This is a good example of an over-produced film, much too lengthy (109-min.) and gaudy for the slender material that doesn't engage until the last 10-minutes. I expect TCF saw anti-TV potential in a wide-screen Technicolor treatment of true-life scandal among the rich and famous. The trouble is that neither the acting nor the script is able to carry the needed momentum, despite the wide-screen spectacle. After all, stretching a single theme of forbidden love to a two-hour time slot is challenging even for the best screenplay, which this definitely is not.Then too, the real life Nesbitt was apparently involved in the production, along with wealthy family heirs to White and Thaw in the background, resulting, I expect, in an overly cautious portrayal of events. That's reflected, I think, in Collins' curiously dull portrayal. Logically, I would have expected some change in Nesbitt's demure demeanor over the years, especially after entering the high life. Instead, there's hardly a hint of the high life's affecting her throughout the movie's course. (And we know what an edge actress Collins can bring when called upon.) In fact, the nature of her relationship with White is so sanitized, it's hard to know what to make of it.Ace director Fleischer also appears unengaged with the material, filming it in straightforward, unimaginative style, unlike many of his other projects, e.g. The Narrow Margin (1952). Speaking of B-movie gems like "Margin", I wish the expert budget crews at Columbia or RKO had gotten hold of this material first. After all, hot-blooded romance and cold-blooded murder are prime stuff for B-movie treatment, where reputations and big audience appeal are not so much at stake and risks can be taken. Too bad that what we're left with instead is an under-nourished and over-stretched slice of 50's eye candy.

Joan Collins is Evelyn Nesbit, the beautiful "Girl in the Red Velvet Swing" in this 1955 film also starring Ray Milland, Farley Granger, Cornelia Otis Skinner, Frances Fuller, and Glenda Farrell. The film purports to tell the story of the White-Nesbitt-Thaw triangle that ended with the murder of White, the arrest of Thaw, and the testimony of Nesbit.The facts are there, but as others have pointed out, the personalities are not. White (Milland) in fact was a notorious womanizer, and Evelyn was but another conquest. And while it may surprise people that beautiful, sexy "Dynasty" star Joan Collins could play demure and innocent, Evelyn probably wasn't. The unbalanced Thaw (Granger) was also a drug addict, not mentioned in the movie.This film, which initially was to star Marilyn Monroe and later Sheree North, should have been much more exciting, given a) the story and b) the money spent on it. Unfortunately, the lack of character development holds it up. The White character remains elusive; Milland never loosens up. Granger does an excellent job as Thaw. Collins is absolutely beautiful and does a good job with the character, but the character as written doesn't give the film much of an edge.The scene on the swing between Evelyn and White is dizzying and dazzling; and the end of the film is one of the best things about it.Evelyn Nesbit overcame the trial, rejection by Thaw's family, suicide attempts, alcoholism, and addiction to morphine, living until the age of 82 in 1967. She served as an adviser on this film.

The story of the love triangle of Stanford White, Evelyn Nesbit and Harry Thaw was a HUGE story back in the early 20th century. The resulting trial was dubbed 'the trial of the century'...that is until the NEXT trial of the century occurred soon after!!! The story had it all--sex, insanity, jealousy, a beautiful young nymph and murder! And, as a result, the story really could not have been adequately told until more recently--mostly due to the Production Code which forbade a frank discussion of the sex lives of these folks. So, when I watched "The Girl on the Red Velvet Swing", I realized that it was so sanitized that it was practically a work of fiction--after all, the real story never would have passed the censor boards! In the early 1980s, the film "Ragtime" explored this sensational crime, but only on the periphery. The sensational murder was portrayed, but the lives and personalities of those involved were pretty much a cypher. You can't entirely blame the film makers, as the trial and murder were not the main focus of the film. So, because of a sanitized and sketchy version of this affair, you are left wanting more--the true and complete story--a story that I still do not fully understand."The Girl on the Red Velvet Swing" is mostly told from the viewpoint of Stanford White and Nesbit. While Harry Thaw is definitely in the film, he's mostly shown as a quick-tempered and one-dimensional nut. While this might just be the real Thaw, it just seemed a bit vague. And as for White and Nesbit, you'd think that their relationship was 100% platonic...which it wasn't. In fact, no real hint of sex between ANYONE is really evident in the film! As a result, the actors all seemed a bit flat--like there was so much more that was unsaid. Joan Collins (Nesbit) was very pretty and did fair in the film but not much more. Ray Milland (White) was rather gallant...too gallant. And, Farley Granger (Thaw) was mostly angry and nutty throughout! None of these characters were written well and the actors had little with which to work. As a result, the looked pretty but was pretty empty as well. It's actually pretty remarkable how dull this story was considering how exciting the actual tale was! By comparison, the story of Leopold & Loeb (in "Compulsion"--the next 'trial of the century' that took place in the 1920s) was fascinating, deep and involved (with a hint of a homosexual undercurrent)--even though it, too, was made in the 1950s. This movie is aching for a complete remake. In fact, it might even do well as a mini-series--as there is a lot to this weird story.This film is like a pie made entirely of meringue. It looks nice but is too sweet and not particularly filling.

A good yarn and a true one although with some modifications to the facts I have no doubt. It's about the events leading up to the murder of the American architect Standord White by playboy Harry Kendall Thaw and briefly, about what happened afterwards. I suppose you could say it's a prestige production, lavishly done in widescreen, (it certainly looks the part), and with two 'stars', (Ray Milland and Farley Granger), in the roles of White and Thaw. I use the term stars cautiously, however, as Milland was, by now, getting on a bit and Granger never really made it to the front rank.The girl of the title and the cause of all the trouble is one, Evelyn Nesbitt, (Joan Collins, being launched here in America). She's barely adequate and one can hardly imagine men being driven to murder over her, but no matter, it moves at a good lick and Richard Fleischer, while never the most imaginative director in the movies, wasn't one to let us down and keeps everything on a very professional level. The same story served as a segment of "Ragtime" with a much more convincing Nesbitt from Elizabeth McGovern.