Benutzerrezensionen

This movie is a great trash fest. Sometimes there is nothing better than when Hollywood of the 50s and 60s attempts to have teens portrayed by aging icons. This one goes straight thru the stratosphere when they make Mel "the velvet fog"Torme a gang leader of sorts. Mamie van Doren is way sexy. I'm surprised she didn't make the ranks of a major sex symbol. I've always found her to be hotter than Jayne Mansfield. If you don't believe me, check out High School Confidential; teenage boys would kill for an aunt this sexy. It's great fun no matter what, but even though MST3K cut out some scenes for their version, their great snotty comments are priceless. Get a hold of it, if you can!

Paul Anka wrote the Tonight Show Theme and the English lyrics to My Way and The Longest Day Theme and he wrote a song for Buddy Holly that probably described his agent's thoughts about this movie. The song was "Guess it doesn't matter anymore." Mel Torme on a Summer's day needed a buck or two and he wrote a Christmas song that might be the all time number one unit sales Christmas song. It is called The Christmas Song. The song writers act well enough but the script is funny where it is supposed to be serious. Cat fights look a bit staged. We learn here that everyone leaves their keys in their cars. You should not grab the steering wheel when you are about to crash into a concrete support. Paul Anka has the best smile. Mamie was a beauty for sure. She is not given a lot to do in this movie except chew gum and look tough. The Platters song was written by Buck Ram who wrote the big Platters hits like Great Pretender and Only You. The song for this movie is not one of The Platters greats. This is a great, very great movie for Bad Movie Night. Wonderful old cars and telephones and hair styles. Don't miss it. Maybe it could be a double bill with High School Confidential.

Admittedly, I watched the MST3K version of this, but it's not actually too bad outright, at least compared to others which deserve my cinematic hatred.

The story centers around a troubled girl wrongly sent to a "reform school" called Girls' Town. Along way, races, redemption, and wackiness (unintentional) happen. The story and acting are a little flat, as is the action. However, the entire thing is actually entertaining to a degree if you are absolutely bored.

Overall, just a simple sub par 50's flick, but far from the worst movie ever made, with some bright spots in the movie (The Ave Maria sequence was good for me).

If you get a chance to watch the MST3K version, you won't be disappointed. By it self, not so much, but I can think of worse methods of torture ("Spiker" anyone?).

This is one of those rebel type movies where the plot has way to many points and the film ends up being a tad jumbled. On the bright side it features Mel Torma whom I never have seen in anything other than old Night Court episodes thus proving he did do something. The plot is all over the place it basically has a guy tumbling over a cliff after chasing a girl in an attempt to sexual assault her, though they never say it in those terms. A girl gets picked up as she was supposed to be having a date with said guy and she is sent to Girl's Town, a place run by nuns that has all the makings of a reform school, but for some reason they act as if it is not one. You also have subplots about a girl who goes gaga for a singer and a race between rival gangs. Just one of those films that is just to all over the place, and you are required to listen to the occasional song sung by either Paul Anka or The Platters. Girl's Town seems like a strange place where the girls can harass the newbies all they want and the nuns rarely intervene. They do role up their sleeves and help with washing the floor, however.

Yes, I know that Albert Zugsmith's films are low budget trash. But they are all so entertaining! My favorite part of this one is the casting of Mel Torme as a tough gang leader. Could there possibly be worse casting? And then there's Paul Anka. During the film, bad Mel has a fight with angelic Paul. I always wondered what that was about! Was this supposed to be some Zionist statement or did Mel object to Paul's out of tune singing of "Ave Maria"? Maybe Mel wanted to sing it in Yiddish or use it as a vehicle for a scat solo! But, I digress. Like all the Zugsmith films, this one is both intentionally and unintentionally funny. Director Haas' fast paced direction never lets the film get boring, even though the acting is as horrible as usual. It's in the same class with "High School Confidential", "The Big Operator", "College Confidential" and the greatest of them all, "Sex Kttens Go to College". Thank you Mr. Zugsmith! Don't miss this camp classic.

Movies from "Mystery Science Theater 3000" made at this time are so amazingly dated. They even talk about how obnoxious the slang is. This film features a woman falsely accused of murder going to a Catholic reform school. I guess I'll give the movie credit for having a concept that I have never seen before. Its main flaw is that it's still too boring! All cheesy 1950's movies are looking the same. The pacing is really bad. It isn't until the last ten minutes that something really important happens.

