Veneno en el alma

Diane McBain proved she can act in this film. It is too bad it wasn't a bigger and better film. She plays a good girl who finds out playing by the rules doesn't guarantee you happiness. So she says to hell with the rules.

Constance Ford is perfect as the mother who feels life has passed her by. She always excelled at tough, bitter roles.

The only big disappointment for me was the harsh ending, which I won't reveal. It was all too similar to other films made in the era with its double standards of "ultimate punishment" imposed on females but never males.

I saw this movie 35 years ago on late night TV and was totally and utterly spellbound by it -- so much so that this many years later I still remember it.

The stark quality of the movie, as shown through the dialog and other "devices" underlined the desperate nature of the characters (the fact that Claudelle knew she didn't have what she wanted but didn't know what that was or how to get it) and their suspicious natures in that someone might find what they were searching for.

A marvelous, fascinating character study. All good literature is nothing more than character study and good movies must have well-developed characters to be considered good. "Claudelle Inglish" is both.

This movie starts out appearing to be the usual b-movie shlock morality tale - and that beginning is where any similarity ends. Claudelle Inglish winds up having a place right beside movies like Showgirls and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, just for sheer shock value.

The basic premise is familiar enough, sweet young thing is seduced and then jilted. However, nobody knows that, since her beau is not a total creep; her shameful secret is still safe from the townspeople who would label her a whore - so here's where the fun starts, since our heroine, literally overnight, decides to transform herself into the town tramp anyway. Why? Uhhh, why not?

Of course it would have made perfect sense for Claudelle to just go ahead and marry the older, unappealing rich man who all but drools on her, but that would be too easy, and it won't happen here. In fact nothing here plays out the way you would expect it to, and that is the brilliance of this film and why it is something you have to see to believe.

This is trash at its very finest, and to tell anything more about what happens after Claudelle creates her own hell would spoil everything.

This movie is sometimes described as sleazy, but it was the advertising emphasizing the girl gone bad theme that is sleazy. She had a lot of help on the road to perdition. Constance Ford as her unhappy frustrated mother is terrific, and is a major force driving her daughter to accept gifts for her favors. Her well meaning father is no help to her or her mother, he is content being a share cropper, living in a house with no running water. Reviews rarely mention Frank Overton,and appears to be a minor character in the beginning. Starting on Broadway, he has a wonderful voice. But in this film it's his eyes that tell everything. He goes from innocuous small town shopkeeper to husband cheating with Claudel , and anguished father of a dead son. Multiple peoples bad choices lead to the destruction of 2families, not just Claudel.

FYI, Ford Rainy appears in this film as well as Last Mile, as did Frank Overton, only the roles are reversed. Watch both films for some powerful acting and a lot of anguish.

DIANE McBAIN has only one claim to movie fame besides her good looks. It is her deep-down excellent portrayal of Claudelle Inglish in this strange and sensational movie that is both dime novel trash and classic drama.

The best and most powerful subject for a grab-you movie in my opinion is the power of intense love; that power which can bring joy and true happiness. Take away (or betray) that love and a person can be turned-on-a-dime into an adrenaline-filled force of self destruction. If I told you what happens in the movie you would not believe it; but I saw this near-exact drama play out in my own neighborhood some 15 years after this movie.

Too bad my 10 star rating is virtually pointless. The critics trashed this film when it came out and Warner Bros were clueless of its merits. I have no idea how you could get a copy and see it.