ No Questions Asked, produced in 1951, should have been the eye-opener that permanently reset Dahl’s career, and Ken Hughes’ Wicked as They Come should have been greenlighted immediately after it. However, while a very good film, Wicked as They Come also should have been made by an American studio, so that Dahl is paired with several big actors. Dahl is left to lead alone in Wicked as They Come, and this is one of two crucial reasons her character is prevented from evolving into an unforgettable femme fatale.

The other crucial reason is the quality of the screenplay, which emphasizes proper messaging, justifying Dahl’s actions in the safest way possible, rather than proper but bold film noir fireworks that would have enhanced and completed Dahl’s transformation. It is too bad because Hughes, who also penned the screenplay, could have easily made the necessary changes, and Dahl would have ensured that the film noir fireworks are of the best kind.

Dahl’s transformation is initiated in a poor neighborhood of New York City, where her character, a stunning beauty living with her broke and shady stepfather, hatches a plan to escape her miserable environment permanently. Shortly after, Dahl uses her gorgeous eyes and striking curves to manipulate an old-timer and his son running a beauty contest for a big newspaper to help her win the top prize -- a check for one thousand dollars and a plane ticket to Europe -- and packs her bags. Somewhere over the Atlantic, Dahl then impresses an advertising agent (Phil Carey), who instantly recognizes that she is on a mission and willing to entertain offers from men who can get her to her final destination. In London, at The May Fair Hotel, they arrange a date, but Dahl, already running short on cash, also begins seeing a gullible photographer (Michael Goodliffe), who later asks her to marry him and gets a massive bill. The advertising agent’s boss (Herbert Marshall) is also played like a fiddle, and to protect their marriage, his forgiving wife arranges for Dahl to move to Paris, where her elderly father (Ralph Truman) instantly falls for her. Because the old-timer owns the advertising agency and is filthy-rich, Dahl, now at the top, her final destination, promptly accepts his proposal to marry him.

The game that Dahl plays is painfully predictable, but will never get old, so the destruction of the men who fall for her beauty looks entirely authentic. However, this is not why Wicked as They Come is worth seeing. Until the final act, Dahl plays a straight shooter, and the cynicism that often permeates her statements, coupled with her beauty, transforms the game into quite a spectacle.

The final act replaces the straight shooter with a victim, which is a painfully predictable move, too. It is also a bad move, because it only reconfirms that women like Dahl remain players even when the game has effectively ended for them.

Wicked as They Come Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.65:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Wicked as They Come arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Indicator/Powerhouse Films.

The release is sourced from an older master, supplied by Sony Pictures. Like the other such masters used to source the different releases in the Columbia Noir #7: Made in Britain box set, this master produces pleasing, often quite good organic visuals. However, this master has several areas where larger surface imperfections -- like blemishes, dark spots, and marks -- quickly pop up and disappear. I don't think that they are distracting. While they could have been removed with digital tools, I would rather have them and not some wild digital corrections, destabilizing the visuals and, ultimately, destroying their organic qualities. Grain exposure could be healthier and more convincing, but there are no troubling anomalies. I noticed a few shaky transitions, but image stability remains good. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Wicked as They Come Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 1.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

While in a few areas the upper register feels a bit weak, I would still describe the overall quality of the lossless track as very good, even borderline excellent. It is pretty easy to tell that the original soundtrack, while utilizing music in pretty good ways, was not treated with a great deal of attention from the producers of the film. It is a modest soundtrack, and the lossless audio track replicates its qualities. I do not think that there is any room for meaningful improvements, so if a new track is created in the future, I have to speculate that all improvements on it, if any at all, will be cosmetic.

Wicked as They Come Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary - this new audio commentary for selected scenes from Wicked as They Come was recorded by critic Jose Arroyo.

• The BEHP Interview with Maxwell Setton - in this archival audio program, producer Maxwell Setton discusses his life and work with John Legard and Dave Robson. The program was recorded on April 5, 1991.

• Theatrical Trailer - presented here is a vintage theatrical trailer for Wicked as They Come. In English, not subtitled. (3 min).

• Image Gallery - a collection of vintage promotional materials for Wicked as They Come.

• Soho (1943) - Soho was an amateur production made by Ken Hughes during the period when he was serving in the Royal Air Force. It is presented here with an optional new score by the band Peninsula. (12 min).

• Book - a 120-page book with new essays by Jonathan Bygraves, Andrew Spicer, Pamela Hutchinson, Robert Murphy, Chloe Walker, and Bethan Roberts; an archival on-set report for A Prize of Gold; extracts from The Last Man to Hang's pressbook; collected archival interviews with Wicked as They Come director Ken Hughes; an American Cinematographer report on The Long Haul; a reprint of a Films and Filming article on Fortune Is a Woman filmmakers Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder; new writing on A Test for Love and This Little Ship; and film credits.

Wicked as They Come Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

As a seductress, Arlene Dahl is as good as Rita Hayworth in Gilda. In the footage from Paris, Dahl even looks more ravishing. However, while a very good film noir, Wicked as They Come is not a big and glamorous film noir, so Dahl lacks the star support and fireworks that could have made her transformation into a stunning femme fatale inevitable. I still like the cynical straight shooter that dominates more than two-thirds of Wicked as They Come a lot. You can get Wicked as They Come if you purchase Columbia Noir #7: Made in Britain, a six-disc box set. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.