Satan in High Heels

The movie is well enough done, and for what it was, a kind of cinema noire sexploitation, one of the better ones, even though it is now distributed by odd-ball outlets . Myles is a very competent actress,but her generous figure has been her worst enemy , as far as being taken seriously. She got a similar rap in 'The Phoenix City Story". But Myes forte is as a sensuous singer and she can hold her own with O'Day and the rest. The most interesting thing about this movie is the liberal use fetishism. An alternate title was straight out of Sacher-Masoch, " Venus in Furs" Meg Myles has a shapely foot and the director and the cameraman know it and pander to the fetish in several scenes. and the skillful Sado Masochistic leather slant is handled nicely, as well.; I've seen it bungled badly in some recent high budget stuff of recent years. I think the supporting cast was good, and credible with special kudos for Grayson Hall. I knew the club scene in Baltimore and NY in the 50 's and this flick captures it better than most.

Del Tenney fans MUST see this depiction of early-60's club life in which he plays Paul, a bisexual pianist (!). It's pretty hard to believe that this suave leading man later directed THE HORROR OF PARTY BEACH and I EAT YOUR SKIN. The main character though is Stacey, played to the bitchiest by sexy, husky-voiced Meg Myles. Stacey moves inner-city with her junky boyfriend and gets a job as a burlesque entertainer. There, she gets catty with Pepe (Grayson Hall), her female boss for wanting her own way and becomes involved in a romantic triangle with Pepe's son and husband.

The music was by jazz composer, Mundell Lowe who's album TV ACTION JAZZ has become a rare collector's item over the years. One of the songs from that album (a nice version of 'Naked City') as been issued on to CRIME JAZZ, a CD compilation avalible from Rhino. The music in SATAN IN HIGH HEELS is pretty mundane jazzamaspazz but I'm after the the original soundtrack (from Parker Records) just for one great song sung by Meg Myles (in leather clothes and a whip!), 'More Deadly Than the Male'. Also starring in the film is Sabrina, something of a poor man's Jane Mansfield, who sings a really bad number before Stacey's act. I was amazed to know that Sabrina was a real sensation down here in Oz! She was down here regularly starring in television commercials (one was for Amcal oil-cubes!) and was featured in lots of newsreel footage (always holding her poodle, just like Jane) and magazines. I even found reference to her in Peter Doyle's AMAZE YOU FRIENDS, a crime novel set in Sydney during the 1950's.

Aside from all these fascinating facts, SATAN IN HIGH HEELS is a fairly enjoyable little film with lots of class. It also remains a decent examination of sleazy, smokey inner-city burlesque clubs which will never again be seen or experieced.

Satan IN HIGH HEELS treads the same "noirish" territory as Beverly Michaels' 1953 WICKED WOMAN -so much so it could be considered an unintended upscale remake. Stacey Kane ruthlessly uses men and women alike to rise from Midwest carnival burlesque queen to Manhattan jazz club diva but, like BLAST OF SILENCE's Frankie Bono (made the same year on location in NYC), a semblance of tender feelings can prove disastrous. Tired of bumping and grinding on the midway, Stacey steals her junkie ex-husband's bankroll and heads for New York and a new lease on life. On the plane she seduces a man who introduces her to the lesbian manager of a Greenwich Village jazz club where she's hired on the spot after a smoky audition and the voluptuous vixen wastes no time ensnaring the club's wealthy owner in her sexual web as well. Things get complicated when his teenage son also falls for her but Stacey, forced to choose between love and money, sees a way to have it all when her hell-bent for revenge ex-husband reappears brandishing a knife...

The early 60s NYC jazz club scene provides an atmospheric background for the rise and fall of a wicked woman with the lesbian club manager (Grayson Hall from DARK SHADOWS fame) and gay pianist lending an air of "adult" authenticity. Pneumatic pin-up queen Meg Myles as the predatory Stacey makes a memorable sociopath and gets to growl "Deadlier Than The Male" decked out in leather breeches and riding crop. As a compliment to the breast and leather fetishes, British sexbomb Sabrina is also on hand as the club's star attraction and she warbles as well. What's not to like?

The female of the species, is more deadly than the male!

Agreeably sordid melodrama is fine as a curiosity piece, although in truth, it's not titillating or sleazy enough to be of great use to hardcore exploitation fans. It stars Meg Myles ("Coogan's Bluff") as Stacey Kane. Stacey toils away as a burlesque show stripper at a carnival until her junkie ex-husband Rudy (Earl Hammond) shows up one night, wanting to start fresh. He's got a wad of bills with him (payment for a story he wrote), which is big temptation for her, so she steals it and takes off for NYC, where she soon starts a new life as singer in a nightclub, run by a lesbian character named Pepe (Grayson Hall of 'Dark Shadows') and owned by Arnold Kenyon (Mike Keene). Before too long, she's become involved with both Arnold and his ne-er- do-well son Laurence (Robert Yuro, "The Shakiest Gun in the West").

Overall, the movie is competently done, and certainly better acted than one might expect, with an especially fine, effectively bitchy performance by the sexy Ms. Myles. Hall and Keene are also quite good, but what's really amusing is noting that Paul, the suave, bisexual pianist, is played by Del Tenney. Tenney was better known as a cult director during the 1960s; he went on to helm "The Horror of Party Beach", "The Curse of the Living Corpse", and "Zombie" a.k.a. "I Eat Your Skin". English entertainer Sabrina (playing a character named Sabrina) rounds out the main cast.

Unfortunately for some, "Satan in High Heels" fails to measure up to that grabber of a title. It's not that the story isn't diverting at all, but the pacing is slow, and things never ever get that interesting, at least until Myles belts out her show stopping number near the end. In fact, the four songs in this movie are actually not bad.

Still worth a look, but it might not appeal to trash lovers across the board.

Six out of 10.

Petite, buxom Meg Myles is a hoot as carnival dancer Stacey Kane, a girl with ambition who ditches her drug addict husband and takes off for New York City, where a pick-up on the plane results in her getting a singing audition at an uptown club, Pepe's. Stacey boards with Pepe herself (Grayson Hall), a chic butch who puts her newest discovery in a leather get-up complete with riding crop! But trouble brews quickly for Stacey after she turns up the heat with both the club owner and his troubled son--unaware that her deranged husband has finally caught up with her. Competently-made B-movie was considered very risqué for 1962: it has fleeting nudity (very coy), gay and lesbian characters and a promiscuous protagonist. Still, it isn't all raunch. The plot is as top-heavy as most of the girls on display, and the score by Mundell Lowe is a delicious cinematic mix of cocktail lounge, bop and jazz. An entertaining dip into drive-in cinema's gutters. ** from ****