Bedelia is a 1946 British melodrama film directed by Lance Comfort and starring Margaret Lockwood, Ian Hunter and Barry K.

Bedelia is newly married and on her honeymoon in Monte Carlo with her husband, Charlie Carrington, in the autumn of 1938.

Spotting her in a sidewalk cafe, young painter Ben Chaney starts drawing a sketch of her; seeing this, she abruptly turns her head away.

When the husband notices a pearl ring, she claims it is a cheap piece of fake jewellery, though Chaney knows otherwise.

He was speaking to a jewellery store proprietor when she picked up the ring; the expert offered her 100,000 francs for the flawless black pearl.

Bedelia arranges for the housekeeper to have an extra day off and go and stay overnight with her cousin, leaving her and Charlie alone in the house.

When he refuses to leave at short notice, Bedelia runs off in a snowstorm, but she crashes the car, and he brings her back.

Through the kitchen window, Charlie sees Bedelia doing something with the groceries, but she says she is just feeding the cat, Topaz, whom she dotes on.

Her hysterical response, and finding a bottle of poison in her hand, finally makes Charlie realise that Ben was telling the truth.

The film was based on the 1945 novel by Vera Caspary, about a bachelor in his thirties called Charlie who married a widow, Bedelia, he meets at a summer resort in 1913.

"Hollywood simply can't visualise a girl who leads her own life, and in whom sex is not uppermost", said Caspary.

[10] Caspary travelled to London to do an early draft of the script, which transplanted the action from Connecticut to Yorkshire.

"[6] Early contenders for the title role included Geraldine Fitzgerald, Vivien Leigh and Merle Oberon.

According to The New York Times, Goldsmith thought the difference of opinion between British and American observers went to "the relative position of women on the two sides of the Atlantic.

Americans, he believes, prefer to see their heroines in the most favourable light, even at the sacrifice of integrity in character study.

[27][28] Kinematograph Weekly reported that the "biggest winner" at the box office in 1946 Britain was The Wicked Lady starring Lockwood, with "runners up" being The Bells of St Marys, Piccadilly Incident, The Road to Utopia, Tomorrow is Forever, Brief Encounter, Wonder Man, Anchors Away, Kitty, The Captive Heart, The Corn is Green, Spanish Main, Leave Her to Heaven, Gilda (also from a novel by Vera Caspray), Caravan, Mildred Pierce, Blue Dahlia, Years Between, O.S.S., Spellbound, Courage of Lassie, My Reputation, London Town, Caesar and Cleopatra, Meet the Navy, Men of Two Worlds, Theirs is the Glory, The Overlanders, and Bedelia.

[29] Lockwood wrote in her memoirs that although the film "was a great success, in truth had not done much to mollify my opinion of scripts in general.

[2] In terms of the critics, TV Guide noted, "Margaret Lockwood appears in one of her best villainous roles, played this time with subtlety.