A Man About the House 1947

Ellen Isit, Dulcie Gray, and her sister Agnes Isit, Margaret Johnston, inherit a Neapolitan villa from a dead uncle and move to Italy to view and sell their property. A local man, Salvatore, Kieron Moore has been employed by the uncle his entire life and manages the villa and its vineyard. Exploring her late uncle’s studio, Ellen uncovers a painting of a nude Salvatore as Bacchus, a revelation that hints at hidden passions beneath the estate’s tranquil surface.

Ellen becomes drawn to the carefree life of the locals and Salvatore’s romantic charisma, while the prudish Agnes resists. Agnes and Salvatore are married, making Salvatore the master of the estate. Ellen grows wary of a change in Salvatore’s behaviour toward Agnes, sensing a shift as their union settles in.

Not long after the marriage, Agnes’s health begins to deteriorate and Ellen’s suspicions are aroused. She expresses her concerns to visiting English doctor Sir Benjamin Dench, Guy Middleton, who is Agnes’s former fiancé. Ellen enlists Dench’s help in trying to prove that Salvatore is slowly murdering Agnes with arsenic. The villa had once belonged to Salvatore’s family, and he has long been determined to regain ownership. He had poisoned the sisters’ uncle to inherit the estate.

Salvatore and Dench struggle on a clifftop, and Dench warns Salvatore to leave the country. Ellen and Dench return to the villa to tend the sick and weak Agnes. They learn that Salvatore is dead, as he threw himself from the clifftop in despair rather than losing the property. Ellen and Dench, who have fallen in love, depart to England and leave Agnes, now recovered and determined to remain at the villa and to fulfil her dead husband’s wishes, tending the vineyard.