Fortune Is a Woman 1957

Oliver Branwell Jack Hawkins is an insurance investigator with a London firm of adjusters, Abercrombie & Son. He is sent to Lowis Manor, where Tracey Moreton Dennis Price lives with his mother and wife Sarah Moreton Branwell Arlene Dahl, to probe a recent fire. Branwell reviews the fire damage, including several scorched paintings, one of which—a distant view of the manor—seems beyond repair.

Months later, in a new case, Charles Highbury Christopher Lee, an actor and singer, makes an insurance claim for the loss of his voice. He has a black eye, given to him by his wife upon discovering his affair with Mrs Vere Litchen Greta Gynt. Branwell visits Litchen and discovers she has a painting resembling the apparently destroyed work of Lowis Manor. Further investigation points to Sarah Moreton Branwell Arlene Dahl having sold the painting and making a false insurance claim.

Branwell learns about how to spot fake paintings and, believing the occupants to be away, breaks into the manor to inspect the authenticity of the paintings. He finds Tracey Moreton’s dead body downstairs and realises a fire has been started in the cellar. After calling the fire brigade, he pretends to be Tracey Moreton and escapes. The fire destroys the house and any remaining paintings, which Branwell now knows to be fakes. In due course, the insurance company settles a £30,000 claim on Sarah Moreton Branwell Arlene Dahl.

Time moves on and eventually Sarah visits Branwell, who is convinced she is involved in the fraud. However, Vere Litchen’s fiancé confirms Sarah is not the woman who sold him the painting and Branwell proposes to her and they quickly marry.

Whilst honeymooning in France, Sarah is horrified to receive a ring in the post that Tracey Moreton always wore. Back in London she and Branwell are blackmailed for half of the insurance payout through an agent representing an individual who knows of the scam. The police are also becoming suspicious and question Branwell.

Branwell and Sarah eventually find the forger of the paintings, who is in league with Clive Fisher Ian Hunter, a cousin of Tracey Moreton. Fisher confesses to the blackmail but denies Moreton’s murder and any connection to the ring. Back in their hotel room, the couple discover that Sarah’s poodle has been kidnapped and she goes to Lowis Manor, pursued by Branwell, who finds Sarah with Mrs Moreton Violet Farebrother. The old lady acknowledges she had suspected her son was intent on destroying the manor as an insurance fraud. Mrs Moreton had kidnapped the poodle and sent the ring to pressure the Branwells into staying silent and preserving her dead son’s reputation. The scene dissolves to a board meeting at the adjuster’s offices where Mrs Moreton is finishing her confession. Branwell resigns as a matter of honour, but on leaving is intercepted by board members keen to persuade him to stay in his post.