There are just so many pointless scenes. We have nothing going on with the girls just talking and cleaning the house and everything. I don't know if this is how actual reform schools like this work. Well, it gave a somewhat positive image of religion. I don't think that people pray through Saint Jude to God. Well, maybe that was just how they did it back then. Well, I finally got done writing eight reviews on this website in one day! I am never doing this again. *1/2

Although the cast may have been assembled from somebody's nightmare, it's still one of the great ensemble casts in film history.

Mamie Van Doren's name heading ANY cast means a good time will be had by all -- well maybe not ALL, but at least by those discerning cineastes who knew after the 1960 Academy Awards were handed out that 1959's "Girls Town" was robbed by "Ben-Hur." After all, what's a silly chariot race compared to Mamie chewing gum and talking back to nuns? And in "Girls Town" you get so much more: Gloria Talbott, Elinor "Princess" Donahue, Gigi Perreau, Paul Anka, Maggie Hayes, Sheilah Graham, The Platters, Cathy Crosby, Ray Anthony, Charles Chaplin Jr., Harold Lloyd Jr., and so help us, Mel Torme . . . Mel Torme!!!??? Oh yeah, you also get this plot, which has something or other to do with 30-year-old high school kids (like Mamie) getting in trouble with the law and getting sent to the title institution. There's also a nifty drag race -- in a cement riverbed! This film showed up 20 years after "Gone With the Wind" and features just as much excitement and talent. It helps if you've had a lobotomy prior to viewing the film.

Already on probation for a series of petty crimes, Silver Morgan (Mamie Van Doren) is facing time in juvenile detention after being accused by a witness of pushing her boyfriend off a cliff. Fortunately for Silver, Mother Veronica offers to take her in at Girls Town - a Catholic home for troubled young women. Silver doesn't want to fit in and has trouble with the other girls from the moment she arrives. But when her kid sister gets into trouble, it's these very same people she turns to for help. Can Girls Town save Silver - and her sister?

If Silver Morgan is 16 years old, then I'm a teenager myself. My goodness but Mamie sure could fill-up an outfit! Curves galore! And what kind of name is "Silver"? Sounds like a stripper name to me! But even though this is low-budget 50s-style exploitation, Mamie gives a surprisingly decent performance. It's not award worthy or anything, but I enjoyed it.

Beyond Mamie, another "highlight" of the movie has to be the fight scene between those two imposing specimens of masculinity, Paul Anka and Mel Torme. That's right - Paul Anka and Mel Torme in a fight! It's one of the absolute funniest things I've seen in a long time. I mean Mamie's bra is tougher than these two. Still, it's a moment that made the movie for me.

Realistically, Girls Town isn't anywhere near as good as my rating would indicate. But as I've said before, my ratings are based on the entertainment value I find in movies regardless of a lot of other factors. If I watch a movie and enjoy it and have fun with it, it gets a good rating. And unlike a lot of other reviewers, I had a blast with Girls Town.

I watched the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version of Girls Town and loved it. The riffs were dead-on and hysterical. I've got no problems rating episode #601 a 4/5 on my MST3K rating scale. This is one any fan of the show should seek out.

This movie begins with a young woman trying to run away from a man who is trying to rape her. A fight ensues and the man accidentally falls off a cliff to his death. Not long afterward a young woman named "Silver Morgan" (Mamie Van Doren) is linked to the man's death and is remanded to a Catholic school for girls pending sufficient evidence needed for a murder conviction. Although Silver protests her innocence her wild behavior and rebellious attitude prove to be a negative factor against her and soon she begins to get in even more trouble. Meanwhile, her little sister, "Mary Lee Morgan" (Elinor Donahue) discovers that life without Silver to protect her is quite difficult as well. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that although this film was more than a little corny it still wasn't too bad for the most part with the gorgeous Mamie Van Doren clearly dominating each and every scene she was in. That said, even though this movie was clearly dated I still thought it was okay for the time spent and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

Mamie Van Doren was more than a face, figure and cotton head. She had a ton of charm, could sing, and was a competent comedic actress. Unfortunately, she rarely got to show anything but her curves.

Sit back, enjoy the visuals of Mamie and laugh at the camp.

P. S. You won't recognize Elinor Donahue.

.

