Plot
Ernest Ralph Gorse, a suave psychopath and conman, relocates to Reading, Berkshire, to stay at the home of a wealthy friend who is visiting Paris. Gorse meets Joan Plumleigh-Bruce at a pub and decides to target her in a fraud scheme. Mrs. Plumleigh-Bruce, the pretentious widow of an Army Colonel, is contemplating marriage to Donald Stimpson, a local estate agent. Both are charmed by Gorse, who falsely claims to have fought heroically in France during World War One, and who pretends to be the grandson of a renowned Army General.
Stimpson and Gorse arrange to meet at the King's Hotel in London, where Gorse conspires with the bartender to get Stimpson very drunk. Gorse takes Stimpson to visit a prostitute, which gives Gorse "dirt" he can share with Mrs. Plumleigh-Bruce to make Stimpson look bad. Gorse pretends to fall in love with Mrs. Plumleigh-Bruce, and convinces her to open a joint checking account for the sake of making some investments and purchasing a car. Gorse dupes Mrs. Plumleigh-Bruce into believing he is buying his friend's house in Reading, as a prelude to marrying her. When Mrs. Plumleigh-Bruce realizes she has been duped, and Gorse has cleaned out their joint account, she turns to Stimpson for support, only to learn he has married her Irish maid. Gorse heads off to London; Mrs. Plumleigh-Bruce flees Reading in embarrassment, relocates to a boarding house, and lives out her days in near-poverty.
Read more about this topic: Mr. Stimpson And Mr. Gorse
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