In spite of financial & technical obstacles, a small, but stubborn thread of experimental films (studio product & independent) find legit Hollywood distribution going back to the silents. Early Josef von Sternberg (THE SALVATION HUNTERS/’25; WOMAN OF THE SEA/’26 - a ‘lost’ film); Pál Fejös’s LONESOME/’28; Robert Florey’s THE LIFE AND DEATH OF 9413: A HOLLYWOOD EXTRA/’28. And while difficulties in physical production had eased by the mid-‘50s with new lighter/more mobile equipment (see Morris Engle’s LITTLE FUGITIVE or Lionel Rogosin’s ON THE BOWERY/’56), this film, a one-off oddity by the elsewise unknown John Parker, is more like a throwback to the silent-to-sound transition era. Memorably shot by Ed Wood cinematographer William C. Thompson, his manner not so far from Stanley Cortez’ striking work in NIGHT OF THE HUNTER out the same year, and running about an hour, it’s a Jungian nightmare told by an idiot; filled with sound & fury; signifying nothing. Dialogue-free (it was re-released with unhelpful narration as DAUGHTER OF HORROR; see poster), its bizarre POV follows a disturbed young woman who spends a nightmare of an evening being followed, attacked, saved and tempted on skid row & at downbeat clubs. Imagine if the characters from Edgar G. Ulmer’s DETOUR had afterlives; this is where they’d have ended up. Even with an opening encomium from, of all people, Preston Sturges, the film came & went quickly. So too auteur John Parker who runs out of gas 40 minutes in. But not before locating a living room in the middle of a park at night. (His best idea.) Fun to watch, in a sick sort of way, the new Cohen Media DVD makes the most of Thompson’s crepuscular images and also comes with that best-avoided alternate version.
DOUBLE-BILL/LINK: *As mentioned, LONESOME; LITTLE FUGITIVE; ON THE BOWERY. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2014/01/lonesome-1928.html https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2022/09/litle-fugitive-1953.html https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2016/01/on-bowery-1956.html
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: The unusual score (with an appallingly transparent lift from Stravinsky’s ‘The Rite of Spring’ used as a ‘vamp’) is from classical music’s American ‘Bad Boy’ George Antheil. A brilliant guy who partnered with equally brilliant sex goddess Hedy Lamarr on patented experiments that helped develop WWII bombing devices and today’s internet technology. And listen up for Marni Nixon on the soundtrack doing all the melismatic vocals. Next year, she was dubbing Deborah Kerr in THE KING AND I/’56.
1 comment:
Good review MAK... I would add that the film was shot in part on desolate nighttime streets in Venice CA, in a style that Orson Welles would exploit in the same location to much greater effect in his 1958 Touch of Evil (did Welles see this film, which was shot in '53?). Also the lead, Adrienne Barrett, was director Parker's secretary and the film is based on a dream she relayed to him... for a first-time screen actor (her next role in the '80s per IMDB) she turns in a pretty memorable performance with a "tough girl" look and attitude at times (especially when she whips out her switchblade) that presages, and for me maybe tops, anything that would come in the later '50s AIP/Allied Artists JD films (if not Mercedes McCambridge et al in TOE, or of course Ann Savage in Detour). One very cool scene is in a beatnik club where the jazz combo (Shorty Rogers and his Giants) provides some pretty authentic bebop sounds. The exaggerated, ecstatic reactions of the audience (and some of the band) add to the atmosphere - not as wild as the Elisha Cook Jr. drumming scene (with Ella Raines egging him on) in Phantom Lady (1944) but pretty clearly inspired by it. Barrett also abandons her black sweater/blazer combo for a slinky dress and starts dancing up near the band and its "way out" bongo player. Three trivia bits: 1) A couple shots from this film are seen in the movie theater in The Blob (1958). When the title monster invades the projection booth the screen goes white and the screaming audience runs out - we see the DOH three-sheet and lobby cards out front. The film is part of a "Midnight Spook Show" that also features Bela Lugosi (!) per the marquee. 2) exploitation film legend (15 roles in Corman flicks, et al) Bruno Ve Sota has a very Wellesian part as a chubby rich guy trying to take advantage of Barrett's "Gamin" character while constantly smoking a cigar. In a (pre) Tom Jones-ian scene, he eats chicken with his fingers as we get contrasting closeups of his sweaty/greasy face and shots of Barrett growing more and more disgusted. 3) The narration in the revised version is done by Johnny Carson sidekick Ed McMahan!
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