A careful perusal of the cast should lead any connoisseur of trash to check this gem out immediately. You haven't lived until you've seen Mel Torme as the leader of a motorcycle gang, Elinor ("Father Knows Best") Donahue as Mamie Van Doren's kid sister, and Sheilah Graham as a nun. The piece de resistance, however, is Paul Anka's rendition of "Ave Maria." This one, in my opinion, has it all over "Plan 9 from Outer Space."

With this, I've now seen all the movies The Platters appeared in-Rock Around the Clock, The Girl Can't Help It, Rock All Night, Carnival Rock, and now this one. Another singer that appears is Paul Anka-in fact, this movie has an "Introducing" credit for him but his real first film appearance was in Let's Rock the previous year though this was his first in which he also acts. Unlike The Platters, Anka does not have any dialogue going on during any of his numbers which included his hit "Lonely Boy". He also sang a nice rendition of "Ave Maria". The star is Mamie Van Doren as a woman who's blamed for her ex-boyfriend's murder but she says she wasn't there. Also appearing are Elinor Donahue as her younger sister, Mel Torme as the one who saw the actual murder, and a couple of sons of famous silent comedians-Harold Lloyd Jr. as the one who pays for what he tries to do to whichever woman he was with and Charles Chaplin Jr. as a guy named Joe who announces the rules of a chicken run later in the movie. This is another of Albert Zugsmith's sensationalist movies but it's quite fun to watch and a little touching in spots. So on that note, I recommend Girls Town.

Go ahead and throw out your money on another boring Spielberg piece of worthless, egotistical garbage. Or you can watch this American masterpiece of exploitation story telling with a fantastic cast topped by the spectacular sweater stretching Mamie Van Doren who is backed up by Gloria Talbot, Elinor Donahue, Gigi Perreau and other 20-somethings playing teens. The only very serious problem is Paul Anka. He comes close to destroying the film singlehandedly. A barf bag might be required for some viewers. Mel Torme is ok as a hot-rodding thug who wants to quote ship Mamie's sister Elinor to Tijuana unquote. He doesn't get to sing.

This later 60's teen "drama" is not bad. Thank God for the presence of the gorgeous and sassy Mamie Van Doren (as Silver Morgan - what a name). This is the perfect role for her charms and attitude. A very young Paul Anka (his debut) seems like he's 5 years old. Gloria Talbott fine as judo girl. Gigi Perreaux is fresh and naive as Serafina. Mel Torme is a joke has hot-rod punk who drinks milk and bosses women around.

A 5 out of 10. Best performance = Ms. Van Doren. A. Zugsmith also produced HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL with Mamie. Some good dialogue and Elinor Donahue (FATHER KNOWS BEST) as heart-felt emotion as kid sister. The Anka character is a bit much with his good intentions, but you could tell where the film was going.

How do you get so much talent together and have something so awful? Just look at the cast...Mel Torme, the "Velvet Fog" in leather and corduroy...Paul Anka and two sons of the greatest comedians ever...how could they go so wrong here? The paper thin plot is hoked up with a lot of the not-so-great 50s songs, a bad driving scene that is supposed to hold us breathless, and a lot of views of the L.A. River. Is it any wonder that Arch Hall Jr. thought he had a future in the business after seeing stuff like this cranked out by a MAJOR STUDIO?

This is a spectacular film of its ilk with a bit of discontinuity. Star-studded and an interesting story line that does get jumbled towards the end. Mel Torme is the least expected cast member here, but he does manage to pull it off quite well. Films of this type can bend reality (like bread delivery men in a swanky night club where The Platters are performing). The car race thing however didn't fit. I guess it was the method to get Silver's sister apprehended? Otherwise doesn't fit. Contino's pants pulled up to his nipples is formula for teenager films of that era. Otherwise the settings and events fall into place. I was not aware Mel Torme was an actor. The Platters invented "mellow" and they do a good performance here. Gigi Perreau (who had quite a career) plays a convincing role as a mental case.. Mamie looks great as usual, gum chewing and all. Way sexier than Marilyn Monroe.

The fiasco at the end is an unexpected scene but I guess given the underlying "delinquent" activity going on in the background it was hastily put together but somehow necessary I guess - get's everybody in the right place at the end.

Of course this is a film "you had to be there" when it was made or you'll gag. For its time it was a first class A movie.