THREE BAD SISTERS (1956)

Those few keeping track of John Bromfield’s career, that hunky blend of Rory Calhoun and Steve Cochran, may remember him from his other two Bel-Air Productions, Crime Against Joe, and The Big Bluff. Released by United Artists, it was directed by Gilbert Kay and produced by Howard W. Koch. Again, Paul Dunlap provides Bel-Air’s music score.

Bromfield is questioned in a courthouse interrogation room about what happened when his small plane crashed, killing his passenger, a wealthy tycoon. Bromfield survived without a scratch. A civil aeronautics rep is not very civil, accusing him of orchestrating the crash—not an easy thing to pull off. The dead tycoon leaves his fortune to three daughters, two of which are witches. So this seventy-six-minute film’s title may be the most misleading of the year. I submit two alternative titles, “One Out of Three Ain’t Bad” or simply, “The Sisters of Annoyance.”

The conniving middle sister is Kathleen Hughes, at times attempting a coy Monroe vocal interpretation. Her robotic smile accompanied by verbal venom gets increasingly creepy as her eyes grow larger, all Adam Schiff-like. She wants the other two-thirds of the estate and bribes Bromfield with a substantial amount to keep his murder slate clean. She also wants him to lather on the charm for the first-born, Sara Shane, executrix of their father's estate, in the hopes she will not marry their father’s attorney. Shane is the only sister with a conscience but not the only one with psychological issues.

Standing in a bathing suit, Shane's inner thoughts try to conjure up the courage to dive from a rocky cliff into raging waves among rocks over a hundred feet below. Apparently a summer challenge among the sisters. Out of nowhere, Bromfield grabs her and says it would be a shame to damage such a lovely fuselage. Just plane talk. The scene changes to the interior of the cliff-side mansion where the youngest sister, Marla English, introduces herself to Bromfield as any seductive tart might. She is annoying to all the characters in the film. Later, along with the females in the audience, she gets a glimpse of the hunk using an electric razor. Without a shirt. He never does finish shaving his chest. Bromfield, a real-life fitness enthusiast, does a lap in the pool and then comes out drenched. It is that kind of film.

An additional annoyance is a snippy aunt, who thinks Bromfield is a liar, that he is taking advantage of the sisters one by one, and that her brother would never have committed airplane suicide. Where she gathered that idea I do not know since social media was in the far distant future. She does have a knack for eavesdropping on the telephone with subsequent misinterpretations. Things get a bit uncomfortable as the family, plus the attorney, sit around the mansion lounge waiting for auntie to pounce on Bromfield with accusations. Pouncing. Also one of English’s favorite pastimes.

At about this point, Hughes’ character takes the annoyance factor to a whole new level with lies and syrupy, faked sincerity. Her jealousy and demented behavior drive her to beat English across the face with a riding-whip, eliminating her from any Bromfield competition. Naturally, the instinctive thing to do after a good whippin’ is go for a high-speed drive. Not sure the purpose or how they could possibly help, Bromfield and Hughes dash to another car to pursue—at one point going off-road circumnavigating a tree. The stunt drivers were well-paid for their work. English no longer has any purpose in living. Her shallowness knew few bounds.

Back at “Annoyance Manor” thick-headed auntie has a bullet waiting for Bromfield but he grabs the gun from the old bat. He and Shane leave the mansion and head to the airport. He tells her the whole truth about the accident and that the monetary “contract” the tycoon offered him was a huge-Hughes forgery. He confesses his love for her and he charts a course to the “wedding capital” of the west. Yuma, Arizona? Bromfield turns out to be everything contrary to auntie’s stubborn thinking and becomes the most sensible executor of the estate. She still hates him. I suspect he will close off the mansion’s third floor with a separate outside entrance for the aunt.