In this, the last of Lana Turner's super soapers, she plays an heiress, ex pat living in Acapulco with a beautiful trophy husband (Robertson). When we meet her, one of her boy-toys has committed suicide and the police are investigating. The seamier side of the tropical paradise is on full display in this glamorous, if highly overdramatic tome. Hugh O'Brian is the beach's ruling giglio and he hooks Ruth Roman. Meanwhile, Stefanie Powers (looking very strange and pixie-like in perky short hairdos) has come to see about the death of her former fiance, the aforementioned boy-toy.
Though not as well known as Lana's other starring vehicles like
Imitation of Life (1959) or
Madame X (1966), this film is fun to watch for several reasons. It's thick with manufactured drama that can be and is spread on toast on a regular basis. It also has a delightful theme song, sung by the incomparable Nancy Wilson, and Lana Turner's wardrobe, designed by Edith Head has its own, deserved starring role. Look for an absurd climax featuring bull fighters.
This film is available on DVD, and can be rented to watch instantly at Amazon.com. It's hard to find footage online. Above is a clip from the beginning of the film from TCM's website.
Obscurity factor: 8 (on DVD and Amazon.com, not as well remembered as other Lana Turner epics)
Oh, good grief. I was SO psyched to watch this immediately. Grrrrrrrrrrr Guess I'm gonna have to shell out money to Amazon....
ReplyDeleteIf you like that kind of sordid glamour it's worth it...
ReplyDeleteI once heard it called "Lana Has Many Costume Changes." You should keep an eye open for "The Big Cube," which is a train wreck of epic proportions.
ReplyDeleteThere are some clips at TCM.com. I does look like an epic train wreck. Look for it here in the future!
ReplyDeleteCharles Busch's "Die Mommie Die!" is partially a parody of "The Big Cube" so parts of it will seem familiar when you see it. (Assuming you've seen "Die Mommie Die", that is.) I just love the one clip where the groovy chick says woodenly, "Hey, large idea, let's call up a half-dozen guys and hold an orgy!" She makes even an orgy sound dull.
ReplyDeleteI love that Pamela Rodgers is in it. She's so associated with Laugh In, she makes the LSD scene deliciously ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteThese types of overwrought films about "scandalous" women were already on their way out by 1966; but no one did them better than Lana! But who would want to see Lana acting coyly "scandalous" when only a few years later you could see films like "Carnal Knowledge" and "Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice"?
ReplyDeletePS and OT: Have you thought of tracking down any footage from "Adam's Rib" the '73 TV series with Ken Howard and Gwyneth Paltrow's mom? I looked at Youtube and there was nothing. It only lasted for 13 eps., but it got good reviews while it was on.
ReplyDeleteI remember the endless trailers for it, though I never watched the show itself.
I think I looked for that a while ago. Some shows seem to have disappeared without a trace...
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't say that the overwrought films of scandalous women were on their way out....they merely transferred to television, via MOW's and trashy series. Hell, just turn on Lifetime - they're still with us.
ReplyDeleteLeighton, good point. Lifetime does the Lana Factor rather well.
ReplyDeleteBen,
ReplyDeleteOne would think that the Paltrow connection would be good enough to revive interest in "Adam's Rib" at least to the point of a DVD release. According to the IMDB, some of the scripts were written by Garson Kanin-Ruth Gordon and two of the eps had guest appearances by Madeline Kahn.
I remember exactly one scene from the trailers/promos: Blythe Danner as the stridently feminist lawyer is refused entry to a fancy restaurant because she is wearing a pantsuit which consists of a long tunic and flowing pants. She goes to the ladies' room and takes off the pants, and then hands them to the maitre D' and says "Check the pants" and walks into the restaurant wearing the tunic as a minidress.
Speaking of Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice, 1973 was also the year they tried a TV series based on that film as well. Didn't last long, but it had Robert Urich and Anne Archer in it, and Paul Mazursky wrote some of the scripts. Also seems to have sunk without a trace.
The Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice TV show I've written up on the site. Jody Foster was in it too. You can find it here: http://theobscurityfactor.blogspot.com/2011/08/robert-urich-jodie-foster-in-bob-carol.html
ReplyDeleteThe "check the pants" thing is supposed to have actually happened to Lauren Bacall, except she didn't go to the ladies room to take them off, she slipped them off right in front of the maitre D.
oh I see you did cover it. Like Adam's Rib, I never actually watched the show--I just remember it from the promos. Robert urich was really handsome back then.
ReplyDeleteOT, I stumbled across some obscurity on youtube that has a bit of a macabre touch: The 1976 one-season show "Gibbsville" starring Gig Young. This episode on youtube has a guest starring role for. . .Bob Crane.
Considering what happened to both of them only a couple of years after this was filmed, it's pretty creepy to seem them together.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eiD0ogX37E
I didn't find it creepy, regardless of how the actors died. I've never heard of the show, but it appears to be a typical example of a 70s drama attempting to pull off an earlier era.
ReplyDeleteLeighton,
ReplyDeleteThere seems to have been a lot of them in the '70s, no doubt inspired by the succes of Happy Days and The Waltons. I remember another one that was set in the 30s that starred Glenn Ford, called The Family Holvack. Didn't last long either.
Gibbsville was bsed on the novels of John O'Hara of BUtterfield 8 fame.
I never saw an episode of "Adam's Rib," but like MP I recall lots of promos for it. The one image that sticks in my mind is the two leads sticking their heads under a table in a courtroom and talking to each other. I think that was also done in the movie.
ReplyDelete