Sylvia is a drama film

Drama film

A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...

 directed by Gordon Douglas

Gordon Douglas (director)

Gordon Douglas was an American film director, who directed many different genres of films over the course of a five-decade career in motion pictures. He was a native of New York City.-Hal Roach and Our Gang:...

, written by Sydney Boehm

Sydney Boehm

Sydney Boehm was an American screenwriter and producer. Boehm began his writing career as a newswriter for wire services and newspapers before moving on to screenwriting...

 and starring George Maharis

George Maharis

George Maharis is an American actor who portrayed Buz Murdock in the first three seasons of the TV series Route 66...

, Carroll Baker

Carroll Baker

Carroll Baker is a former American actress who has enjoyed popularity as both a serious dramatic actress and, particularly in the 1960s, as a movie sex symbol...

 and Peter Lawford

Peter Lawford

Peter Sydney Ernest Aylen , better known as Peter Lawford, was an English-American actor.He was a member of the "Rat Pack", and brother-in-law to US President John F. Kennedy, perhaps more noted in later years for his off-screen activities as a celebrity than for his acting...

.

Released by Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...

, it was filmed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...

.

Plot

Sylvia West seems just about perfect in the eyes of California millionaire Frederic Summers, who proposes marriage to her. She is beautiful, brilliant, financially independent, writes poetry and personifies exactly what he wants in a woman.

But as a precaution, Summers brings in a private investigator, Alan Macklin, to do a background check. Macklin travels to Sylvia's hometown of Pittsburgh, where to his surprise he learns that Sylvia is a former prostitute and a blackmailer whose fortune mainly comes from illegal means.

Macklin elects not to inform his client of this, however, because he has the bad luck to fall in love with Sylvia himself.

Cast

• Carroll Baker
  Carroll Baker
  Carroll Baker is a former American actress who has enjoyed popularity as both a serious dramatic actress and, particularly in the 1960s, as a movie sex symbol...
  
   as Sylvia West
• Peter Lawford
  Peter Lawford
  Peter Sydney Ernest Aylen , better known as Peter Lawford, was an English-American actor.He was a member of the "Rat Pack", and brother-in-law to US President John F. Kennedy, perhaps more noted in later years for his off-screen activities as a celebrity than for his acting...
  
   as Frederic Summers
• George Maharis
  George Maharis
  George Maharis is an American actor who portrayed Buz Murdock in the first three seasons of the TV series Route 66...
  
   as Alan Macklin
• Joanne Dru
  Joanne Dru
  Joanne Dru was an American film and television actress, known for such films as Red River and All the King's Men.-Career:...
  
   as Jane
• Viveca Lindfors
  Viveca Lindfors
  Elsa Viveca Torstensdotter Lindfors , better known under her professional name of Viveca Lindfors, was a Swedish stage and film actress.-Life and career:...
  
   as Irma Olanski
• Edmond O'Brien
  Edmond O'Brien
  Edmond O'Brien was an American actor who is perhaps best remembered for his role in D.O.A. and his Oscar winning role in The Barefoot Contessa...
  
   as Oscar
• Nancy Kovack
  Nancy Kovack
  __forcetoc__Nancy Kovack is a former American actress.-Biography:She attended the University of Michigan at age 15 and graduated by 19. At the age of 20 she had won eight beauty titles....
  
  as Big Shirley