Veneno en el alma

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.

"Claudelle Inglish" is a well made movie but it's also rather dark and depressing. This isn't so much a complaint--I'm just trying to let you know in case you are thinking about watching it.

Diane McBain stars as the title character, an innocent and nice young lady. However, she quickly transforms from this to a 'bad girl' in her small home town after she is jilted by her jerk of a fiancé. Now she uses men and cares little about them--in her odd attempt to punish men in general for her stupid fiancé. Since the film was made in the early 60s, it's really unclear whether Claudelle is sleeping around or if she's just a tease--but it is clear that she uses men to get what she wants. How will this ultimately lead to disaster? See the film.

The acting is very good here--particularly by Arthur Kennedy who plays Claudelle's father. Well worth seeing and very unique...but also a tad unpleasant.

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.

Warner Bros had a brigade of young contact stars and in fact their is a pic of J L Warner with most of them: Connie Stevens, Dorothy Provine, Van Williams,, Clint Walker , Natalie Wood, Edd Byrnes, Peter Brown, Ty Hardin among the many.

Diane McBain was a beautiful young actress with a penchant of getting in the gossip columns. Diane beat out a truly fine actress Shirley Knight - another WB star!-for the lead role in this film shot in black and white. WB stars Chad Everett, Robert Logan, and Robert Colbert were also in the cast. Diane plays it well as a Southern girl out to put the make on men.

Diane McBain made a few more movies such as Troy Donahue's Parrish which has Diane's opening scene sensational as the rolls out of a car and those magnetic eyes of Diane's mesmerizing! , and Raoul Walsh's A Distant Trumpet with Troy Donahue and Suzy Pleshette, with Debbie Reynolds in Mary, Mary, but left the studio rather than play a small part in WB''s big budget Sex And The Single Girl with Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood, Henry Fonda, Lauren Bacall and Mel Ferrer directed by Richard Quine. Richard Quine fell in love with Kim Novak and his films with Kim such as Bell Book And Candle, Strangers When We Meet, Notorious Landlady reveal l Kim at her most lush beauty. Diane should have done Sex And The Sungle Girl with Quine; He may have made her a great star as he did Kim.

I remember this film from the very early '60s. In those years we saw a lot of movies at the so-called "grind houses" on West 42nd Street (on both sides of Times Square); the deal, for us, was terrific: a double feature for "never more than 99 cents!" The first film to break that price barrier was Mercouri's NEVER ON Sunday. After her amazing bitchiness in A SUMMER PLACE, Constance Ford was again remarkable in this motion picture. I feel that this film, like too many others, is nearly forgotten today. But, when graduates, with a B.F.A. in Film, Theatre and Television, can look you in the eye and confess that they've "never heard of Marlene Dietrich", what can one expect?! Another one, a 2004 NYU grad, had never heard of THE GLASS MENAGERIE. Perhaps it's not the students but the schools that are failing!