Desire in the Dust

Released in 1960, Desire in the Dust looks to have been a B movie, featuring a lot of TV actors and future TV actors: Raymond Burr, Anne Helm, Jack Ging, Edward Binns, Martha Hyer, and Brett Halsey.

The film also looks to be attempting to cash in on the success of those southern Big Daddy dramas like Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and The Long Hot Summer.

The Big Daddy in this one is Raymond Burr, who tightly controls a family that includes his off-her-rocker wife, played by Joan Bennett, stunningly beautiful daughter Hyer, her wimpy doctor husband, Brett Halsey, and son, Jack Ging.

Bennnett never recovered from the death of a young son who was hit by a car six years earlier; Ging is love with the white trash daughter of the man who supposedly ran him over.

Of course, there's a lot more to the story than that and in 102 minutes, this film stuffs it all in, including more cigarettes and alcohol than one would see in ten films put together. There are also a lot of bullets, dust, and histrionics.

All in all, it's a slow go, with a couple of interesting segments and decent acting.

Lonnie (Ken Scott) just got out of prison for vehicular homicide. The problem is that through the course of the movie you realize that he didn't do it but took the rap for his girlfriend, Melinda (Martha Hyer). But when Lonnie gets into town, he learns that Melinda is married and she didn't wait for him! Nice girl, huh? Well, through the course of the film you come to realize that she's actually much, much worse!

This film definitely pushed the envelope back in 1960...deliberately so. The fim begins with a scene where you THINK you see someone skinny dipping and the story is filled with sleazy elements and some cursing as well as the word 'rape'....somewhat tame by modern standards but certainly not for 1960!

So is it worth seeing? Well, the acting quality is very good and it's a well made film. Whether or not you will like it will depend a lot on whether or not you like sleazy soap operas. I enjoyed it.

By the way, this film has some very strange billing. Although Kent Scott clearly plays the leading character in the film, he gets fourth billing. And, although Joan Bennett received third billing, she's barely in the film.

The film has an interesting it it just wasn't fleshed out properly. Martha Hyer sports her new blonde, sexy and glamorous new look in this film.

It should be titled, "What if Martha Hyer changed her image to sexpot and NOBODY CAME?"

This could have been written by Eugene O'Neill or Tennessee Williams, it's a southern family drama filmed entirely on location in Lousiana, and all the ordinary ingredients are there: a tyrannical autocratic father, a harassed younger son, a lewd daughter and a mad mother, an old faithful coloured servant (Rex Ingram), a corrupt police officer, and the rural innocent family, the son getting out of jail after six years for having taken the blame for the accidental death of the lewd blonde daughter's little brother, which drove the mother (Joan Bennett) mad, with the promise that he would have her when he got out, and when he does he finds her married to another.

That's the set-up. A major part is played by the music, which is very sensually jazzy all the way, stressing the decadent sexual strain of the film, but all the actors are good, Raymond Burr as the father finds himself back home in the role of an overbearing villain, taking a pause from Perry Mason, Martha Hyer as Melinda is seductive and wicked enough, her father's true daughter, you can feel the sorely tried Ken Scott 's patience gradually bursting all through the film, but in spite of the shoot-out the finale is relatively mild. Fortunately there is a journalist and doctor at hand to get things straight.

The beginning of Desire in the Dust is captivating, and the rest of this soapy Southern drama doesn't disappoint. Jack Ging and Anne Helm canoodle in the lake, as she teases that they can't see each other anymore. It's a forbidden love, as their parents are against the match. In the next scene, Joan Bennett is singing "Happy Birthday" to her young son at a small party. Raymond Burr, up at the big house, telephones down to his servant, Rex Ingram, and tells him to wrap up the party. As the camera pans away, we see that Joan is sitting in front of a tombstone. Her little boy is dead, but she's lost her mind in her inability to accept it.

What an opening! If you like this genre, you'll love this movie. It's not as well known as its counterparts, but it has all the elements: infidelity, murder, corruption, secrets, political aspirations, class distinction, and even implied incest. Ken Scott is a strong protagonist who's served six years in prison for manslaughter. When he returns home, he expects his girl, Martha Hyer, to be waiting for him - but her father, Raymond, might not allow them to pick up where they left off. Interested in a cross between The Great Gatsby and God's Little Acre? Rent Desire in the Dust, and keep the drinks pouring - you've got to keep up with the characters!