Playgirl ** (1954, Shelley Winters, Barry Sullivan, Colleen Miller, Gregg Palmer, Richard Long, Kent Taylor) – Classic Movie Review 13,585

The 1954 crime film Playgirl stars Shelley Winters, Barry Sullivan, and Colleen Miller as a young woman who comes to New York City to be a model and ends up involved in a shooting and a scandal. 

Director Joseph Pevney’s 1954 Universal-International Pictures crime film Playgirl stars Shelley Winters, Barry Sullivan, Colleen Miller, Gregg Palmer, Richard Long, and Kent Taylor.

Shelley Winters stars but Colleen Miller has a leading role in the 1954 American crime film Playgirl as a Midwestern young woman who comes to New York City to be a model and ends up involved in a shooting and a scandal. 

Nebraska country girl Phyllis Matthews (Colleen Miller) arrives in the big city seeking to become a model and meets her nightclub singer room-mate Fran Davis (Shelley Winters), magazine writer Tom Bradley (Gregg Palmer) and his editor Mike Marsh (Barry Sullivan). Mike is Fran’s unhappily married lover, but he falls in love with Phyllis. Fran thinks Phyllis is trying to seduce both Mike and Tom. The women quarrel and Fran accidentally shoots Mike in a romantic tussle. Phyllis becomes a girl of easy virtue and is soon under suspicion for the killing of a mobster.

Stout performances by the ideally cast two women stars help a sturdy, old-fashioned melodrama.

Playgirl is directed by Joseph Pevney, runs 87 minutes, is made by Universal-International Pictures, is written by Robert Blees, based on a story by Ray Buffum, is shot in black and white by Carl E Guthrie, is produced by Arthur J Cohen, and is scored by Billy Higgins.

The cast are Shelley Winters, Barry Sullivan, Colleen Miller, Gregg Palmer, Richard Long, Kent Taylor, Jacqueline de Wit, Dave Barry, Philip Van Zandt, James McCallion, Paul Richards, Helen Beverly, Myrna Hansen, and Mara Corday as Pam.

Mara Corday [Marilyn Joan Watts] died from arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease at her home in Valencia, California, on February 9, 2025, aged 95. She married actor Richard Long in 1957, gave up her career around 1961, and had three children. The fondly remembered American actress, showgirl and model is a 1950s cult figure.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,585

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