WOMAN OF STRAW

Playboy Anthony Richmond schemes to acquire the £50 million fortune of his uncle Charles Richmond, a tyrannical, arrogant wheelchaired tycoon, by persuading Maria Marcello, the new Italian nurse he has hired, to marry the old man in exchange for one million pounds.

A sincere Maria endures the verbal and emotional abuse of Charles both at his estate and on a yacht trip in Mallorca, Spain, where they wed, and a humbled Charles changes his will to leave all his fortune to Maria, leaving only 40,000 pounds to his nephew.

After his uncle's death at the yacht one morning, both Anthony and Maria concoct a scheme to pretend he is still living as they return to the estate. Maria later becomes a murder suspect after admitting their scheme to the detectives, and later discovers that Anthony murdered his own uncle with barbiturate poison, and purposely misled Maria about Charles' last will and testament in order to trap her into the crime alone while he inherits the money after her conviction.

Detective Lomer and servant Thomas later reveal a tape recording made by Charles on his deathbed, exposing Anthony, who tries to escape. The servant Thomas pushes Charles' wheelchair towards Anthony, who falls to his death on the grand staircase. Maria is cleared of guilt by the court and inherits the estate.

Anthony is exposed as his uncle's murderer by a deathbed tape and is killed in an accident while trying to escape; Maria is exonerated and inherits the estate.

The ending twists the knife on the film’s central theme of betrayal: Anthony’s plot to pin the murder on Maria is upended by the very people he underestimated—servant Thomas and Detective Lomer. Charles’s own recorded words serve as the final blow, ensuring justice is done not by cunning, but by loyalty and truth. Maria’s exoneration and inheritance serve as bittersweet compensation for her ordeal, highlighting both the dangers and the ironies of fortune-hunting.